Shai Alexander on why he picked Kentucky
In case you’re just waking up, four-star combo guard Shai Alexander committed to Kentucky this morning, becoming the third top 50 player to pledge to the Cats in the last five days. Even though few UK fans knew who Alexander was a few months ago, the move was expected; after decommitting from Florida on October 17, Alexander became one of John Calipari’s primary targets for the 2017 backcourt, which he will likely share with Quade Green or Trae Young.
Several national outlets released interviews with Alexander when his commitment broke this morning, and in each of them, the 6’5″ Canadian praised the professional atmosphere at Kentucky, as well as Calipari’s record of putting players in the pros.
“I recently visited Kentucky and it has everything for me,” Alexander told ESPN.com. “Practice was intense and the competition was great. (UK head) Coach (John) Calipari is a great coach and can help me achieve my goals as being one of the best point guards in the game and making it to the NBA. He looks to develop his players both as people and basketball players. He has a good sense of humor. Made me feel comfortable in a short amount time that I have known him.”
Alexander joins PJ Washington and Nick Richards in Kentucky’s 2017 class, and told Rivals’ Eric Bossi he can’t wait to see what other players Calipari reels in.
“The guys that they have already are great players,” said Alexander. “I can’t wait to see who else they have and play with them. I’m excited to get there and will do what I can to help out with recruiting.”
At 6’5″ (and apparently still growing), Alexander fits the mold of a typical Calipari point guard, which is why several scouts are comparing him to Andrew Harrison, including Paul Biancardi.
“He reminds us of a combination of two former Wildcats in Brandon Knight and Andrew Harrison,” Biancardi writes. “Knight was more of a scorer and shooter but Gilgeous-Alexander can fill it up from distance when needed as he shot 39% in the Nike EYBL. Similar to Harrison he owns terrific positional size and can see the floor with his passing as well as finding a piece of the paint with his dribble drive game.”
Sounds good to me. Here are some more highlights:
11 Comments for Shai Alexander on why he picked Kentucky
Also all the other schools that offered were trash
He had an offer from Kansas, Syracuse, and Texas. Those three aren’t trash schools. It isn’t like he was getting offers from Murray State and EKU.
Was he offered whores, though?
Positionless basketball is the key to Cal recruiting these days. We will see a number of players now and in the future like Shai with no perfectly clear position. I don’t think he will be their clear-cut PG…seems like more of a combo guard.
The key is patience, hopefully he understands not everyone will come to kentucky and contribute and play right away. Like Hawkins and Willis he will need time to debolo I hope h doesn’t transfer like Charles Mathews, who would have been a great player for us had he given it time. What do you guys think?
I think he could bring some continuity at the guard position. Definitely shouldn’t have to worry about him making the jump to the NBA after one year.
Charles Matthews would be huge for us next year!!!!!
Charles who?
Cool, but what’s with the weird asian girl giggle in his highlight video?
What is the NBA going to? Three point bombers or dribble drive? I do love Cal’s loborama!
Congrats on 4 yrs. at KSR. Sure hope you keep up the great work. You would be missed greatly.