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Prized Class of 2022 recruit and Kentucky Wildcats pledge Skyy Clark may have just concluded his high school hoops career.
On Sunday, Clark announced that he and his brother, ZZ Clark, will not play again this season due to growing concerns with the coronavirus pandemic. Clark did add he hopes to take part in spring and summer AAU basketball if it can be safely done.
— Skyy Clark (@skyyclark) January 31, 2021
As KSR’s Tyler Thompson notes, Tennessee Governor Lee lifted restrictions on attendance for indoor sporting events, effective Monday. That means high school events in Tennessee are about to get riskier with potential coronavirus outbreaks now that there can be fans in the stands, so you can’t fault Clark or anyone else in Tennessee who doesn’t want to take that risk.
Clark, who is currently a junior and the eighth-ranked recruit in 2022 via Rivals, is still a candidate to reclassify into 2021 and be on UK’s campus next season. Now that his season is over, it will give him more time to focus on getting the necessary coursework done to make the jump.
However, this could also mean it’s more likely Clark sticks to the 2022 class, as there’s no doubt this isn’t how he wants his high school career to end. And he’s also stressed his desire to play with his brother at Ensworth High School, which he obviously didn’t get to do much in this shortened season. So who knows what, if any effect the decision to sit out the rest of the season will play into which class he’ll be part of.
Given UK’s backcourt struggles and lack of a true game-changing point guard, there’s no question Clark could make a major impact on the 2021-22 roster, which would also put him one year closer to the NBA. He’s expected to be one-and-done regardless of what class he’s in, so playing at UK next season would allow him to be part of the 2022 NBA Draft.
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