Shawn Kemp, Jr. likes UK

[ImForKy]

Kemp Jr., a 6-foot-9 junior at Cherokee High School in Canton, Ga., said yesterday after playing in the Nissan on Nicholasville Shootout at Lexington Catholic that UK, Florida, Washington and Nebraska are among the schools recruiting him. He is ranked among the top 100 players in the country by some scouting services.

"Kentucky has been recruiting me pretty hard," Kemp Jr. said. "I still have another year, so I'm just trying to focus on basketball and school right now.

"I've never really had a favorite, but I'm looking at those schools right there."

Kemp Jr., who said he was told by doctors that he could grow to 7 feet 2, said he "knows about Kentucky" basketball and would like to make a visit.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080113/SPORTS11/801130524/1002/SPORTS

[TrueblueCATfan]

Someone refresh my memory.............why didn't his dad ever play for UK?

[Classof93]

Kemp and Woods were part of the same class and they both came out of Indiana. Kemp stole a necklace from Sean Sutton and tried to pawn it. It all got out in the papers and that was that. Many suspected he wouldn't have been able to make the grades to stay eligible anyway. He would have been incredible had he ever played.

[matt colvin]

The unfortunate thing about Kemp Jr. if he ever came here is the undertones and whisperings that would surely surround him regarding his father's short time here. Hurtful jokes would always pop up, and I just don't see how he could stand it.

I'm not trying to say anything bad about restating the history of the whole ordeal, as he would have completed a dream team if it all had worked out (which, on paper, likely would have been even better than '96 for at least the starting 5). But please don't include any shots at Kemp Sr. or his life in this thread. Kemp Jr. deserves better than that.

[JayB]

Yeah I started a thread exactly like this a few months ago :icon_surprised: And the jokes began to fly :icon_rolleyes: childish....... He seems like a great player and I would love to see him here. I don't think he would be joked soo far that he couldn't stand it, I haven't seen our fan base attack too many of our players "I could be wrong" I hope anyways that no one would tease our own players :| "Jared Carter anyone?" I wish him the best wherever he ends up. Seems like a good kid.

[RP_McMurphy]

Would have been one of the all time talents to ever come to Kentucky however he had many issues and in all honesty he wasn't college material in the classroom.

[towles1]

He wasnt eligible his freshman year anyway was he? I cant remember.

[bigbluelife]

The unfortunate thing about Kemp Jr. if he ever came here is the undertones and whisperings that would surely surround him regarding his father's short time here. Hurtful jokes would always pop up, and I just don't see how he could stand it.

I'm not trying to say anything bad about restating the history of the whole ordeal, as he would have completed a dream team if it all had worked out (which, on paper, likely would have been even better than '96 for at least the starting 5). But please don't include any shots at Kemp Sr. or his life in this thread. Kemp Jr. deserves better than that.

The jokes have already started with this very recent story, as if this kid had anything to do with his faher.

[jdwade]

Kemp is a 2 star recruit, we need those 4 & 5 star recruits if we're ever gonna get back to the top.

[Tom Blevins]

He wasnt eligible his freshman year anyway was he? I cant remember.

He didn't have the grades and/or test scores. I still think of what might have been with this player.

[catfan043]

Kemp is a 2 star recruit, we need those 4 & 5 star recruits if we're ever gonna get back to the top.

Kemp is a 4 star on Rivals and #72 Overall

[MarkPopeHairCut]

Bring him In..... Who cares about the stars... It is a family member of Shawn Kemp.. You know he can play...

[teamchemistry09]

Bring him In..... Who cares about the stars... It is a family member of Shawn Kemp.. You know he can play...

Exactly. Anyone growing up playing against Shawn Kemp will be good. Ala Jeffrey Jordan. (Michaels son)

[jdwade]

Kemp is a 4 star on Rivals and #72 Overall
I know numbers can be wrong at times, but #72 is what I'm talking about. Still a pretty good ranking, but we need to keep it in the top 30 or so if we plan to get back on top. And really, we need to start tapping into the top 10! And John Wall is a #9 for the '09 class. That's what we need. But like I said, rankings can be wrong sometimes. Look at Crawford. As much as he's helped us alot of times, he was #9 in his class, and I haven't really seen him live up to that ranking. Still a good player none the less.

