by Ben Ward
The stars of the 2010 recruiting class (Brandon Knight, Ray McCallum, and Trey Ziegler) are headlining the ESPNU National Signing Special tomorrow (4 PM EDT). But the class of 2011 will also be making a big splash as Michael Gilchrist is slated to make his selection on the show tomorrow as well. He is said to be considering Kentucky, Villanova, Oregon, Texas, and Georgia Tech but in all reality, the buzz has this as a two team race between UK and Villanova, with Kentucky considered the leader.
We know that the 2010 recruits will be the biggest grab for now because they offer immediate help to their teams, but Gilchrist is thought to be the best basketball recruit out of both classes, right now. Gilchrist has drawn steady comparisons to Kevin Durant and would be a surefire help to the 2011-12 National Championship campaign for Kentucky. ESPN has this to say about him:
Whether he’s a two or a three is not the question, he is just a terrific all-around basketball player. His jump shot has improved, especially in the mid-range area, but it needs to get more consistent out to the stripe. He is an acrobatic finisher inside and has incredible body control while double pumping in and around the bigs. However, if there is an area that needs to improve it’s his ball handling. He has a nice burst off the dribble, but when defenders get into him his handle gets sloppy-particularly his left hand. Defensively, on the other hand, he is a menace to his opponents. He slides his feet very well and due to his strength and length he is tough to break down-not too mention he had three or four spectacular blocks in transition. Overall, he is one of the few players that when he’s in the game the intensity level and quality of play automatically elevates.
Now let’s speculate wildly for a bit. If the NBA were to have a lengthy lockout as is expected, and most of this seasons recruits chose to stay at Kentucky rather than endure a wasted NBA season, the 2011-2012 season for Kentucky has a chance to absolutely be magical. Suppose Gilchrist chooses UK along with Teague and Miller for the 2011-2012 season and Lamb, Jones, Knight and Ross choose them as well. The roster would be loaded with talent, experience, depth, and scoring ability. The roster could look like this:
PG’s- Knight, Teague
SG’s- Gilchrist, Lamb, Poole, Hood
SF’s- D. Miller, Liggins, Ross
PF’s- Q. Miller, Jones
C’s- Kanter
If all that would play out (and there is a decent chance that it will – never underestimate Cal), the 2011-12 season for the Wildcats would feature nearly 10 future NBA players, and would almost certainly be the favorite to cut the nets down in 2012.
And this journey could all start tomorrow with Knight and Gilchrist announcing for UK.
Ben Ward is a new staff writer for the Wildcat Blue Blog and is representing the Big Blue from Philly.
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