Skyy Clark commits to Kentucky basketball. ‘I think he has superstar abilities.’
It might still be awhile before Skyy Clark plays a college basketball game, but — when he does — he’ll be playing it in a Kentucky uniform.
Clark — a 6-foot-3 point guard from the Nashville area — announced his commitment to the Wildcats on Thursday night, ending a recruitment that saw a flurry of interest from the nation’s top schools. He ultimately chose UK over North Carolina, Memphis and UCLA.
“Their motto is they’re, ‘Built different,’ and I’m built different, so I want to continue to be different,” Clark said when revealing his decision on Overtime’s Instagram page. “And there’s no better place to go if you want to make it to the league.”
For now, Clark remains a member of the 2022 recruiting class, meaning he will have two more seasons of high school basketball ahead of him if he stays in that group. He and his father have left the door open for a move to the 2021 class, however, and no final decision on when Clark enters college is expected until next year. The new UK pledge just turned 17 years old in late July, but he is taking the necessary high school classes to graduate early and begin his college career next summer.
In the meantime, UK has locked down one of the most intriguing backcourt talents in the country, regardless of class. Rivals.com ranks Clark as the No. 13 overall player in the 2022 class, and 247Sports has him at No. 14 on its list. It’s also worth noting that the class of 2022 is seen as exceptionally talented, so it’s likely that Clark would be ranked in the same area — or perhaps even higher — if he made the jump to ’21.
Former Rivals.com national analyst Corey Evans told the Herald-Leader over the summer that he viewed Clark as a player that should already be seen as among the elite at his position.
“I think he might be the best point guard in high school basketball,” Evans said, a few weeks before taking a job as an NBA scout. “I think his intellect and abilities are second to none. And he might be the most skilled guard I’ve seen in the past five or six years, with his pace and composure.”
Clark averaged 25.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.5 steals per game as a sophomore last season, leading his Heritage Christian (Calif.) squad to a 26-5 record. Often viewed as a “combo guard” early in his high school career, Clark wanted it known that he sees himself as a point guard all the way. His play has backed that up.
“He had to do a whole lot for his high school team, and I think that’s why people saw him as a combo. I never did. I think he’s one of the truest point guards out there,” said Evans, who added that — if Clark stays in the 2022 class — he could ultimately end up in the discussion as one of the very best players in that group, specifically mentioning Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren as possible company in the rankings. Bates and Duren are universally seen as the top two players in the class of 2022. “I think he has superstar abilities,” Evans concluded on Clark.
Early UK recruiting target
Kentucky’s coaching staff saw the same potential in Clark, who was the first player from the 2022 class to land a UK scholarship offer and attracted the interest of UK assistant Joel Justus remarkably early in his recruiting process.
UK was able to host Clark and his family for a visit late last season, just a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all recruiting-related travel. The Clarks raved about that trip. Not long after, they made a previously planned move from the Los Angeles area to Nashville.
Even though UK’s coaches weren’t allowed to see Clark in person after the move — due to the NCAA’s recruiting travel ban related to COVID-19 — they kept up the interest. Clark landed a Kentucky scholarship offer in early July, and his father said the attention never wavered.
“Their message has always been the same. ‘Hey, man, we want you. You fit what we do perfectly.’ They love everything about him,” Kenny Clark told the Herald-Leader last week. “Not just on the court, but off the court.”
Shortly after moving to Nashville, Clark — still just 16 years old — took part in peaceful protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death and later helped organize cleanup efforts in the downtown area. He often uses his social media platform — more than 240,000 followers on Instagram, going into Thursday’s college announcement — to preach messages of love and social change.
Basketball trainer Jamal Richardson has been regularly working with Clark on the court since the young recruit moved to Nashville.
“He’s a very coachable kid,” he said. “He wants to learn, wants to get better. He’s a gym rat. And he’s a great kid, most importantly.”
‘Perfect fit at Kentucky’
Richardson and fellow Nashville area trainer Andrew Fleming have both been helping Clark unlock his full potential over the past several months. Those sessions have included five-on-five situations with NBA-level players, individual workouts, and routines specifically tailored to Clark’s game and ambitions.
“Right now, he’s a very dynamic player,” said Richardson, who was also instrumental in the early development of NBA point guard Darius Garland. “I think he has the ability to be a game-changer, a program-changer. His game, right now, is just really refined, and he’s locking in on the fundamental things — being a student of the game. He’s really spending a lot of time trying to find ways to affect the game in more ways than just scoring. He wants to prove that he’s more than just a scorer. He has the ability to be a great playmaker, and he’s really made a lot of strides there. I think his ceiling is very high, and he has the right attitude and work ethic and mindset. And that’s why he’s going to continue to be successful.”
Fleming said he first encountered Clark at an open run over the summer that featured several NBA and high-level college players. Fleming had just wrapped up his own college career. Clark, a teenager, turned heads.
“We were playing five-on-five. And this is no offense to anybody in that gym, but we had several NBA guys, pro guys, college guys — and Skyy was, by far, the best player in the gym,” Fleming said. “It’s unbelievable to see his pace. His maturity — and his feel for the game — is completely off the charts. His imagination for the game is off the charts. He’s truly beyond his years in his maturity, and also just in his personality. He is one of the brightest kids I’ve met.”
Since then, Clark has been in the gym with Fleming — a former high school star and college player at Lipscomb University — five days a week. Offensively, Clark is a creative, dynamic playmaker, and a player that often makes the best decision on the fly. Defensively, he’s strong — listed at 200 pounds — and determined on the perimeter, unafraid to be physical with opponents.
Fleming has closely studied John Calipari’s system and implements parts of the UK coach’s approach to his own training sessions with Clark. His conclusion: “He’ll be a perfect fit at Kentucky.”
Both trainers said that Clark has been paying special attention to his outside shooting. Richardson also noted — well aware that UK could have a glut of talented point guards for years to come — that Clark is honing his skills off the ball. He wants to be a point guard, but he’s also prepared to play other roles for the Wildcats, if it’s in the best interest of the team.
“That’s something that we’ve talked about,” Richardson said. “And look at the evolution of the game. You look at a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder, with Dennis Schroder and Chris Paul in the backcourt, and also Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. You’ve got three point guards on the court at the same time. I think Cal does a great job of implementing that. And it’s one thing to put it together. It’s another thing to put it together and get guys to buy into it.
“You’re not going to have the ball every time. So that’s something that we’ve really spent a lot of time locking in on. I know, without a doubt, that he’ll be ready for that.”
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 7:06 PM.
