Kentucky Wildcats Recruiting: James Young Chooses Kentucky

Look out, college basketball world: All your recruit are belong to us. In a live announcement on ESPNU, 2013 small forward James Young from Rochester (Mich.) committed to the Kentucky Wildcats, holding up a t-shirt that said "KENTUCKY BOUND." Young chose the Wildcats over the Michigan St. Spartans, Syracuse Orange, and Kansas Jayhawks.

Young jumped on Kentucky's radar at the beginning of the summer, when he essentially self-recruited himself to the Wildcats coaching staff. Previously, many recruitniks believed that Young was a lock for his hometown Spartans.

Throughout the summer and fall, Young and his inner circle continued to broadcast his interest in Kentucky, even going as far to note that Young would not mind playing with other top stars like the Harrison twins, Julius Randle, or Andrew Wiggins. By the end of Young's recruitment, all the other schools had essentially dropped out, knowing how much Young favored Kentucky, his "dream school."

Young ranks comfortably as a top 10 overall hoopster in the class of 2013 recruiting rankings. As of now, Young is penciled in to start at small forward in the 2013-14 season. Should a wing player like Archie Goodwin return, or if the Wildcats land a reclassified Andrew Wiggins, Young would likely shift to a sixth man role similar to Doron Lamb's freshman year.

Young is a microwave-type scorer, and will provide an instant offensive punch whether he starts or comes off the bench. With his commitment, Young becomes the fourth member of the 2013 class, joining forward Derek Willis from Mt. Washington (Ky.) Bullitt East and twin guards Aaron and Andrew Harrison from Fort Bend (Tex.) Travis.

Should the class just stop there, with a trio of top ten overall players, it would still be in strong contention as the best in the nation. But this is Kentucky. And Calipari. So yeah, it won't. Who, when, and where will the next recruit pick Big Blue? Getcha popcorn ready.