Devin Booker is headed to Kentucky.
The 6-5 shooting guard announced for the Wildcats at Moss Point (MS) High School. He also considered Missouri, his father’s alma mater, Michigan and Michigan State.
“I’ll be playing college at the University of Kentucky,” he said at the press conference.
“You can’t ignore what [Kentucky coach John] Calipari is doing right now,” Booker told SNY.tv this summer. “He’s winning national championships and putting players in the league, so that’s what you want to see. That’s everyone’s dream to play in the NBA if you’re at this high level. So Kentucky, that’s a good look.”
The No. 30 prospect in the Class according to Rivals, Booker joins a growing 2014 Kentucky class that includes Chicago point guard Tyler Ulis and New Jersey 7-footer Karl Towns Jr.
Ulis and Booker have a strong connection and that was part of the reason Booker chose Kentucky.
“Devin’s a shooter and I like to drive and kick,” Ulis told Ben Roberts last month. “When we first played with each other, he got a lot of buckets and I got a lot of assists. So we just clicked ever since.”
Ulis added then that he was trying to get Booker to join him at Kentucky.
“I’m trying to get him to come with me,” Ulis said. “He just said, ‘I don’t know yet.’”
As for Booker, he’s not a prototypical one-and-done Kentucky guy.
“He’s not a great athlete, but he can shoot the ball and that’s his entree into the highest level of college basketball,” longtime New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski told SNY.tv.
“He’s not going to beat people off the dribble and drive and dunk on people and things like that, but he’s a very good shooter. He’s skilled in that respect.
“He has good size for a two guard and he can shoot the ball. But he’s not a guy who physically is going to be a one-and-done. If he went to Kentucky, I think he’d be a three- or four-year player.”
Kentucky is still in the mix for several key 2014 recruits, including Indiana shooting guard James Blackmon Jr., due to announce later Thursday, as well as California wing Stanley Johnson and Indiana forward Trey Lyles, who is down to Kentucky and Louisville.