[cosmonaut]

I know numbers can be wrong at times, but #72 is what I'm talking about. Still a pretty good ranking, but we need to keep it in the top 30 or so if we plan to get back on top. And really, we need to start tapping into the top 10! And John Wall is a #9 for the '09 class. That's what we need. But like I said, rankings can be wrong sometimes. Look at Crawford. As much as he's helped us alot of times, he was #9 in his class, and I haven't really seen him live up to that ranking. Still a good player none the less.

I don't think we really need another all-american down low, just some one who can rebound, play some defense, make lay-ups, etc.

[countrycat]

I agree, everyone can't top 30 and above, but I believe at this time we could use a little more help for Mr. Patterson.

[Wildcat97]

I know numbers can be wrong at times, but #72 is what I'm talking about. Still a pretty good ranking, but we need to keep it in the top 30 or so if we plan to get back on top. And really, we need to start tapping into the top 10! And John Wall is a #9 for the '09 class. That's what we need. But like I said, rankings can be wrong sometimes. Look at Crawford. As much as he's helped us alot of times, he was #9 in his class, and I haven't really seen him live up to that ranking. Still a good player none the less.

I ask you to really think about that. The rankings of tens of thousands of HS kids, boiled down to a top 150. Just how arbitrary are some of the rankings? jdwade looks for the out in bringing up JC, but here are more to add to the discussion. These, IMO, should help to reduce the worry of the "But he's not in the TOP 30" issue.

Just a few we have played for all to have a reference point.

#36 - Al Horford - we would all like a clone at UK. GREAT college complementary player. Goes well with anyone I would think.
#72 - ReShawn Terry - always a player...didn't he do well against us?
#75 - Joakim Noah - Love him or HATE him (lol), he would do lots of things to annoy the other team.
#82 - Shan Foster - (personal favorite from the quick list) Just a player...maybe not a down low guy, but any team would benefit.
# 92 - Renaldo Balkman - Non-stop motor, always rasied the level of entire team's game when in...instant spark.

Not saying that the rankings are useless...but we all must remember that good, maybe even great, college players for this era may be anywhere in that list...or not even on it (rarely).

We should all remember that before discussing a possible recruits ranking not in the "Top 30".

And in counterpoint, similar to Joe C earlier, ranked #44 - Josh Carrier - very good / great HS player in his area. His game didn't develop / translate to the college ranks well for whatever reason.

To me, the previous sentence sums it up...it happens.

Thanks...Go Cats!

[matt colvin]

I ask you to really think about that. The rankings of tens of thousands of HS kids, boiled down to a top 150. Just how arbitrary are some of the rankings? jdwade looks for the out in bringing up JC, but here are more to add to the discussion. These, IMO, should help to reduce the worry of the "But he's not in the TOP 30" issue.

Just a few we have played for all to have a reference point.

#36 - Al Horford - we would all like a clone at UK. GREAT college complementary player. Goes well with anyone I would think.
#72 - ReShawn Terry - always a player...didn't he do well against us?
#75 - Joakim Noah - Love him or HATE him (lol), he would do lots of things to annoy the other team.
#82 - Shan Foster - (personal favorite from the quick list) Just a player...maybe not a down low guy, but any team would benefit.
# 92 - Renaldo Balkman - Non-stop motor, always rasied the level of entire team's game when in...instant spark.

Not saying that the rankings are useless...but we all must remember that good, maybe even great, college players for this era may be anywhere in that list...or not even on it (rarely).

We should all remember that before discussing a possible recruits ranking not in the "Top 30".

And in counterpoint, similar to Joe C earlier, ranked #44 - Josh Carrier - very good / great HS player in his area. His game didn't develop / translate to the college ranks well for whatever reason.

To me, the previous sentence sums it up...it happens.

Thanks...Go Cats!


Excellent work with the numbers, and this should be kept in mind. It's easy to get caught up in the rankings, but they certainly aren't always correct. There are just two many variables to classify a player by their ranking only.

[phantompain]

I think even Pitino (shhh, I didn't say that name) said that when looking at recruits, you can count on the Top10-15 being in their own class, and everything from 15-70 are about the same.

Some kids are late bloomers, some don't get the exposure that others do, some get too much exposure and are overranked, some are early bloomers. I think Pitino had it right though. There are tiers to these guys and I don't know the exact ranking numbers that would apply, but I would think 1-20 is a tier and then 20-60 (or somewhere around there is another tier), and so on. Just my opinion though.