This week’s Kentucky Basketball Recruiting Notes features thoughts on five-stars Cade Cunningham, Josh Christopher, and Cam’Ron Fletcher
In one of the ten greatest films ever devised, Face/Off, eccentric star Nicolas Cage once declared, “I could eat a peach for hours.” To modify this quote a bit, I could watch Peach Jam highlights for hours. The 2019 edition of the AAU/recruiting carnival featured, as usual, stellar basketball and shot a brand new round of gossip into the college basketball recruiting rumor mill. Here are some thoughts on three Kentucky Basketball targets (Cade Cunningham, Josh Christopher, and Cam’Ron Fletcher) and where the Cats stand with each.
Cade Cunningham
Cunningham is my favorite player in the entire class, actually; and by quite a wide margin I should add. If I was to compare Cade to an NBA player, I’d consider him a worse (at this point) version of Luka Doncic who swapped 20 pounds of pudge for 10 pounds of muscle that can move his feet a lot quicker and defend more competitively. Like Doncic, Cunningham is essentially a 6’7 point guard who can shoot threes and play (and defend, unlike Luka) three positions. Devastatingly, Cunningham is almost certainly headed to Oklahoma State. (Yuck). Yeah, they pulled this crazy Ace out of their sleeve called our basketball program is utterly pathetic so we hired the brother of a top-three recruit so we can land him. How convenient.
In case you’re curious, the brother that Oklahoma State hired, Cannen Cunningham, is absolutely qualified for an assistant coaching spot on a power-conference team, evidenced by his zero years spent coaching at any level of basketball. But he did perform under intense pressure as the associate director of video operations for Tulane in 2018-19. (At Louisville, that position is titled “Adult Filmographer“). This same Oklahoma State program was caught up in all kinds of FBI mess over the past two seasons, a clear sign that there are no ill intentions with this Cannen hire.
I hope the whole staff gets slashed by the FBI amid the rampant foul play and this Cannen guy survives as the only coach on staff. Let’s throw an even worse coach than Johnny Jones out there with the best recruit in the country. What could go wrong?
Cheaters are usually losers anyway, just ask Zion- and Bagley-era Duke. Dropped bags = dropped Elite Eight games apparently.
Josh Christopher
Christopher, who recently received an offer from John Calipari and Kentucky, will release his new top-five very soon according to a couple of speculative tweets from the five-star teenager. (Spoiler: Kentucky will make the cut). I wrote about his game in more detail last week when Christopher received his offer from the Kentucky Basketball program. On the surface, I’m a fan of his game. As an average athlete (by five-star standards), Josh plays with reserved flashiness and an advanced understanding of how to move within an advanced offensive system. He’s a smart player; dependable passer (capable of handling point guard responsibilities) and thrives scoring off the bounce, especially with his Harden-mimicked step-back three (not sure Calipari will extend him the leash on that particular shot, though).
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Judging by how excited Josh Christopher was to receive the offer from Kentucky and his upcoming list-trimming, he seems like the type of kid who wants to move through his recruitment rather swiftly. The other day he joined the long list of current and future cats to refer to Kentucky as their “dream school.” I have a sneaking suspicion Christopher will end up in Kentucky blue when it’s all said and done.
Cam’Ron Fletcher
As a pure prospect, Fletcher is a bit off the radar for Kentucky fans. A small forward ranked in the mid-30s by 247 Sports, Cam’Ron isn’t a typical Calipari recruit at first glance. He actually falls into Calipari’s most bi-polar recruiting range in terms of player success. With guys ranked outside the top-25 but still within the top-50, Kentucky’s made the best out of Shai Gilgeuous-Alexander, Tyler Herro, and Tyler Ulis–who all were slotted between 27-35. Cal isn’t a %100 shooter with this type of prospect either, as Stacey Poole, Jon Hood, and Sacha Killeya-Jones are examples of players who’ve underwhelmed from that recruiting positon. Point being: guys ranked in the 25-50 range are generally toss-ups in terms of success on the basketball court.
Now, is Kentucky Basketball in on Fletcher? I’d say so. According to CatsPause, Fletcher visited unofficially in the last month and is fired up for round two starting on August 1st. He already holds an offer from the Cats but his biggest concern should be Calipari potentially recruiting over him. Plus, Kentucky has three small forwards on next year’s roster as it stands. If I was Cam’Ron, I’d hold out and see how Kentucky’s situation at the three plays out over the next few months both on the recruiting front and on the court before making a final call. But who knows. Maybe he’s destined to be a cat. In that case, fire away Cam!
I plan on writing about three Kentucky recruits every Monday so stay tuned. Also, comment below or email us with any recruiting or basketball questions you have at MailWBN@gmail.com.