Enes Kanter is the real deal, no doubt about it

After Saturday night, as a UK fan, you had to be excited for this upcoming season. There is absolutely no way you couldn’t be. Especially after a performance like that of future UK player Enes Kanter, you had to have a smile on your face. The Turkish sensation was no more than a folk legend of sorts, with only YouTube highlights of his time playing in Turkey and and at Stoneridge Prep in California to prove himself. Yes, we had known for quite sometime of this young man’s talent on paper, but to see it in person was even better.

He formally introduced himself to the college basketball world on Saturday at the Rose Garden. He took control of the game in the third quarter and scored all of his points in the second half. All 34 of his points that is, not to mention he had 13 rebounds to go along with it. That kind of performance in only playing 24 minutes is pretty, pretty good as Larry David would put it. He set an all-time scoring record in the Nike Hoop Summit Tournament, eclipsing that of Dirk Nowitzki’s 33 points.

Kanter does not have the stocky, muscular build of a DeMarcus Cousins, but like Cousins he can score in any way while in the post. He is just as athletic as a Terrence Jones but has the footwork of Cousins, just to put it into perspective. He has great hands for rebounding, and it showed. And its not like Kanter was playing a local high school in California, either. He was on the court with the likes of Harrison Barnes, Terrence Jones, Jared Sullinger, Brandon Knight, Cory Joseph, among others. He also has plenty of experience in playing against more experienced and talented players as he did in Turkey for quite sometime while playing on a semi-pro team. If anything, it adds to the fact that Washington still has a sour taste in their mouths from his decommittment there, with Kanter stating that, “I didn’t know too much about college basketball.” This has ultimately left the Huskies scrambling to get Terrence Jones to replace Kanter for next season.

Even if the Huskies manage to sign Jones, it doesn’t take away from the fact that they let a talented big man in Kanter get away from them, and if Jones signs with Kentucky, then that’s two right off the bat. Kanter is proving all those in the anti-Calipari/anti-UK camp (Dan Wolken annd Pat Forde, I’m looking at you) wrong in that Calipari can certainly pick which talented players he wants at any given time, and that UK can simply reload a lot quicker than many people thought. He is also just as talented, if not more, than most of those that played on both the USA and World teams. Add a few more talented players in next year’s class with Kanter and you have yourself another talented squad.

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