Photo: Eric Haynes / Governor’s Office
Top Kentucky recruit Nerlens Noel got the star treatment in Boston on Monday, meeting Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
Patrick was sharing some advice with the incoming freshman, according to a statement the governor’s office sent the Herald-Leader on Tuesday.
“Governor Patrick met with Everett resident Nerlens Noel to congratulate him on his athletic success and wish him well in Kentucky. Nerlens told the Governor about his childhood growing up in Massachusetts and discussed the athletic, academic and social transition of starting his freshman year of college.”
Patrick probably knows a little something about the “academic transition.” The governor has bachelor’s and law degrees from Harvard University.
Noel, who grew up just outside of Boston, is back in Massachusetts finishing up his high school coursework in order to be eligible at UK this season. He’s expected to join the rest of the Wildcats in Lexington in the next few weeks.
Fun fact: Patrick writes in his autobiography, A Reason to Believe, that his grandparents were born in Kentucky and later moved to Chicago, where Patrick was born. A spokeswoman for the governor said Patrick discussed those Kentucky roots with Noel.
