Kentucky basketball targets battle, Reed Sheppard watch, and latest Crystal Ball buzz
The most anticipated game of the opening weekend on the Adidas 3SSB circuit didn’t fail to deliver a classic summer basketball environment.
On one side was Keyonte George, the No. 4 overall player in the country and the nation’s best shooting guard. On the other, Chris Livingston — ranked No. 5 nationally — and long considered one of the most promising prospects in the 2022 class.
Both are major Kentucky targets, 1 and 1A on John Calipari’s watch list Thursday morning, when they started the week of games on adjacent courts. On Friday night, before a standing-room only crowd, they met on the same floor.
The pregame scene was likely the most raucous yet since the grassroots basketball circuits opened back up after getting wiped out in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple national championship-winning coaches surrounded Court 6 at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex. Plenty of other big names were in attendance.
Kansas Coach Bill Self was there, as was Baylor’s Scott Drew, winner of this year’s national championship. Orlando Antigua was Kentucky’s representative, with John Calipari leaving town after Thursday’s opening games to recruit elsewhere. Other high-major coaches were relegated to the sides, unable to find a seat, craning their necks to get a look at the action on the court. G League representative Rod Strickland was center court, looking on.
The game itself was sloppy at times, with tip-off delayed by about a half hour due to a wet court and a few more stoppages once the floor was dry enough for play to safely continue.
In the end, George and his Southern Assault squad got the 74-63 victory, with the Texas native pouring in 26 points and making some key plays down the stretch. Livingston had his moments, too, scoring 19 points in the loss.
UK has already hosted an official visit with Livingston, who also visited Kansas last month and has scheduled additional trips to Memphis, Georgetown and Tennessee State later this summer. The professional route remains an option, too.
George said earlier in the week that he was still hoping to get to UK for an official visit after taking trips to the other four schools on his list — Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas, the perceived leader — in June.
Reed Sheppard Watch
The Reed Sheppard Show continued Friday, with the Kentucky high school star putting on a stunning three-point shooting display as Orlando Antigua looked on from the stands.
Sheppard — the 6-2 guard from North Laurel High School and son of former UK stars Jeff Sheppard and Stacey Reed Sheppard — led his team to another victory in the Friday opener. Complete stats were not officially kept, but Sheppard hit five three-pointers and scored 23 points in the first half alone. He went a little cold after halftime — finishing with 26 points — but his one three-pointer of the second half came at a crucial time, giving his Midwest Basketball Club a 74-66 lead with 1:30 left in a game that they had led by 21 points at the half. Midwest went on to win, 79-71, to improve to 2-0 on the weekend.
Kentucky extended a scholarship offer to Sheppard later in the afternoon, before his second game of the day.
Antigua was back on the sidelines late Friday night for Sheppard’s third game of Adidas play. Fresh off his UK offer, the Kentucky high school star scored just 10 points in this one, but he nailed a huge three-pointer in the final minutes to give Midwest Basketball Club the lead after being down as many as 13 points earlier in the half. Sheppard’s team ultimately squeaked out a 72-71 victory to improve to 3-0 on the week.
Indiana extended a scholarship offer just a few minutes after that game.
On Thursday night, Sheppard played in front of John Calipari, Antigua, Chin Coleman and Jai Lucas, his first game in front of the Kentucky coaching staff.
Sheppard said this week that Louisville, Gonzaga, Indiana, Virginia and Clemson were the five schools recruiting him the hardest coming into this event. Kentucky is obviously now in that mix, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if other major programs extend scholarship offers after this weekend.
The Adidas circuit moves to Council Bluffs, Iowa, next week, and Sheppard’s team is scheduled to play the third and final July evaluation period in Indianapolis the following weekend.
Kentucky Crystal Ball buzz
There have been a few intriguing recruiting predictions this week, and it’s been a bit of a mixed bag for Kentucky.
First the good news for the Wildcats: 247Sports analyst Travis Branham, who covers recruiting nationally for the website, logged a Crystal Ball pick on five-star guard Shaedon Sharpe’s page with a “high” level of confidence in favor of Kentucky.
