Kentucky Basketball: Breaking down the 2018 recruiting class
F EJ Montgomery – Marletta, GA
The highest-rated recruit in Kentucky’s 2018 class, EJ Montgomery comes in ranked at No. 9 in the nation. He is seen as the top player out of the state of Georgia as well as the second-best power forward in the class. At 6-foot-10 and 200 pounds, he obviously has plenty of size to play at the college level and he also boasts excellent athleticism and a well-rounded set of skills. For starters, he is extremely versatile. In addition to having a variety of old school back-to-the-basket moves, Montgomery also flashes a modern game with his ability to play on the wing from time to time.
He is a developing shooter and ball handler but Montgomery has already shown the ability to attack the basket and finish through traffic on film. He is very quick for his size and he often uses this to his advantage against bigger opponents. When matched up against a small defender, Montgomery has no trouble getting position in the paint and going to work with his post moves. He also uses this same versatility to match up well with just about any forward on the defensive end of the floor.
As a high school senior, Montgomery showed out for Wheeler High School. He averaged 25.6 points and 13.6 rebounds per game on the season. Now in the SEC, Montgomery will match up with Auburn, the school he was originally committed to, on several occasions.
247Sports’ Evan Daniels had this to say about Montgomery (Kentucky.com):
"“He’s got a great set of hands. He’s got really good touch. And he’s got tools on the block that make you believe he’s going to be a really good scorer long-term. He can go over either shoulder, can face up defenders, and drive them from the high post. He can catch it, and he uses pretty impressive vision and passing to put the ball in the right spot.”"
With PJ Washington and Reid Travis likely to hold down the starting forward spots in 2018-19, it seems as though Montgomery will be left to be the top reserve for UK. If this is the case, the Wildcats might just have the best sixth man in the entire country. Duke may have the best recruiting class in college basketball history on paper coming in but Kentucky will have the deeper team this season. Regardless of whether or not Montgomery starts, UK is going to bring a dominating forward off the bench to provide high-quality minutes while providing rest for the starters.
Next: Kentucky's 2019 recruiting targets
Kentucky obviously has a ton of talent coming in for this season. Considering the impact of this class as well as the returning talents, UK should be a top-5 team in 2018-19. Will Coach Cal and company live up to these high expectations? Can they make a deep run in the 2019 NCAA Tournament? We will soon find out.