Next recruiting class stacked with point guards, including this one with Kentucky tie
This season, Kentucky basketball fans will get to enjoy the best player that emerging national power Arizona Compass Prep has produced so far.
A couple of seasons from now, perhaps the Wildcats might feature the program’s next star point guard.
Going into this 2021-22 campaign, UK’s top-ranked incoming recruit and the Cats’ most highly touted NBA Draft prospect is TyTy Washington, a freshman point guard who earned first-team All-American honors while putting Compass Prep on the map last season.
As a senior, Washington led the program — in its early stages playing a national schedule — to a No. 2 national ranking and the semifinals of the Geico Nationals, the de facto national championship tournament for high school basketball.
The next era at Compass Prep begins with Kylan Boswell holding the keys on the court.
Program director Pete Kaffey referred to Boswell — a 6-foot-2 point guard from California — as “TyTy 2.0” while talking about the 16-year-old’s impressive game and competitive attitude.
“One word that defines him is — he’s a winner,” Kaffey told the Herald-Leader this week. “He’s a kid that’s going to come to compete on both sides of the ball. He’s a tenacious defender. To me, he’s the best shooter in the class of 2023. Or maybe regardless of class, he’s the best shooter in high school basketball. … I think he’s one of those guys who can take over games.”
Boswell — a 6-foot-2 prospect — has certainly lived up to that “winner” label so far.
Back in June — with LeBron James and Drake among those in attendance — Boswell went off for 24 points (with six three-pointers) in a section title game to lead Centennial (Calif.) past national powerhouse Sierra Canyon, ending that five-star-studded program’s 21-game winning streak.
In July, getting a chance to play in front of college coaches for the first time with his summer team, Boswell led his squad to a Nike Peach Jam title in the 16u division.
And then in August, he logged the most minutes on a USA Basketball team that went undefeated on its run to a gold medal in the FIBA Americas U16 tournament in Mexico.
Since arriving at Compass Prep for a new challenge, Boswell has quickly impressed his new coaches. Kaffey said he’s in the gym at 6 a.m., constantly working to improve his game.
“He’s a first-one-in-the-gym-last-one-to-leave type of kid,” he said. “He’s one of those kids that just wants to be good. And he’ll do whatever it takes to be good. And we’re glad we got him, because he’s going to make this team really, really good.”
To illustrate Boswell’s competitive fire, Kaffey chuckled and told the story of a recent all-star game where the Compass Prep point guard was matched up with another top-15 national recruit.
Anyone familiar with high school all-star games knows they’re not typically seen as a prime example of basketball excellence. Usually, these events quickly devolve into dunk shows with little to no defense. Fun for the participants, entertaining for the audience, but not reflective of actual skill sets.
Apparently, Boswell didn’t take that approach, and one of the other competitors told him to dial it down a notch or three.
“He walked up to Kylan and was like, ‘Hey, man, let’s take it easy,’” Kaffey recalled with a laugh. “He is a monster on-ball defender. When you’re called a ‘winner,’ that means it comes with playing on both sides of the ball.
“He doesn’t know how to turn it off. All-star games, people are trying to do dunks and get highlights and stuff like that. And he doesn’t know the difference. He’s like, ‘It’s basketball. I gotta compete. It’s a game. That’s why I’m here.’ That’s his mentality.”
Kylan Boswell’s recruitment
Boswell’s success hasn’t gone unnoticed by college coaches this summer.
In the past month alone, he’s picked up new scholarship offers from Michigan, Florida, Oregon, Auburn and Arizona State, among others. Kansas, Louisville, UCLA, Texas, Arizona and Stanford had offered before that.
Boswell is the No. 11 overall recruit in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings, but Kaffey thinks he could be the top point guard in his age group. And that’s saying something.
That 2023 class also features No. 1 overall recruit DJ Wagner — listed by 247Sports as a combo guard — as well as five-star point guards Robert Dillingham (No. 8 overall) and Caleb Foster (No. 9).
Wagner and Dillingham have both taken official visits to Kentucky over the past couple of weeks, and they both have early UK scholarship offers. (Foster has already committed to Duke).
Will the Wildcats make a run at Boswell, too?
UK’s coaching staff does have a good relationship with the Compass Prep program, with Washington joining the Wildcats this season and another star player from the school, Mookie Cook, expected to be in Lexington for a visit this weekend.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Cats add Boswell to their target list, and they’re likely to see him play this high school season. Compass Prep stars the season with the No. 1 national ranking in high school hoops, according to MaxPreps.com.
Kaffey notes that Boswell is among the youngest players in his 2023 class. He won’t turn 17 until late April, which means he’s on track to play his entire freshman season of college as an 18-year-old. (It should also be noted that Wagner and Dillingham are both also 2005 birthdays, so don’t expect any of these star playmakers to try and reclassify up a grade).
For a player so young, Boswell has a mature game.
Kaffey said he can get anywhere on the floor, plays with a pro pace, possesses excellent size and strength for his position, and has shown the ability to be terrific in pick-and-roll settings. In addition to those scoring skills and competitive instincts.
Boswell should have plenty of opportunities over the next couple of years to prove he can be the best point guard prospect in this 2023 class. And it’s those types of games that the young playmaker seemingly relishes most.
“Going against other top-level point guards, I think he lives for stuff like that,” Kaffey said. “Other top-level guards, it’s sad for them. Because he’s tough. Tough. I’ve been around a lot of other tough players, and I get excited when I talk about this one.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
