by Paul Jordan
If Wednesday’s commitment of Brandon Knight to Kentucky proved anything, it proved that Lexington has become the mecca for college basketball point guards and it will continue to be so until John Calipari retires. You have doubts? Let’s make a date for one year from now and let’s look at what Bill Self does with Josh Selby (not much of an assumption anymore) and what John Calipari does with Brandon Knight. I guarantee you that Knight will assume his place upon the list of top college basketball point guards.
And yes, Brandon Knight will be in the position to ascend to the NBA after one year, but don’t bet on that other. From what I have read, Knight hardly seems like the typical “one and doner” and while it’s purely speculation, I get a serious vibe that Knight may be more than a one year wonder. Roll your eyes if you wish, but this Knight kid is a scholar as well as an athlete and let’s not prejudge Knight’s length of college career by his predecessors. And that pesky NBA lockout thing may be a factor as well.
Perhaps the biggest challenge that Knight will face over the next few months will not be mastering the DDMO, but stepping out of the enormous shadow of John Wall. But if there is one thing that John Calipari has excelled at is allowing his point guard to not be clones of each other, but play to their strengths and allow them to develop their own game rather than simply being a replacement of
Rose Evans
Wall .
The one thing for sure is that regardless of however long Knight stays, there will be a succession plan in place for Kentucky to have a top 5 point guard in place. The succession battle for 2011 is already waging even before Knight has set foot on the Lexington campus.
Marquis Teague of Pike High in Indianapolis is set to announce his college destination within the next couple of weeks. Long considered to be a Louisville lean (due to his dad playing for Rick Pitino), Teague has seemed close to committing to Louisville on a couple of occasions and then suddenly delayed his decision (and yes, we know what guys call someone like that). Marquis has titillated the Big Blue Nation as well, announcing dates to visit and then having to cancel at the last minute for a myriad of reasons. So what gives?
As of right now, both schools are fairly confident that Teague is theirs. Some of the national scouting pundits are still giving Louisville the edge and feel that he is Pitino’s to lose. Another interesting angle is how devastating it would be for Pitino to lose Teague to Calipari. Teague has been considered the Card’s property for so long that the gnashing of teeth from Louisville would be epic if Teague ended up wearing Blue.
While it would be disappointing for Calipari to lose Teague, it’s not like Calipari has been devoid of options for a point guard succession plan. The number two point guard in the 2011 class, Anthony Wroten, has made news the last couple of days by moving Kentucky to the top of his list almost immediately after Gilchrist made his decision known. Wroten is considered the #9 player in the 2011 class and most Wildcat fans were unaware of his recruitment before the Gilchrist announcement.
The list goes on after Teague and Wroten. Ky Madden, the number #4 PG and #15 player over all also has Kentucky listed, as does Quinn Cook, the #5 PG and #20 overall. Simply put, there is no shortage of high quality point guards that are willing to follow Wall, and even Knight to Kentucky.
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