BREAKING: No. 1 player Shaedon Sharpe picks UK
Kentucky landed its most heralded basketball recruit in a number of years on Tuesday when Shaedon Sharpe, the No. 1 recruit from the Class of 2022, announced his commitment to the Wildcats.
John Wall and Skal Labissiere are the two other No. 1 recruits from their respective classes who picked Kentucky during the John Calipari era, so it has been several years since Kentucky — which has been so synonymous with basketball recruiting successes over the last decade — has landed the nation's top-ranked player according to Rivals.com.
Sharpe could have just about had his pick of any program in college basketball but had narrowed his choices to Kentucky, Arizona, Oklahoma State, Kansas, and the G-League.
Cats Illustrated has reported on Sharpe extensively in recent months. Now let insiders David Sisk and Travis Graf opine on what his addition means for UK basketball...
David Sisk: Anyway you slice it, Shaedon Sharpe's commitment to Kentucky is a huge deal for the Wildcats. For starters this is just the third top-ranked player to pledge to the Cats in the John Caliapri era. Sharpe joins John Wall and Skal Labissiere. But more importantly, Sharpe will be a difference maker from the guard position. Just think how important other elite guards like De"Aaron Fox, Devin Askew, and Jamal Murray have been to the program. Sharpe should be in that small and elite group.
Kentucky has not had anyone like that since the duo of Immanuel Quickley and Tyler Herro, and I don't think either one of them have the ceiling that Sharpe possesses. As with Cade Cunningham and Anthony Edwards in the past couple of years, Sharpe is not more potential than present day talent. Yes, he should be a star in the NBA, but he should also be a game changer as a freshman at Kentucky. Sharpe joins Skyy Clark in the Cats current 2022 recruiting haul. Cason Wallace might not be far behind, and if Coach Cal could land a big like Dereck Lively then we are talking about one of the best Kentucky recruiting classes ever through the early signing period. it will also generate more excitement from the Kentucky fan base about a group of freshmen than they have had in years. No matter how good the Big Blue might be this coming year, the future will always be in the back of the fans' minds.
Travis Graf: Landing Shaedon Sharpe is a huge message to the rest of the basketball recruiting landscape that Kentucky is “back”. This new staff has re-energized John Calipari and it’s showing. There wasn’t anyone who had a better summer AAU showing than Sharpe. Getting the number one prospect in the fold in the fall makes Kentucky an even more attractive destination for top prospects. Sharpe is a scoring guard that can run some point in a pinch and projects as Kentucky’s best scorer since Malik Monk or Jamal Murray. He’s a threat to put it into the basket from 10 feet beyond the three-point line, scoring off the catch or off of the bounce. He’s a freak athlete who is a Hamidou Diallo style dunker, and should get many more chances to rock the rim than Diallo did. In terms of player comparison, there’s components of each of these players’ games - Malik Monk, Zach Lavine, Brad Beal, and Jaylen Brown.