Humphries signs with Kentucky

Isaac Humphries had known for a while he wanted to be a Wildcat, and Thursday he was ready to make it official.

UK confirmed Thursday afternoon that Humphries had signed, hours after Humphries and his La Lumiere School assistant coach Brad Johnstin announced the news to Cats Illustrated.

"He'll be at Kentucky," Johnstin said. "We knew back in March or April that we were going to try to go to 2015 but he has known for a few months that he wanted to go to UK, so we just had to work to make it happen."

With Humphries announcing and Johnstin stating that Humphries will arrive in Lexington this weekend, the Cats 2015-2016 roster is seemingly complete with the frontcourt depth finally matching the backcourt.

The 6-foot-10, 230-pound Australian native by way of La Porte, Ind., had offers from Illinois and Kentucky.

"Oh, other schools were definitely recruiting him for 2015 along with Kentucky," Johnstin said. "Pretty much everyone that wanted him for 2016 wanted to see if they could get him for 2015. But Tony Barbee did a great job recruiting him and staying in touch with us. He wanted to try and make this happen and then of course UK misses out on a few guys in 2015 so Barbee really pushed and it worked out perfectly."

Humprhies was named to the All-Tournament Team at the U-17 World Championships last year after averaging nearly 19 points, 11.6 rebounds and 3.3 blocks.

His best performance came against his future teammate, Jamal Murray. Humphries finished with 41 points, 19 rebounds and five blocks.

"Humprhies played with Murray in New York not too long ago and said that Murray may be one of the best players in the world," Johnstin said. "Now they're teammates."

The two future, or current, teammates were able to scrimmage together when they both were unofficially visiting Kentucky in early August. Pictures leaked, and that's when the Humphries to UK news heated up.

"He had already known heading into that visit that he wanted to go to UK but that solidified it," Johnstin said. "And we've known the academic side of things were going to be taken care of. The Australian school system is so much more complicated than America's that he hardly had anything that he needed to do this summer. He's been ready to go."

And now that he is committed to Kentucky, he will be at UK for at least two years. Not because his development will keep him from the NBA, but because the NBA's age rules will assure a sophomore season for Humphries.

"In the NBA you have to turn 19 during the year you're drafted," Johnstin said. "Isaac will likely be the youngest player in college basketball next season. He won't turn 18 until January. So he wouldn't be 19 until his sophomore season so he'll definitely be back."

[rl]Calipari hinted back earlier this month there could be another late addition to the roster. On Thursday he confirmed the addition of Humphries, who is ranked No. 35 and a four-star.

"I watched Isaac when he first came over to the United States in high school in Indiana and was impressed with his skill and size," Calipari said in a release. "He reminded me of a much bigger Josh Harrellson. He's very skilled, has great hands and is a great passer. To have a 7-footer who just turned 17, he has a lot still in front of him, and the best part is he wants the challenge of playing at Kentucky."

National Recruiting Analyst Eric Bossi told Cats Illustrated earlier this month, Humphries would be a solid addition to UK from a depth standpoint.

"Humphries is a low-post space eater who likes to set up on the block and patiently go about his business," National Recruiting Analyst Eric Bossi said. "He doesn't get sped up very much, has good strength and is a pretty reliable finisher with either hand around the rim and a good positional rebounder."

It's no surprise that Humprhies will be behind Skal Labissiere at the five position entering the season, but Johnstin is excited his former player will have a chance to play head-to-head with a potential No. 1 draft pick.

"Just getting to go against Skal every day in practice is going to be good for him, and good for Skal," Johnstin said. "I wouldn't expect Isaac to back down and I think both will improve."

And while the addition of Humphries is great from a depth and skill standpoint, it may take Humphries a few months to catch up to speed.

"Like most bigs, speed of the game and the athleticism of the SEC are going to be adjustments," Bossi said. "What I noticed when I was able to see him a bit with his high school team is that he has to learn to shake off one negative play and not let it turn into two or three negative plays. He can be a patient and skilled low-post scorer but has to be more mature about the way he handles things not going his way on the floor."