Seven Kentucky Underclassman Coming Out Early

[Tugg Speedman]

Kentucky's Top Seven Scorers Leaving School to Enter NBA Draft
By Eben Novy-Williams

(Bloomberg) -- The University of Kentucky basketball team's top seven scorers said they are leaving school early to enter the National Basketball Association draft.

The Wildcats finished the regular season undefeated and lost to Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament semifinals. Six of the seven are projected first-round picks, according to an ESPN poll of NBA executives.

Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Trey Lyles and Devin Booker announced their decisions Thursday in a joint press conference in Lexington.

"Going into this season you just want to be a part of something special," Booker said. "We wanted to make history and we did that."
The 30 players taken in the first round of the draft for next season will make from $4.75 million to $943,000 as rookies, according to the league's labor agreement.

Towns, a freshman, is the top-rated prospect according to ESPN. Under coach John Calipari, Kentucky has produced 15 first round-draft picks in the past five years.

Before the announcement Kentucky was the 10-1 co-favorite to win next year's national championship, according to Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.

[esotericmindguy]

Had Booker and Unis been their guards I think they win the national championship. The twins are not good basketball players. Cannot stand guards that can't shoot, and the NBA doesn't either.

[humanlung]

At what point do they simply kick Kentucky into the NBA-D League and end the charade?

[brewcity77]

I would say the Harrisons and Johnson are making a mistake. The rest should be first round picks, but that second round valuation just seems questionable to declare on.

[tower912]

Kentucky has a nice class coming in, but how many player are out there to compensate for losing 7 players early?

[Tugg Speedman]

Kentucky has a nice class coming in, but how many player are out there to compensate for losing 7 players early?

By getting 3 or 4 more burger boys to commit

I posted this last week:

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http://highschoolcubenews.com/2015/03/31/simeon-coach-robert-smith-stevensons-jalen-brunson-lead-west-team-mcdonalds-american-game/

Zimmerman, from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, is one of eight uncommitted players in the game. It's an unusually high number of undecided players this late in the recruiting process. Seven of those players are ranked in the top 13 in the nation by scout.com (6-10 Thomas Bryant is ranked No. 33).

[Simeon coach Robert] Smith is dead right when he speculates on the reason so many ([McDonald AAs] are still undecided: "I think a lot of them are waiting to see what happens with Kentucky, who leaves and who stays."

Jaylen Brown, Bryant, Zimmerman and Newman are all considering the Wildcats, so that's half the group.

"I think all the coaching changes have some kids up in the air still too," Smith. "There are always a lot of coaches changing spots in the spring, so sometimes it makes sense to wait and see how that all ends up."

[brewcity77]

Kentucky has a nice class coming in, but how many player are out there to compensate for losing 7 players early?

Per ESPN rankings, they have #3 Skal Labissiere, #13 Isaiah Briscoe, and #42 Charles Matthews committed.

#2 Jaylen Brown, #4 Malik Newman, and #10 Stephen Zimmerman would be my bets on guys that join them now that UK has 7 openings.

#8 Caleb Swanigan, #11 Cheick Diallo, and #14 Brandon Ingram are all also possibilities.

[JWags85]

Had Booker and Unis been their guards I think they win the national championship. The twins are not good basketball players. Cannot stand guards that can't shoot, and the NBA doesn't either.

Booker got ABUSED on defense in the UW game.  He hit some nice jumpers, but I groaned when he came in and Dekker or Koenig blew right by him.

[kmwtrucks]

I think if you draft booker in the 1st round you are making a Marques Teague mistake.  He is not a good athlete and does nothing particular well.   That said if he comes back everybody will figure out that he is not that good.  So If can get a 1st round commitment he should stay.  I just hope its not the bulls taking him.

[source?]

Yikes. I know 1 and done is their model, but can they still bring in enough talent to replace these guys or is next year a return to the NIT?

[BCHoopster]

Yikes. I know 1 and done is their model, but can they still bring in enough talent to replace these guys or is next year a return to the NIT?

The biggest mistake might be Charles Mathews??  They get Newman and Briscoe add Ulis and Mathews is there 4th guard.  I really do not see Kentucky getting back to the Final 4,  They had
some experience in Stein, Harrisons at least.  Next year they will have only Lee- just OK, and Alex P back (had knee surgery).  I will give Calipari great credit if he can.

