Kentucky Basketball is already making moves for their 2020 recruiting class. The latest is an offer to Joshua Christopher, one of the top overall players in the group.
Joshua Christopher, the 9th best player in the 2020 class, earned a scholarship offer from John Calipari and Kentucky Basketball. At the Peach Jam Invitational Christopher averaged 20.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game over the course of five games. Fortunately, he did so in front of three of Kentucky‘s coaches. John Calipari, Kenny Payne, and Joel Justus watched Christopher lead his “The Truth,” team five games deep into one of the best AAU tournaments of the summer.
Christopher announced the recent offer on his twitter page early on July 17th:
Blessed and honored to receive an offer from Coach Calipari and the university of Kentucky! #BBN pic.twitter.com/VYKKiHolGu
— Josh(ua) Christopher (@Jaygup23) July 17, 2019
Christopher is an electric guard who is not afraid to go at the rim and attack when he needs to, using his 6’4, 200lb frame to force his way into the paint. He has a knack for getting fouled on those drives to the paint, and isn’t afraid to pull-up and shoot a mid-range jumper if necessary. Looking over his tape, you can see him scoring from each level on offense, and for a shooting guard, he does not shy away from feeding his teammates if they are open. One look and you can see why he is a top-10 recruit and may have a chance to move up more spots in the rankings.
The top-ten recruit answered a few questions from KentuckySportsRadio’s Jack Pilgrim and had a lot of good things to say about the offer. Christopher emphasized the importance of the offer saying, “I mean, shoot, it’s Kentucky. It’s Calipari.” As someone who has grown up in Calipari’s tenure at Kentucky, Christopher talked about what Kentucky was to him as a child.
"“I’ve worn Kentucky hoodies and stuff like that since I was in elementary school, early middle school,” he told KSR. “Of course, my recruitment, I have to calm down with the college clothing I put on. But I’m a fan of Kentucky…”"
The recruit hinted that he will possibly commit to a school early in the process, but later said it could be a year from now. As for Kentucky’s odds, Chris Fisher is the only recruiting expert to make a prediction and it just so happens to be for Kentucky.
Right now Christopher has offers from other blue-blood programs including Kansas, Arizona, UCLA, and other big-name teams like Florida, Georgetown, and Louisville. A lot of things could change in the recruitment, but right now Kentucky has to be feeling good about their chances.