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Michigan native Young has always been a Wildcat

 Posted by at 3:20 PM on April 11, 2013  2 Responses »
Apr 112013
 
James Young throws down a dunk in the McDonald's All-American game as future UK teammate Marcus Lee looks on. Photo courtesy of McDonald's

James Young throws down a dunk in the McDonald’s All-American game as future UK teammate Marcus Lee looks on.
Photo courtesy of McDonald’s

His homestate school was playing for a national championship Monday night, but James Young probably wasn’t paying that much attention.

The Detroit-area native didn’t grow up a Michigan Wolverines fan, despite the Ann Arbor campus being just an hour’s drive from his house.

Tom Izzo has taken nearby Michigan State to six Final Fours and won a national championship in Young’s lifetime, but he wasn’t a Spartans supporter either.

While his friends wore green or maize, Young preferred Kentucky blue.

“It’s always been my school,” the McDonald’s All-American told the Herald-Leader last week. “I’ve had UK stuff forever. Even before Calipari, I always used to watch them — it was my dream school. So when he called and wanted me to go there, it was a blessing.”

The call from John Calipari was a long time coming. At least, it seemed that way to Young.

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The Magnificent Seven: UK’s recruiting class of 2013

 Posted by at 1:30 PM on March 20, 2013  No Responses »
Mar 202013
 

With the addition of Julius Randle, UK’s recruiting class of 2013 now consists of seven players — six of whom are McDonald’s All-Americans.

Here’s a closer look at the next wave of Wildcats:

UK’s recruiting class of 2013
Player Pos Ht Wt Hometown Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Aaron Harrison SG 6-5 205 Houston, Texas 4 4 7 3
Andrew Harrison PG 6-5 205 Houston, Texas 5 3 5 4
Dakari Johnson C 6-11 250 New York City 13 18 11 13
Marcus Lee F 6-9 200 Antioch, Calif. 18 21 18 9
Julius Randle PF 6-8 240 Plano, Texas 2 5 3 2
Derek Willis SF 6-9 200 Mt. Washington, Ky. 129 – – 64
James Young G/F 6-6 200 Rochester, Mich. 10 10 6 11
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Recruits visit Rupp Arena for UK-Florida game

 Posted by at 4:30 PM on March 9, 2013  2 Responses »
Mar 092013
 

Class of 2014 stars Trey Lyles and Goodluck Okonoboh were in Rupp Arena on Saturday for Kentucky’s possible season-saving victory over 11th-ranked Florida.

Lyles, the No. 4 overall player in the junior class, was making his fourth visit to Lexington since September. He wore a UK sweatshirt and tweeted before the game about sitting near Papa John’s founder John Schnatter.

The 6-foot-9 forward from Indianapolis recently narrowed his list to UK, Florida, Louisville, Duke, UCLA and Butler.

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Young coming to Lexington for the Florida game

 Posted by at 1:14 PM on March 4, 2013  2 Responses »
Mar 042013
 
James Young is expected to be in Rupp Arena on Saturday for UK's game against Florida. Photo: The Oakland Press

James Young is expected to be in Rupp Arena on Saturday for UK’s game against Florida.
Photo: The Oakland Press

UK signee James Young tweeted Monday morning that he will be in Lexington this weekend for UK’s regular-season finale against Florida.

Young used his official visit for Big Blue Madness, but he still hasn’t seen a UK game in Rupp Arena. The Cats host Florida at noon Saturday.

Young has been sidelined the past four games with a calf injury but will play and is not expected to play for Rochester High (Mich.) in tonight’s playoff opener. Rochester is 2-2 in the four games that Young has missed. The Falcons had won eight straight leading up to the injury, with Young scoring more than 30 points and grabbing more than 15 rebounds in six of those games.

The 6-foot-6 wing player is also one of five finalists for the Michigan Mr. Basketball award.

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A record five UK commitments named to Jordan game

 Posted by at 12:16 PM on February 12, 2013  4 Responses »
Feb 122013
 

Andrew Harrison is one of five UK commitments who will play in the Jordan Brand Classic on April 13.
Photo: Houston Chronicle

Kentucky set a Jordan Brand Classic record Tuesday when five future Wildcats were selected for this year’s game.

UK could even add to that record in the coming weeks.

Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee and James Young were all chosen to participate in the 2013 Jordan Brand Classic, to be played April 13 in Brooklyn, N.Y. It’s the first time five recruits from one school have been named to the event.

Three prospects whom UK is still recruiting — Aaron Gordon, Julius Randle and Andrew Wiggins — also were selected. They are the only uncommitted players in the game.

Kentucky has had 23 Jordan Brand selections since the game’s inception in 2002. Eighteen of those have come since John Calipari arrived in Lexington in 2009.

EAST ROSTER: Tyler Ennis (Syracuse), Aaron Harrison (Kentucky), Kasey Hill (Florida), Kuran Iverson (Memphis), Rondae Jefferson (Arizona), Kennedy Meeks (North Carolina), Bobby Portis (Arkansas), Julius Randle (uncommitted), Wayne Selden (Kansas), Chris Walker (Florida), Andrew Wiggins (uncommitted).

