Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Recruiting: Calipari showing interest in Tyler Ulis
The point guard position for the Kentucky Basketball Class of 2014 is far from locked up, but may look better now that head coach John Calipari has jumped in the mix for 4-star Chicago point guard Tyler Ulis. The Wildcats haven’t yet offered according to Ulis’ father, James Ulis, but he told SNY.TV’s Adam Zagoria that they plan to visit soon.
The 5’9″ point guard is going into his senior year with Marian Catholic (Chicago, Ill.) and nearly finished with his final summer with Meanstreets, an AAU team that the Kentucky Wildcats coaching staff knows well. Two of Coach Cal’s best players played for Meanstreets, Anthony Davis and Derrick Rose, and he has always recruited well in and around Chicago. Ulis has plenty of offers already though, listing Michigan State, Purdue, Northwestern, Depaul, Iowa, Florida State, and Southern California.
A commitment from Ulis would definitely break the mold of traditional John Calipari and Kentucky point guards. At his 5’8″ size, Ulis looks tiny compared to past Kentucky players to run the point, but he makes up for his lack of size with his top-notch basketball IQ. He is excellent in both a fast-paced and half-court offense, surprisingly competent with the ball while slashing in-between players with multiple inches on him. His ball-handling ability is as good as it gets, and that size he draws so much attention for helps, keeping a low center of gravity and the ball close to the floor. Ulis likes to drive off of the crossover, kicking it out at the last minute, finishing at the basket, or just dribbling through to reset the offense. A pass-first point guard, he can still hit the open shot, which I’m sure will be expected of him no matter where he plays at.
Tyler Ulis’ weaknesses are inherently obvious, his size being the starting point. He will need to add strength to be able to handle much stronger, and taller, defenders as well as helping him finish at the basket when the defense tends to get more physical. But what Ulis lacks in size, he makes up for in heart. He has a game that seems to never stop, as if just watching him makes you tired. His movement without the ball is just as good as it is with it, as his size allows him to jump into passing lanes and around screens that bigger guards just can’t do as well.
Very few scouts think that Tyler Ulis’ small stature will hold him back very much, and I have to agree with them. His basketball IQ is amazing, and the extent to which he has learned to actually turn that small size into an advantage is fun to watch. He’s a player that never quits or takes plays off on either side of the ball, making him a fan favorite already with many of the program’s fan-bases that are recruiting him. Teams Ulis will eventually face-off against will focus on trying to keep him out of the lane, opening up shooters on the outside as well as players cutting baseline to the basket. Ulis presents a nightmare for opposing coaches to game plan against because his game is just so well-rounded, presenting no glaring weakness to exploit besides taking him to the basket every time he has to defend a bigger guard. As he has proven time and time again though, that is far from an easy task.
The fact is, a high-major D1 recruit at point guard who is barely 5’9″ will always draw attention because of that height. But Ulis is the exception, a point guard that will play and succeed at that level, having learned so many ways to carve up a defense that his size disadvantage almost becomes an advantage. Ask any player who has had to defend Tyler Ulis on the AAU circuit this summer how much his height matters and you definitely won’t find many who cite it as anything but a positive in his game. If Kentucky does offer Ulis and is lucky enough to get him, the 2014-2015 Kentucky Wildcats Basketball team will be in great hands.