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Kentucky Basketball hits jackpot with commitment of No. 1 prospect Shaedon Sharpe

By Michael Beard

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 09: John Calipari the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats shoots gives instructions to his team against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Rupp Arena on February 09, 2021 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 09: John Calipari the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats shoots gives instructions to his team against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Rupp Arena on February 09, 2021 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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John Calipari and Kentucky Basketball are back in familiar territory after snagging the No. 1 player in the 2022 class according to Rivals, ESPN, and On3, and No. 4 according to 247 composite. This marks his first number one recruit since, believe it or not, 2012 in Nerlens Noel.

Sharpe is a 6’5″ shooting guard that can score from all 3 levels. He chose Kentucky over the likes of Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma St, and the G-League.

After an elite showing at the Nike EYBL AAU event in July, Sharpe began to get a lot more national attention and rose to the top of many recruiting services recruiting boards.

Sharpe visited Kentucky early in the summer in June. Coming off of a visit to Arizona, Sharpe was supposed to take an official visit to Kansas. Instead, he canceled the visit and went back to Kentucky again on an unofficial visit so that his parents could check it out as well. Needless to say, he got the approval from them he was looking for.

https://twitter.com/ShaedonSharpe/status/1435377545940111364?s=20

It is important to note the biggest reason Sharpe chose Kentucky was his trust and relationship not only with Calipari, but with his new assembled staff as well. Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman came over from Illinois, both being very respected assistants in the college basketball world. Also Jai Lucas, fairly new to the staff after joining last season, did his part in the recruitment as well.

Back in July during the Nike EYBL circuit, Jack Pilgrim of Kentucky Sports Radio reported today, September 7th, that Calipari caught COVID and was unable to attend the event. That didn’t keep the entire staff from coming to sit front row and watch him from the sidelines. Sharpe was their guy and they were going to ensure that they put on the full-court press.

This marks the second top 25 recruit in the 2022 class to commit to Kentucky, joining Skyy Clark, a 6’3″ point guard out of Montverde Academy.

This is likely not the end of Calipari’s recruiting class- he’s in good shape to land the likes of five-stars Cason Wallace, Chris Livingston, Derek Lively, and Adem Bona. I couldn’t imagine a world where Lively and Bona would both go to Lexington so it will likely be one or the other.

Next. Under the radar mid-major transfers. dark

Nonetheless, Kentucky should be back amongst the best of the best in the college basketball world after an abysmal 2020-21 campaign and Calipari will sit on his throne as Godfather of the recruiting world.

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