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With the Kentucky Wildcats basketball season only a few weeks away, fans across Big Blue Nation are still wondering if a new player will join the team in a little over a month.
That player is none other than Shaedon Sharpe.
A couple of weeks back, Travis Branham of 247 Sports reported that Sharpe was debating on joining this Kentucky basketball team during the winter break to get a head start on his preparation for next season. With that has come a lot of questions, especially after the experience with Hamidou Diallo doing the same thing several seasons back.
Who better to answer some of those questions and put some minds at ease than his mentor and director of Sharpe’s AAU team, Uplay’s Dwayne Washington.
Ben Roberts of the Lexington Herald-Leader spoke with Washington on Monday and got some answers to the questions the BBN is asking. You can read the full story below or click the link here.
“Just because you’re No. 1 — that don’t mean shit, man. You have to compete. When you get to practice, there’s no ranking. There’s no rankings after high school. That means nothing.” https://t.co/iPC7V9lthf
— Ben Roberts (@BenRobertsHL) October 25, 2021
While Washington did not come out and say for sure that Sharpe would be enrolling early, he did mention the differences from being at Kentucky practices compared to another season of high school basketball. And Washington did give an answer on if Sharpe will play this season if he does enroll early.
“Even if he comes in December, he’s not going to play,” Washington told Roberts. “At most, he’ll practice in the second semester, just because that will allow him to get a head start. … It’s a unique opportunity to be in. And he doesn’t want to take away from Kentucky, because they have a great season and a chance to (make an NCAA Tournament run) this year. We don’t want to affect that.”
On top of that response, the question had to be asked about the NBA Draft.
“He will not be going to the NBA Draft,” Washington said to Roberts. “That’s not even something to talk about. That’s like saying, ‘Are you going to go to Mars tomorrow?’”
He followed up with this:
“It is not an option.”
Some very positive news for next season's team, as John Calipari and this revamped staff continue to stay on a hot-streak on the recruiting trail building one of the best classes in the Coach Cal era.
Sharpe is considered the No. 1 overall player in 2022 and is Kentucky’s foundational piece of the class.
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