WEST ROSTER: Joel Embiid (Kansas), Aaron Gordon (uncommitted), Andrew Harrison (Kentucky), Dakari Johnson (Kentucky), Matt Jones (Duke), Marcus Lee (Kentucky), Jabari Parker (Duke), Noah Vonleh (Indiana), Troy Williams (Indiana), Nigel Williams-Goss (Washington), James Young (Kentucky)

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Notebook: Marcus Lee’s game has room for growth

 Posted by at 3:10 AM on February 7, 2013  3 Responses »
Feb 072013
 
Marcus Lee moved up to the No. 21 spot in the latest Scout.com rankings released last week.

There’s no doubt that Marcus Lee‘s stock is on the rise. The question is: How high will it go?

The Kentucky signee jumped to No. 21 overall (up 18 spots) in the latest Scout.com rankings released last week, which means yet another major recruiting service considers him a five-star prospect.

Lee, a 6-foot-9 post player from California, is averaging about 18 points, 20 rebounds and seven blocks per game for Deer Valley this season.

Scout.com national analyst Evan Daniels pointed out that those are similar numbers to what he averaged as a junior.

“He’s really talented,” Daniels told the Herald-Leader. “I think he can impact the game on the defensive end and impact the game with his ability to rebound. I think those are probably the things that really spurred his move.”

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Friday’s roundup: Willis has big game in Missouri

 Posted by at 8:51 PM on January 18, 2013  No Responses »
Jan 182013
 

UK signee Derek Willis had 19 points and nine rebounds in Bullitt East’s victory Friday night in Missouri.
File photo: Jonathan Palmer

UK signee Derek Willis had 19 points and nine rebounds in Bullitt East’s 68-58 victory over Little Rock Hall (Ark.) on Friday night at the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions in Springfield, Mo.

Willis added six assists and six blocked shots for the Chargers, who improved to 15-4 on the season. Elliot Young had 20 points and seven rebounds, and Rusty Troutman chipped in with 14 points for Bullitt East.

Arkansas signee Bobby Portis led Little Rock Hall with 18 points and eight rebounds. Portis, a 6-foot-9 forward ranked by ESPN as the No. 11 overall senior in the country, was held to just three points in the first half.

Bullitt East will play Hillcrest (Mo.) on Saturday.

Montverde (Fla.) 78, Nixa (Mo.) 61: UK commitment Dakari Johnson had 18 points and seven rebounds in limited action during Friday’s rout in the the semifinals of the Bass Pro tournament in Springfield, Mo.

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Updated stats: Catching up with the future Cats

 Posted by at 4:29 PM on December 30, 2012  1 Response »
Dec 302012
 

James Young is averaging 23.6 points per game and has Rochester High (Mich.) out to a 5-1 start.
Photo: Ricardo Thomas

Individual game-by-game statistics for 10 recruits have been updated on their respective player pages.

You can view each player’s page by clicking on the links below:

UK signees
Aaron Harrison: The Travis High shooting guard is averaging 30.0 points in 10 games since Dec. 7, when his brother Andrew was sidelined with an injury.
Andrew Harrison: UK’s future point guard has been hampered by a hamstring injury for the last three weeks, and his stats have suffered as a result.
Marcus Lee: Some eye-popping stats are being reported for Lee, who already has three games with 25 or more rebounds.
Derek Willis: The Bullitt East star had his best game of the season Saturday, scoring 30 points and hitting the game-winning three-pointer.
James Young: The Detroit-area wing is averaging 23.6 points through six games and had a season-high 33 points Saturday night.

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Notebook: Young excited to be a part of UK ‘family’

 Posted by at 3:04 PM on November 16, 2012  1 Response »
Nov 162012
 

James Young was one of five 2013 recruits to sign with UK this week.
Ricardo Thomas/Detroit News

It didn’t take long for James Young to know he would feel right at home in Lexington.

The UK signee committed to Kentucky the day before Big Blue Madness, and he arrived in town the following night to meet his future teammates, most of them for the first time.

It was an instant bonding experience.

“There was a lot of interaction, a lot of dialogue, a lot of humor, a lot of excitement around the possibility of what this team could look like,” Young’s godfather, Sean Mahone, told the Herald-Leader. “And I give the most credit to Coach Calipari, because that’s the environment that he’s facilitating. It’s about the team. It’s about the Kentucky family.

“It’s about team accomplishments, not necessarily individual accomplishments. Some programs, you can see it’s a lot of hype. But you know when you get on that campus and get within that program, that it’s not hype.”

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Calipari’s recruiting roll gets even more impressive

 Posted by at 5:45 PM on October 11, 2012  2 Responses »
Oct 112012
 

John Calipari has secured commitments from three top-10 recruits in each the last three years.
Mark Cornelison/Herald-Leader

With the addition of James Young, Kentucky will now have three top-10 recruits for the third year in a row.

In the era of modern recruiting rankings, that’s an unprecedented achievement. And no other school has even come close to matching it.

Since John Calipari arrived in Lexington in 2009, he has landed multiple top-10 prospects in every one of his five recruiting classes. In the same span, only two other schools have done that once: UCLA (Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson in 2012) and Florida (Chris Walker and Kasey Hill in 2013). No other team has had three top-10 recruits in one class since North Carolina in 2006.

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