The invitees to the Kentucky/Indiana All-Star Classic have been released. Now, there isn't a lot of names familiar to local fans that will jump off the page at them and be recognizable as kids they see in the 15th or 16th Regions every Tuesday and Friday, but there are some notable names on the list they will be familiar with.
However, the lone name from the 16th Region will be a name all too familiar to those folks. For Region opposition, the name has been familiar for quite some time.
Russell's Kyle Skaggs has been invited to the try-outs. Skaggs has led the Red Devils seemingly ever since he started playing varsity in the Greenup County school, which was in 7th grade. Skaggs was the leading scorer in the state last year as a junior, and once more, finds himself at around the top this season. Entering this season, he was 92 points shy of the school's all-time record. Kyle eclipsed the schools scoring record earlier this season, and reached the 2000 point plateau in December. He is averaging just under 26 points a game this year.
Depending on who you ask, some well tell you that the 6'2'' SG/PG is the best player in the state, and are perplexed as to why he is not being more heavily recruited. Others will tell you in the same conversation that the reason he is not on the national recruiting map is due to him not concentrating on AAU ball. That last reason makes me want the kid to succeed even more.
Another name that will be a familiar one to those who read this blog, and to those who have a knowledge of Canadian hoopsters beyond the names Wiggins, Rathan-Mays, and Kabongo.
Coach Rod Rhodes, for better or worse, opened up a maple syrup laden pipeline to small Cordia High School in Hazard, and began to dress some fine players from our northern neighbor. Lot's of folks, both Kentuckian and Canuck, have varying opinions on the influx of Canadians into the States to improve their chances of getting on with a D1 program. CLICK HERE FOR THAT POST.
The highest profile of those in Cordia, is Emmanuel Ewootoah. The 6' guard (maybe) was subject to not knowing if leaving his Canadian home was a wise decision, as his eligibility was questioned and he had to spend most of his time waiting on the Lions' bench. Ewootoah was granted eligibility by a Kentucky judge in January, and promptly worked out the rust with a debut game of 15 points. He's put up bigger numbers since that time, as you could have probably imagined.
UCLA, Providence, Baylor, Tennessee, Arizona, and San Francisco were the first to jump on board with interest in the Canadian who was plying his trade in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. And yes, Florida State continued their love affair with Canadians and began to recruit him as well. Emmanuel even made Kentucky's radar, and the former Cat Rhodes received a call from assistant Orlando Antigua who said he would be coming to watch in February.
Ewootoah was originally part of the 2014 class, but as seems to be the going trends these days and kids wanting to grow-up too quickly, he reclassified to be part of this 2-13 class. He also forms a pretty good one-two punch with fellow Canadian import, 6'3'' guard Marlon King, who also face eligibility issues early on. King led his former squad in his native land to the Toronto City finals before packing his bags and heading south.
Emmanuel is keeping his own blog on the popular Zagsblog.com, and his keeping us up to date on who he has heard from and where he is leaning. Added to the schools named above, are Kansas, USC, Morehead State, NC State, 'Bama and 'Nova to name a few. He also said that he is nowhere near to the point of trimming his list at all, but if he had to pick one right now, his favorite is UCLA.
As previously stated, he missed the first 15 games of the season but helped the team to a 7-1 record since being declared eligible in January.
Kentucky signee Derek Willis of Bullitt East as expected is also on the invite list.
Those try-outs are scheduled for March 23rd in Georgetown.
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