John Calipari strikes again. Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats basketball program scored their first big acquisition this offseason after five-star point guard Immanuel Quickley announced on Friday his commitment to play for the Lexington-based campus. The new was broken by Jeff Borzello of ESPN.
This is expected on the part of Quickley, who had already said before that Kentucky is his top choice to play for in college. Other schools that have wooed Quickley were Kansas and Michigan, two campuses the 18-year-old guard had also visited before making a final decision.
Quickley is ranked 12th overall in the ESPN 100 and is No.3 among all guards for the class of 2018. The Wildcats will waste no time giving the incoming freshman plenty of work, as Quickley is being groomed to fill the vacancy left behind by now Sacramento King De’Aaron Fox.
A product of John Carroll School in Maryland, Quickley gained further credentials when he put up 16.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists as part of Team BBC AAU program.
“I just picked Kentucky because of what Coach Cal has done with his point guards and what he’s done putting players like myself in situations to be in the NBA, it’s just crazy,” Quickley said to SCOUT when asked about his choice.
Article Continues Below“If you work hard and listen to what he says then he’ll put you in position to be there one day,” he added.
Quickley was also part of USA Men's Team that won bronze in last June’s U19 World Cup.
“You want to play somewhere where players like yourself have been successful and to see players like John Wall, Derrick Rose, and recently De’Aaron Fox, just to see those guys be successful in the same situation is really cool.”