Only one player in this year’s McDonald’s All-American game, Isaiah Briscoe, is committed to the Kentucky Wildcats. That’s a misprint right?
After all, the McDAAG is to Kentucky what UK is to the NBA; a feeder system. Last year, UK had five All-Americans in the exhibition showcase, an all time record. They had four in each of the three previous seasons.
It’s sort of Kentucky’s NBDL; just like John Calipari‘s program is a de facto NBA Developmental League program of sorts. UK still has one of the nation’s best recruiting classes coming in this year; despite having just one McDAA signed.
There’s a few reasons for that.
Charles Matthews, a 5-star point guard from St. Rita in Chicago, should have been selected for the game., but wasn’t. He’s definitely good enough. When asked about Matthews’ absence, Briscoe said that’s not for him to decide and it’s not up to him to opine on who’s in and who’s not.
Briscoe, a 6-3 combo guard from Newark, New Jersey, has good size and strength to run the point, but is undersized a bit to play shooting guard. However, he can both attack the basket and fill it up from the outside. He has a great inside-outside combination with the ability to shoot from the perimeter and get inside the paint.
How he fits in next year in Lexington depends on who leaves early for the NBA. That also determines who signs with Kentucky this month. They are not done recruiting yet. This All-American game had a record high 8 undecideds and UK is a front-runner for a couple of them; as well as a finalist for a couple more.
When asked what makes Coach Cal such a great recruiter, Isaiah Briscoe said “he’s just a business man.”
“He’s so sincere about his kids and straight-forward about everything. He doesn’t hide anything,” Briscoe continued.
“He’s straight to the point, he’s a business man. He cares about you off the court in addition to on the court.”
Or as Jay-Z famously said, “he’s not a business man, he’s a business; MAN!”
That was very evident this week in the way Coach Cal handled his media duties. Calipari was essentially asked the same question 27 times this week about “one-and-dones” by lemming media members writing their terribly cliched stories.
Calipari handled the dead horse narrative with aplomb.
He’ll do a fantastic job molding Isaiah Briscoe next year. He fits in well when UK likes to get up and down and play run-and-gun. Briscoe continues the long line of great Calipari coached guards: John Wall, Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans et al.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. You can read Banks’ feature stories and op-eds in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and hear his regular guest spots on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)