Kentucky: Home of the Five-Star Recruits
To most everybody, Kentucky experiences four seasons of weather from winter to fall. Hardcore Kentucky residents know only one season, and it just started. Wildcat devotees eat up every scrap of news when it comes to their favorite basketball team, so it should come as no surprise that this year’s incoming class presents a veritable buffet for fans to feast on throughout the 2011-12 campaign.
All of the main recruiting websites call Kentucky’s incoming class the best in the land, and with good reason. Coach John Calipari and his assistants worked their tails off to make sure Kentucky had a strong chance of getting to the NCAA Final Four, if not the national championship game, this season.
Guard Marquis Teague and forwards Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Kyle Wiltjer could be the backbone of a strong Kentucky squad that already features sophomore guard Doron Lamb, sophomore forward Terrence Jones and senior forward Darius Miller, all three of whom were named to the preseason all-SEC team.
Let’s take a look at each of the four freshmen:
*Marquis Teague, a 6-2 guard, played at Pike High School in Indianapolis, where he averaged 22.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. A finalist for the Naismith Award that signifies national player of the year, Teague scored 12 points and dished off seven assists in an exhibition victory over Morehouse. He also earned McDonald’s All-American honors.
*Anthony Davis, a 6-10 forward from Perspectives Charter Academy in Chicago, was a fellow Naismith finalist and one of four finalists for the Morgan Wootten national player of the year honor. With good reason: Davis averaged an unbelievable 32 points and 22 rebounds per game at Perspectives, and ESPN has already named him a preseason All-America candidate. Davis had 21 points and four blocked shots against Morehouse in only 20 minutes of action.
*Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a 6-7 forward from Somerdale, New Jersey, had 11 points and five boards in the Morehouse game, and he averaged 20.2 points and 11 rebounds while in high school at St. Patrick. His school reached the state championship game before suffering its first loss of the year. Oh, by the way, Kidd-Gilchrist was also a finalist for the Wootten and Naismith awards. Sense a pattern forming here?
*Kyle Wiltjer, a 6-9 forward from Portland, Oregon, averaged 19.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game as a senior at Jesuit High School, earning him McDonald’s All-American honors. He led Kentucky with 26 points in the Morehouse victory.
Full disclosure… the Morehouse game WAS an exhibition, which Kentucky easily won 125-40. Still, that exhibition could turn into future exhibitions for these incoming Wildcats. Not every game will be this easy for Kentucky, but think about this. Calipari recruited three of the five finalists for the Naismith award and two of the four finalists for the Wootten award.
The games still have to be played, but this could be Kentucky’s best team in years.
Read the in-depth preview for Kentucky basketball
