Top Kentucky basketball target ready to make his college choice and ‘be a kid again’
Before he announces his college decision, five-star basketball recruit Skyy Clark wanted a little time to himself.
Clark — a 6-foot-3 point guard in the Nashville area — will reveal his college choice Oct. 22, and Kentucky, North Carolina, Memphis and UCLA are the finalists. About a month ago, the outgoing 17-year-old tweeted that he’d be taking a step back from the circus that often consumes the nation’s top basketball recruits. No more interviews or podcasts as he closed in on a decision. And, for the most part, he also limited his contact with the college coaches pursuing his commitment.
He thought he knew where he wanted to go, and he needed some solitude to reflect and finalize that decision.
“We shut everything down for the most part,” the player’s father, Kenny Clark, told the Herald-Leader over the weekend. “Just so he can think and figure out his move.”
The elder Clark didn’t hint at any favorites, but those in the recruiting world are expecting it to come down to Kentucky — long perceived to be the frontrunner — and North Carolina, which, according to some, has surged in Clark’s recruitment over the past couple of months.
The teams still left on his list are pursuing one of the very best playmakers in all of high school basketball. Rivals.com ranks him as the No. 13 overall player in the 2022 class. 247Sports has him at No. 14 on its list. There’s also a possibility that he could reclassify to 2021 and play college ball next season, though the plan as of now — Clark’s father reiterated this past weekend — is to stay put in the 2022 class.
Over the summer, the Clark family relocated from the Los Angeles area to Nashville. The move had been in the works for a few months, and — before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down recruiting travel — it was expected that Clark would be a regular visitor to Lexington once he settled into his new home about three hours away. Those trips obviously didn’t happen, though Clark and his family were able to make it to the UK-Auburn game toward the end of last season.
With no end in sight to the NCAA’s recruiting travel ban, Clark will go ahead and make his college decision. But his father said the inability to take campus visits in the coming months has nothing to do with the timing of this decision. His son is simply ready to move on.
“He just wanted to get the process over and give him a year and a half to learn the school that he goes to — offense and defense and learn the system, and prepare his game to play that way. He just wanted to get it out of the way,” Kenny Clark said. “And right now, he’s staying in ’22.
“He can be a kid again. It’s a lot on a kid who just turned 17. You have to spend most of your days on the phone with coaches, which is great — it’s a great problem to have — but it can become a little overwhelming at times.”
It can also distract from the basketball court, and Clark wants to stay laser-focused there. Earlier in the summer, he was working out with NBA players like Darius Garland and Robert Covington — under the tutelage of Nashville-based trainer Andrew Fleming — and soaking up aspects of their professional games. More recently, Clark has been working alongside former Penn State star Josh Reaves, who’s currently under contract with the Dallas Mavericks.
Clark has benefited from his time competing with older pros. He’s been working on his outside shot and continuing to hone his ball-handling skills. Former Rivals.com national analyst Corey Evans — shortly before taking a scouting job with the Oklahoma City Thunder — told the Herald-Leader that Clark “might be the best point guard in high school basketball.”
UK should already be in a good spot at that position next season. This year’s presumed starter, Devin Askew, could be back for a second season. The Cats have an early commitment from four-star point guard Nolan Hickman, and they’re thought to be the favorites for five-star playmaker Hunter Sallis, arguably the best point guard in the 2021 class.
There’s still plenty of room for Clark, however, and his reclassification flexibility — he’s taking the courses necessary to join the 2021 class but isn’t committed to making that move — would give both he and UK plenty of wiggle room. If he picks Kentucky now and the Cats need a point guard next season, he could make the jump, if he feels ready. If UK is stacked at the position, he could wait for 2022.
And either way — his father was quick to point out — John Calipari knows what to do with multiple playmakers.
“They started three guards last year. And it worked. All three will get drafted this year. So I see nothing wrong with playing with other great guards,” Kenny Clark said before punctuating his point with a laugh: “And it seems like guards don’t stay at Kentucky very long anyway.”
A little more than a week away from the decision date, Clark is still finalizing plans on how he wants to tell the college basketball world of his decision. CBS Sports and ESPN have reached out, and it seems likely a live video reveal is in his future.
“It would be pretty cool to do it on ESPN or CBS,” his dad said. “How often does that happen?”
