Trae Young picks Oklahoma Sooners

For much of Trae Young’s recruitment, it was viewed as a two-horse race between the Kentucky Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners.

While those two schools have been vastly different in terms of on-court success and producing NBA talent, the Sooners were always viewed as a legitimate threat simply because Young was strongly interested in staying home and playing in front of friend and family for his likely-brief college career.

That’s why Kentucky essentially chose to pass on Young and take a commitment from Quade Green in the early signing period, avoiding the potential to miss on both Green and Young in this class and be left without a point guard.

Well, it looks like they made the right call after Young announced he’s going to Oklahoma on Thursday. when asked why they were the pick, Young simply said, “It’s home,” which is something that can make any program ascend over a blue blood like Kentucky.

It actually looked like the Kansas Jayhawks had surged into the lead in recent months after Kentucky bowed out, but staying home for college was something Young didn’t want to pass on.

That’s why John Calipari made the right gamble in taking Green in the fall vs waiting to potentially be spurned by Young in the spring and be left in a really bad spot for next year.

Instead, they landed Green to go with P.J. Washington, Nick Richards, Jarred Vanderbilt, Shai Alexander, and Hamidou Diallo, assembling what’s now the No. 1 class in 2017 and could still add Mohamed Bamba and/or Kevin Knox, thanks in part to Green’s recruiting efforts.