Most Division-1 coaches spend their entire careers straining to land a single top-ten prospect.
Within the span of one week, John Calipari just grabbed his third in one class.
Seven days after the best set of twins to ever come out of high school pledged to Kentucky, John Calipari and his staff were at it again, this time securing a commitment from 5-star small forward James Young. The Rochester (MI) native chose Kentucky over Kansas, Syracuse and runner-up Michigan State, the in-state school which would have won the recruitment were it not for Young’s fascination with the Wildcats.
Young called Kentucky his “dream school” during a staged announcement in which he pulled out a blue T-shirt that read “Kentucky Bound.” The Rochester HS star said he fell in love with the school after visiting the campus, the only such official visit he has taken to date. Young had planned on making a trip to East Lansing as well, but as the Spartans shifted their focus towards Jabari Parker, the top prospect in the 2013 class, Young zeroed in on UK.
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As Michigan State began turning their attention away from Young and towards Parker, Kentucky was doing the opposite. Parker officially scratched Kentucky off his list last week, though the UK coaching staff had known for a while that the Cats were not a major player in the recruitment (Parker will end up at either Michigan State or Duke).
The drop-off from Parker, the top small forward, to Young, the second best small forward in 2013, is the biggest gap between the top two players at one position in the class, which speaks more to how good Parker is and not to any glaring deficiencies in Young’s game.
A 6-foot-6 lefty swingman, Young is a big-time scorer and stat-sheet stuffer who plays in non-stop attack mode (as Michael Kidd-Gilchrist did). He has sneaky athleticism (great hops) and a refined offensive repertoire, owning the best teardrop in high school basketball, a smooth outside jumper and a knack for getting into the lane at will. Though his ball-handling needs polish, the wily lefty has all the makings of being one of the top freshman scorers in college when he arrives at Kentucky in the fall of 2013.
Equal parts savvy and skilled, Young is a fundamentally sound, natural scorer with a college-ready game already. He just needs to bulk up, shore up his defense and tweak his handle, especially with his right hand, to be armed and ready for his first rodeo in the SEC.
With the addition of Young—Kentucky’s fourth commit in the 2013 class—the Wildcats now have ten scholarships committed for the 2013-14 season (this assumes all letter winners who aren’t seniors return for the following season). Coach Cal has also tendered scholarships to Julius Randle, the top power forward in the 2013 class, Aaron Gordon, the No. 2 power forward in the class and a pair of 4-star centers: Kennedy Meeks and Marcus Lee.
Nerlens Noel is a likely one-and-done candidate, which would mean Calipari could theoretically take on all four targeted prospects. Division-1 teams are each afforded 13 scholarships per season.
After a quiet summer, Calipari has locked down the top perimeter trio in the 2013 class in one fell swoop. With four highly prized frontcourt prospects atop Cal’s list and several open scholarships still begging to be filled, the Cats could own the top frontcourt duo or trio in the class too before you know it.
Stay tuned. An historic recruiting class is in the works.