This prediction tracks with the latest buzz in recruiting circles indicating that UK is in a very enviable spot in the recruitment of Sharpe, a super-athletic prospect from Ontario who is now playing his high school ball in Arizona.
Sharpe — a 6-4 recruit with plenty of skill for the position — took an official visit to Kentucky last month, the first of his recruitment, and he plays for a Nike league program with ties to the Wildcats. His coach, who also coached Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, has been complimentary of the way Calipari handled that player’s development, and UK is clearly becoming the team to beat for Sharpe’s commitment.
There had been rumblings in the past few weeks that Sharpe might reclassify to 2021 and attempt to play college basketball this coming season — with Alabama seen as a possible landing spot in such a scenario — but it’s looking like he’ll stay in 2022, with Kentucky the most likely destination.
As would be expected, there were also a handful of pro-Kentucky Crystal Ball picks on Reed Sheppard’s page immediately after he received his UK scholarship offer Friday, including a pick with a “high” level of confidence from 247Sports national analyst Eric Bossi.
Sheppard told the Herald-Leader on Friday night that he intends to go through the recruiting process with an open mind, and that no commitment is imminent.
The bad news for UK: there have been a couple of Rivals.com FutureCast predictions in favor of Memphis for No. 1 recruit Jalen Duren, who is expected to reclassify to 2021 after he finishes playing out his Nike summer schedule later this month. The 6-10 center has risen to the No. 1 spot in the 2022 rankings from 247Sports and Rivals, and he’s narrowed his recruitment to UK, Memphis, Miami and two professional options (the G League and the Australian-based NBL).
There has been no activity on Duren’s Crystal Ball page over the past several weeks, and the two FutureCast picks — one from a Memphis reporter, the other from a UK reporter — are the only two public predictions since the reclassification buzz heated up.
The Duren-related talk at the Adidas event in Alabama this week has been all over the map, an indication that his recruitment might not yet be settled. Memphis has been the most-mentioned scenario, however.
That bad news for Kentucky could actually turn into some good fortune.
There is a growing confidence that the Wildcats will land either Duren or star center transfer Kofi Cockburn, and — as the chances with Duren might be fading — the speculation that Cockburn will commit to UK has been heating up.
The 7-foot, 285-pound center is especially close with Orlando Antigua, who recruited him to Illinois, where he spent the past two seasons and emerged last year as a Second Team All-American. ESPN recently ranked him as the No. 1 transfer in this college basketball offseason.
There is no firm timetable for Cockburn’s transfer decision, and — while he has been planning to take campus visits before picking a new school — an announcement could seemingly come at any time.
Skyy Clark injured
Five-star point guard Skyy Clark — the only Kentucky commitment for the class of 2022 — suffered a partially torn ACL and will be out for the remainder of the summer, it was announced Friday.
Clark, who committed to UK last fall, is still transferring to Montverde (Fla.) Academy for his senior season of high school and is set to enroll at Kentucky next summer. Clark’s father, Kenny, told the Herald-Leader that his son will come out of this injury “bigger, better and stronger.” The setback is not expected to affect Clark’s ability to play at UK in the 2022-23 season.
Clark is the No. 13 prospect in the 2022 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.
Major addition for Overtime Elite
Five-star center Jalen Lewis agreed to a deal with the Overtime Elite league Friday.
Lewis is the No. 2 overall player in the 2023 class, according to the latest ESPN rankings, and he had scholarship offers from Kentucky, Kansas and several other major programs.
Overtime Elite is the latest upstart professional endeavor for young basketball players, and — unlike the G League and NBL — Overtime is targeting current high school players as well as recent high school grads. Lewis is, by far, the outfit’s biggest signing yet, though Overtime has picked up highly touted guards Amen and Ausar Thompson and star forwards Matt Bewley and Ryan Bewley, along with several international prospects.
This story was originally published July 10, 2021 at 7:15 AM.