[brewcity77]

The biggest mistake might be Charles Mathews??

Charles Matthews was so close to being a Marquette player...when he committed to Kentucky, it felt like the second coming of the Iman Shumpert recruitment.

[HouWarrior]

Because Bo also took a swipe at the one and dones...is this simply his jealousy? Has any NCAA BB coach refused to recruit a player because he might leave for the NBA after one year?
Henry may be good enough, but we at MU are happy to have him, even if just for a year.
If any top 10 recruit, with possible one year NBA potential,  agreed to go to a particular school, would they say no we wont take you because we insist you stay here longer... I doubt it.
The swiping at one and dones seems to be jealousy, and/or complaints of the more  competitive imbalance by many of them concentrated into the premier programs, like UK, (or Duke, to a lesser extent).

[Tugg Speedman]

Because Bo also took a swipe at the one and dones...is this simply his jealousy? Has any NCAA BB coach refused to recruit a player because he might leave for the NBA after one year?
Henry may be good enough, but we at MU are happy to have him, even if just for a year.
If any top 10 recruit, with possible one year NBA potential,  agreed to go to a particular school, would they say no we wont take you because we insist you stay here longer... I doubt it.
The swiping at one and dones seems to be jealousy, and/or complaints of the more the competitive imbalance by many of them concentrated into the premier programs, like UK, (or Duke, to a lesser extent).

Bo is a hypocrite ... why did he spend the last year recruiting Diamond Stone?  Does Bo really think he's a four year (or even three year) player?

[Golden Avalanche]

Had Booker and Unis been their guards I think they win the national championship. The twins are not good basketball players. Cannot stand guards that can't shoot, and the NBA doesn't either.

Did you watch the Wisconsin-Kentucky game? The Harrison's were excellent in the first half and only Cal's stupefying decision to not start them for the second half prevented them from rolling that momentum into a win for Kentucky. 18 of their 25 points came in the opening 20 and Cal crushed that with his over coaching.

As mentioned above, Booker got abused left and right by Wisky and Ulis was giving up five inches on the shortest Wisky guard. Not sure that combo would even keep the game under double digits if they played the majority of minutes.

[Tugg Speedman]

Per ESPN rankings, they have #3 Skal Labissiere, #13 Isaiah Briscoe, and #42 Charles Matthews committed.

#2 Jaylen Brown, #4 Malik Newman, and #10 Stephen Zimmerman would be my bets on guys that join them now that UK has 7 openings.

#8 Caleb Swanigan, #11 Cheick Diallo, and #14 Brandon Ingram are all also possibilities.

Caleb Swanigan, No. 8 in ESPN 100, commits to Michigan St.
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/basketball/mens/story/_/id/12664698/caleb-swanigan-no-8-espn-100-commits-michigan-state-spartans

[Dish]

Malik will be the last one of the McD AA's to announce where he goes. He is in no hurry at all.

[77ncaachamps]

UK - the #1 supplier of NBA and NBADL basketball players.

[Warrior Code]

I too have declared for the NBA draft, although I will not be signing with an agent.

[brewcity77]

I too have declared for the NBA draft, although I will not be signing with an agent.

Good choice. No offense intended, but Bo thinks you could use another year to work on your flopping and aggravated with the ref face.

[wadesworld]

Malik will be the last one of the McD AA's to announce where he goes. He is in no hurry at all.

In my opinion, he's the best player in the country.  Can shoot (although I don't like the extra little foot kick he does before he releases his shot) and can get to the rim whenever he wants, and finishes through contact.  Really quick too.

[Dish]

In my opinion, he's the best player in the country.  Can shoot (although I don't like the extra little foot kick he does before he releases his shot) and can get to the rim whenever he wants, and finishes through contact.  Really quick too.

I think a lot of schools in this country are going to be disappointed when he announces at the end of the month.

[wadesworld]

I think a lot of schools in this country are going to be disappointed when he announces at the end of the month.

So you're saying Bradley sold him on Marquette? 

[Warrior Code]

Good choice. No offense intended, but Bo thinks you could use another year to work on your flopping and aggravated with the ref face.

I had to play for Bo because I couldn't get into Marquette, the real Harvard of the Midwest. Wojo's kid will tweet the whole story later.