Skyy Clark is recruiting #2 overall recruit Jalen Duren to Kentucky

The 2022 class is starting to heat up for the Kentucky basketball program, and it just got even spicier.

It started off strong a couple weeks ago when the Cats got a commit from five-star guard Skyy Clark.

Now, Clark is looking to recruit one of top players in the 2022 class, Jalen Duren, to Lexington as well.

Duren is currently ranked second in the 2022 class. He stands at 6-9 and can hurt opponents on both ends of the floor.

This would be a huge get for the program and the highest recruit since Skal Labissiere (2) in 2015. But it’s still super early in the process, and you don’t see many recruits, especially ones with the options Duren has, make decisions this early.

With the G-League developmental team starting next year, overseas play growing in popularity, and the potential of top recruits like Duren making the immediate jump to the pros on the table in 2022, there’s no telling how this will play out.

One thing is for certain, though: Duren is going to be a big-time player.

“He’s starting to play better and better,” Montverde coach Kevin Boyle said of Duren, who transferred to the nation’s premier basketball academy from Philadelphia (PA) Roman Catholic in April. “Obviously, he’s going to have a lot of options moving forward.”

“I think he’s made really good improvement in a short period of time,” Boyle said. “He’s really starting to play at a much more competitive, harder level. He’s extremely coachable, wants to be really good and he is really developing offensively as well. I think he has a chance to be a high, high guy down the end if he continues to get better.”

Boyle knows what it takes to become a number one draft pick as he’s coached multiple top picks in his career, reports ZagsBlog.

He has coached six top-3 NBA Draft picks since 2011 — two No. 1s in Ben Simmons (76ers) and Kyrie Irving (Nets), two No. 2s in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Mavericks) and D’Angelo Russell (Timberwolves) and two No. 3’s in R.J. Barrett (Knicks) and Joel Embiid (76ers). Cade Cunningham, a freshman guard at Oklahoma State, is the projected No. 1 pick in 2021 per ESPN.com.

Duren is set up to have a long and successful career. Will Kentucky be a part of his story? It will if Skyy Clark has anything to do with it.

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