If you have not heard of Skal Labissiere, it’s okay for the time being. While you will have to wait until 2015 to see him throw on a college uniform, the 6’10″ Haitian is someone John Calipari has his sights squarely set on. Calipari rarely throws out offers to players before their junior year, but Labissiere is a special kind of talent that even Calipari could not hold off on. Despite his height, Skal does not play like the typical big man at the sophomore in high school level. Instead of using sheer height to dunk and rebound over his competition, Labissiere has a silky smooth arsenal of jump and hook shots to score at will at the high school level. After watching him, all I could think of was early shades of Tim Duncan. The fundamental post moves and jump shot with a massive wing span point directly towards the Big Fundamental’s style of play. While Labissiere needs some serious muscle mass added to his frame, he is clearly an elite talent with plenty of time to develop his skills and physicality. Nerlens Noel was the first Haitian big men to join Kentucky, and that seemed to work out okay so we might as well grab another one. Of course you want a video:

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If you want to hang out with Coach Antigua tonight, head over to Jackson, KY where Antigua will be scouting 2013 guard/forward MiKyle McIntosh. The story behind Kentucky pursuing McIntosh is an oddity because he is a relatively unheard of prospect with a 3* rating from ESPN. However, McIntosh has suddenly received interest from the giants of college basketball (Kansas, UNC, UCLA) after battling injuries all of last year according to the Next Cat’s article about McIntosh. The reasoning behind Kentucky checking him out could mean several things. 1. Calipari has now become uncertain about signing Wiggins to play the small forward position 2. Calipari wants more depth for next year 3. It is simply a courtesy look-in on a recruit who has not gotten a fair chance at showing his talent.

As for the recruits that we already know will wear Kentucky blue next year, James Young has hit quite a hot streak in his past few games. The #2 shooting guard in 2013 has averaged 32.5 points and 17.5 rebounds in his past four games. Last time I checked, a guard grabbing 17 boards a game is a good thing. Young capped off his current hot streak with an insane 41 point performance on Feb 1st. If the rest of college basketball is not scared about guarding the Harrisons and Young at the same time, they very well should be.

Finally, It seems to have become a broken record, but Blake Griffin Jr Aaron Gordon threw down a vicious dunk the other day. Hide yo kids and yo wife as you watch this off the backboard reverse jam.

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If only Brian Long could jump like him…..

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