Sure it can. Right, Patrick and Jai? C'mon over to Kentucky, fellas. Join the Legion of Blue.
Of course, the big story of the day is that Alex Legion, a top 30 recruit out of Michigan, has agreed to attend the University of Kentucky. Notice I didn't use the word "signed". That's because that word when used in recruiting universally means "signed a National Letter of Intent", but because Legion signed one earlier (and was granted an unconditional release), he cannot sign another one in the same academic year.
What Legion has done, evidently, is sign scholarship papers. But those papers are non-binding and not a contract like the LOI. That means, essentially that other schools can still recruit Legion until he enrolls at UK, and he could renege on his promise to come here at any time without penalty until he enrolls full time. After that point, he would have to transfer, and serve a year in residence at his new school. (Hat Tip - FireBilly.com)
So now that we have disposed of that, let's look at what Legion does for our recruiting class. Alex Legion is a somewhat similar player to Joe Crawford, except that Legion is more of a classic finesse-type wing player where Crawford is more of a power player. Where Crawford uses his strength to overpower smaller guards, Legion uses explosive athleticism to jump over them and loves to play in transition. Crawford is an excellent rebounder, Legion isn't. Legion is quicker with the ball. Together, they present a frightening potential presence on the wing, and will be very hard to defend in any kind of an open-court game.
Legion brings us back-court depth and the possibility of a very big four-guard offense. Imagine having Legion, Crawford, Meeks and Jasper in the game - all quick 6'4"-6'6" players with speed and athleticism to burn. With the addition of Legion, Kentucky becomes capable of playing virtually any style effectively.
But Legion isn't a program changer, he is more like high-quality depth as a freshman. He has a nice midrange game, something almost absent in today's 2 guards, and should remind Kentucky fans a bit of Luther Head, formerly of Illinois. He has that same kind of bouncy athleticism and speed in transition. He is a good but not outstanding 3-point shooter, but that part of his game is likely to get better.
But we still need big men, and we all know who that means - Patrick Patterson. Michael Sanchez is a fine plan B, but Patterson remains plan A. If we get him, we will be in a position to compete for the SEC championship and have a the potential for a deep tournament run next year. Without him, that potential still exists, but the chances become far more remote.
But make no mistake - the addition of Legion is big, and he is highly intelligent an excellent student to boot. Things are really looking up for next year.