BJ Boston came to Kentucky as the No. 5 player in the 2020 recruiting class. He was projected as a lottery pick, and seemed destiny to lead Kentucky deep into March. Looking back on the season, saying that expectations were not met has been a drastic understatement.
Some NBA Mock Draft projections still have Boston included as a first-round pick, but very late in that round. There were plenty of reasons that he was loved as a high school prospect: his size and length, his athleticism, and his skill with the ball.
All of those things are still there, he has just not progressed toward his potential as quickly as expected. So perhaps another year in college could put him back into the lottery discussion.
That thought would have been ridiculous in October, maybe even through December. But it is certainly no longer a done deal that he will leave for the draft.
On Saturday in his postgame comments, John Calipari talked about how a second year could allow a player like Boston to develop physically in a way that could change his future, a la Immanuel Quickley and PJ Washington.
To add fuel to the fire of Boston potentially coming back, Kentucky basketball’s Twitter account released some footage on Tuesday of Kentucky assistant coach Jai Lucas breaking down film with Boston.
In the past, Lucas has publicly talked about the importance of recruiting your current roster, as noted by Kyle Tucker.
Saturday, Cal drops some lines about the value of coming back in a BJ Boston answer.
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) March 10, 2021
Tonight, a film session with Boston and the newest UK assistant who has talked about the importance of re-recruiting your own roster in addition to new HS talent.
https://t.co/fFeeENUXpv
Of course, this film session could be a complete coincidence and might be totally unrelated to Calipari’s comments. Personally, I would still put the chances of Boston’s return under 25%.
But as Lloyd Christmas famously said in Dumb and Dumber, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.”