The Most Impactful Kentucky Wildcat Basketball Players (1981-82-Present): #22 Brandon Knight

#22 Brandon Knight

2010-2011

Pine Crest High School, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Brandon Knight was the fourth of a succession of elite point guards that John Calipari has recently coached. Ranked as one of the top players in the country coming out of high school, Knight came into Kentucky as a McDonald’s All American, a Parade All American, a two time Florida Player of the Year, and a two time Gatorade High School Player of the Year. He was only the third high school junior to receive that award at that time, the other two were Greg Oden and LeBron James.

Knight was very different from the point guards that Cal had previously coached. He was a pure scorer and one of the most cerebral players that he had ever seen at the position. Knight graduated from the elite Pine Crest high school in Florida with a 4.3 GPA and had a passion for quoting Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Brandon was the crown jewel of Calipari’s second straight number one recruiting class at Kentucky. His class included Terrence Jones, Stacy Poole, Jr., Doron Lamb and Enes Kanter. While Kanter never saw the floor, and Poole rarely played, Knight and the other freshmen immediately had to take leadership roles on a Kentucky team that had seen every starter from the previous season beside Darius Miller leave early for the NBA.