WKU Hollingsworth

GMG_Dallas · February 23, 2018

Good article on WKU's Hollingsworth. The passage below is about his recruitment and why he snubbed Kentucky as a local player to go to WKU. This is why you need to take chances on high profile recruits but if you do, you make them your priority and you show them they aren't just some other 4 star. If only more kids thought like he did...

"Yet, growing up in Lexington, Western was not the school of Hollingsworth’s basketball dreams. In 2015, Hollingsworth told the Herald-Leader’s Ben Roberts a chance to play for the hometown Kentucky Wildcats would be his “dream offer.”

As his recruitment headed toward a climax in the fall of 2016, UK made him a conditional scholarship offer.

“UK told me, if you are willing to wait (and sign in the spring), then we can give you a scholarship,” Hollingsworth says. “I think they wanted the people they (really) wanted first, then I would come after that.”

Hollingsworth had long conversations with his parents over what to do. In his heart, he kept coming back to the fact WKU was treating him as a priority recruit.

“I don’t like to be anybody’s backup plan,” Hollingsworth says. “WKU told me they would give me a scholarship on point. So that’s what I chose.”"

http://kentucky.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mark-story/article201630349.html

dahbeed · February 26, 2018

Tayveon was Mr. Basketball in the commonwealth last year. Kentucky still plays basketball with only one state tournament. No class divisions. So it’s not like he was the 1A Mr. Basketball. He was the best player in the state. He set the scoring record for Lexington which is the second largest city. Many good players have come through Lexington before him but he’s at the top there now.

He’s about 6’2 at best BA (before Afro) and maybe 6’7 with Afro. He’s not super quick. But he’s what you call a ballplayer. He’s fearless at driving the ball and very good on his bank shots. That sounds like a simpleton statement but not all kids are that good off the glass. He’s kind of a throwback in that his strongest suit is his mid range jumper. He’s shooting very well from 3 but he’s not one of these kids that camps outside the arc. He’s very selective when he pulls from out there.

The biggest adjustment for freshmen is usually playing college level defense. Stansbury has assigned him to the other teams best guard every game. He has come out on top more often than not. As good a player as Ahmad Caver is for ODU Tayveon outscored him 20-15 last night and more importantly stuck most of his in the second half. Caver was on 12 with 18 minutes to go in second half. He hit a 3 at around 7-8 minutes left and didn’t score again.

I’m pretty sure the league coaches will look at points per game and give freshman of the year to Jivvahn Jackson for UTSA. He’s a fabulous freshman and has won freshman of the week so many times. On Pomeroy Tayveon is rated nationally in 7 categories. Jackson is rated nationally in 4 categories and 2 of those are % of possession and % of shots. I’m not going to dog the kid. You guys see him this week and he is tough. But I’m not so sure he’s better than Tayveon.

As far as recruiting Kentucky kids and making them a priority we’ve done it for a long time. But we have lost several to both Louisville and UK when they throw a crumb at the last minute. We were fortunate to get Tayveon to sign in the early period. He was just a 3 star on paper but fortunately the games aren’t played on paper. Not high profile enough for a Big Blue offer. It’s funny though, a lot of their fans are hammering Calipari a little bit now over not signing him. Hopefully we don’t lose him to them in a couple years . It’s happened before. I don’t think it will happen with this kid though.