It’s been a hectic week in Big Blue Nation. The Wildcats lost an important assistant coach, but gained a longtime friend of Coach Cal. And lots of recruiting news. Let’s get right to it.
Bruiser Flint replaces Kenny Payne
On Tuesday, Kentucky assistant coach Kenny Payne accepted the offer to join the New York Knicks coaching staff under head coach Tom Thibbideau. Former Indiana assistant coach, and long-time friend of Coach Cal, Bruiser Flint would be replacing him. Brusier was on the coaching staff with Cal at UMass. While we haven’t yet seen Flint coach at Kentucky, there is chemistry built in already from their Minutemen days.
While losing Payne will be a major blow to the program, this will put assistant coach Joel Justus at the top of the chain among assistants. He will continue to do his thing on the recruiting trail. Joel is a major part in Kentucky’s recruiting success. He was a big factor in bringing in most of the incoming freshman this year’s class.
Skyy Clark update
2022 5-star G Skyy Clark will not be reclassifying to the 2021 class (as of now). However, he will leave the door open if he changes his mind. His father says if by April there is significant growth, then he will reconsider and probably reclassify. Clark is already a very mature player and person. However, there’s still room for growth, and college is very different than high school.
Bryce Hopkins update
Kentucky reached out to 2021 Bryce Hopkins, right after he decommited from Louisville because of “uncertainties of the programs sanctions.” A few days after reaching out to him, Kentucky and Bryce had a zoom call that his father said went will. He and his family were blown away by the virtual visit. Kentucky will be offering him soon, with his decision coming in September. In the end, expect Bryce to end up a Wildcat.
The Kennedy Chandler domino
2021 5-star PG Kennedy Chandler committed to Tennessee over Memphis, Kentucky, Duke, and UNC. He was presumed as a Tennessee lock for a while, so this one didn’t surprise me. However, after his commitment, 24/7 writer Jerry Meyer logged a crystal ball pick for 5-star PF Paolo Banchero to Tennessee. Both Kennedy and Paolo could team up there. They’ve been talking about teaming up for a while. Both Tennessee and Kentucky are neck and neck in Paolo’s recruitment. If crystal balls for Tennessee start pouring in over the next 2 months, it could be bad for the Cats. While both Cal and Rick Barnes push harder for Paolo, some point guard options now that Kennedy is off the table is:
- 2021 5-star G Hunter Sallis, who Kentucky just recently reached out to.
- Hope Devin Askew returns to Kentucky for a Sophomore season.
- Maybe a reclassification from 2022 Skyy Clark, who will might still actually reclassify depending on his growth this season.
- Of course, Kentucky will look at hitting the transfer market. I’ve heard they will hit the market very hard next off-season.
A different type of CBB Bubble
Kentucky will not be playing UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic this year, due to the Pac-12 canceling all of their sports up until January 1st. The game was scheduled in December, close to Christmas time. It’s unclear what they will do. However, conference-only games is definitely a possibility.
NCAA VP of Basketball Dan Gavitt says he remains confident in a college basketball season. In a zoom conference call with Andy Katz, UK AD Mitch Barnhart, and NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson: “We’re trying to exercise patience & make informed decisions. We remain very confident we’ll have a college basketball season, albeit different.” He also said March Madness will happen in 2021: “We are going to have a tournament.”
Mitch Barnhart kept stressing that this year’s season and tournament “isn’t going to be fair,” due to the virus, protocols, and lack of normalcy in the world right now.
NCAA’s President Mark Emmert brought up the idea of using a bubble for the NCAA Tournament. “Starting with 64 teams is tough. Thirty-two, OK, maybe that’s a manageable number. Sixteen, certainly manageable. But you’ve got to figure out those logistics. There’s doubtlessly ways to make that work. It’s obviously expensive to do that. But we’re not going to hold a championship in a way that puts student-athletes at risk. If we need to do a bubble model and that’s the only way we can do it, then we’ll figure it out”.
Coach Cal said he’s for a bubble in the Tournament:
“We can play the NCAA Tournament in a bubble. Instead of it being weeks on weeks long, maybe it’s short. You lose, you’re out of the bubble. You go home.”
