Derrick Rose. Tyreke Evans. John Wall. Brandon Knight. The lineage of John Calipari-coached point guards is beyond impressive. That tradition will continue next season when McDonald’s All-American Marquis Teague arrives at Kentucky.
(This is a Paul M. Banks and David Kay collaboration.)
A consensus top ten recruit, Teague is considered by most as the top point guard in the 2011 class. So it is only fitting the Indianapolis native chose Kentucky as his college destination over Kansas, Purdue, and Louisville which is especially significant since his father played for Rick Pitino at Boston University in the mid-1980′s. “Fits my style of play best,” Teague said at the MAA media day. “There’s a lot of talent there. I want to be around talented players. Coach Cal, he had Derrick Rose, Brandon Knight, John Wall. It’s hard to say no to that.”
At 6-2, Teague brings great size and strength to the point guard position. He is lightning with the basketball especially in the open floor and shows great poise and court vision for a young floor general. Athleticism is another one of his strengths as he can be explosive at the rim when attacking off the dribble. All those traits make him the ideal fit to run the show for Calipari and already have him as a lottery prospect in our 2012 NBA Mock Draft.
The younger brother of former Wake Forest point guard and current Atlanta Hawk, Jeff Teague, Marquis tries to emulate his game after a different NBA point guard. “I like Russell Westbrook a lot. If I had to say anybody I like to model my game on him; athletic, quick, fast.” Like Westbrook when he first entered the league, Teague listed his jumpshot as the area of his game that he is trying to improve the most.
Teague is one of four McDonald’s All-Americans heading to Lexington next season. He will be joined by Anthony Davis, MMA co-MVP Michael Gilchrist, and Kyle Wiltjer meaning there will certainly not be a shortage of talent at Kentucky even if freshmen Knight and Terrence Jones bolt for the 2011 NBA Draft. The Wildcats will add their extremely talented recruiting class to sharpshooter Doron Lamb and versatile wing players DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller who all play important roles on this past season’s Final Four team.
“Next year hopefully we do the same thing,” Teague added. At least on paper that seems like a realistic goal since Kentucky figures to compete with North Carolina for the #1 ranking in the 2011-2012 pre-season polls.
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com You can follow him on Twitter at DavidKay_TSB.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
He does a regular guest spot each week for Chicagoland Sports Radio.com You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank
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