Bluegrassrivals

Bullitt East 6-9 star Derek Willis commits to UK.

Welcome to the Big Blue Nation!

another one stays in state, congrats derek!

Ive watched this kid for 4yrs now and all he does is just get better. Congrats to him, hope he does great things there.

Awesome! Great to see UK grab an in-state recruit.

From the film ive seen of Willis I think he has a lot of potential... Wish him the best of luck!

^ So did Jon Hood. I'm afraid that Willis will be the next player to transfer. The athletes that UK is bringing in every year will just not leave much playing time for Willis

Not a single UK representative at the signing?????????? WOW!

DEREK WILLIS
Status: UK commitment
PF | 6-9 | 195
High school: Bullitt East
Hometown: Mt. Washington, Ky.

Willis is Kentucky’s first commitment from the class of 2013, and the first highly touted in-state player to be successfully recruited by John Calipari. According to Rivals, he’s also the highest-rated in-state recruit to come to Kentucky since the beginning of the rankings in 2003. Willis originally committed to Purdue last April before changing his mind a few months later and opening up his recruitment. Still a little lanky for his 6-9 frame, Willis can be an effective offensive player in the post and on the perimeter, where he shoots a solid percentage and can drive past defenders. His ballhandling ability should make for some mismatches on the wing in Calipari’s dribble-drive offense. “He puts the ball on the floor extremely well for his size, he’s unselfish and he gets the ball to the open player,” recruiting analyst Rick Bolus told the Herald-Leader. “He’ll be an ideal wing-forward in college.” Willis will be eligible to sign with UK in November.

http://ukrecruiting.bloginky.com/derek-willis/

[HTML]Tracking Willis

Date Opponent W/L Stats
Nov. 28 Tates Creek W 18 pts, 7 rebs, 5 blks
Dec. 2 Bullitt Central W 18 pts
Dec. 6 Butler W 16 pts, 11 rebs
Dec. 9 South Oldham W 19 pts, 10 rebs
Dec. 13 Oldham County W 26 pts, 15 rebs,, 4 blks
Dec. 16 Central W 16 pts, 8 rebs, 3 blks
Dec. 19 Bardstown W 15 pts, 9 rebs
Dec. 20 Butler L 17 pts, 12 rebs
Dec. 21 Ballard W 15 pts, 14 rebs
Dec. 27 Dyer County (Tenn.) L No stats
Dec. 29 Evangel Christian (La.) W No stats
Dec. 30 Spain Park (Ala.) W No stats
Jan. 3 Iroquois W 10 pts
Jan. 6 Jeffersontown W 16 pts, 13 rebs, 11 blks
Jan. 11 Southern W 15 pts, 14 rebs, 7 blks
Jan. 13 Ballard L 7 pts, 6 rebs
Jan. 17 Nelson County W 20 pts[/HTML]

He will get PT. If he is a solid shooter and plays defense there is no way Cal won't put him on the floor.

^ Don't get me wrong PT, I'm not saying it like I am bashing Willis at all. But when you look at the recruits coming in next year, I don't see a spot on the floor for Willis. If the design of UK is to bring in 5* recruits every year in the 4 & 5 spots, its going to be tough. I use the Jon Hood comparison all the time. Hood was really good and well deserving of a Major D1 school, but UK was just not the right school.

I hope Willis can come to UK and contribute but I have my doubts. For his size he is not putting up great numbers against his high school competition so I don't see how he could put up similar numbers at UK.

The other factor is 2013 is one of the best classes in recent memory and UK is high on the list of 6 of the top 10 and half of the top 20. Willis stands a good chance of being the 5th or 6th rated UK recruit in the class which will put him in a similar situation to Jon Hood in the 09 class and we all know how that has played out.

If he wants to play at UK he needs to be prepared to put in the work to make himself a better player because right now he is not there yet.

^ Great post and extremely ON point.

Stardust Wrote:Not a single UK representative at the signing?????????? WOW!

That should tell you something, shouldn't it. Lexington to Bullitt County isn't a long drive. I'm afraid this is another token pacifier for those of us who want some Kentucky boys on the Kentucky team. Of course, he isn't there yet so he could, as many of them do, end up at Eastern, Morehead, or some similar place. That is certainly what Hood should have done.

This was a committment not a signing. Why in the world would UK have somebody there at a simple committ? No UK rep was there for Poythress or Goodwin either.

This is awesome!

^ Why???

^^Because we stole him from Louisville, lol. Duh Dusty!

PT or no PT this kid living his dream to be a Wildcat. I havent gotten the chance to see him play yet but im going to try and see him live before tournament time starts.

Congrats and best of luck.

Congrats to Willis! I hope he continues to improve and does well at UK.

Truth Wrote:That should tell you something, shouldn't it. Lexington to Bullitt County isn't a long drive. I'm afraid this is another token pacifier for those of us who want some Kentucky boys on the Kentucky team. Of course, he isn't there yet so he could, as many of them do, end up at Eastern, Morehead, or some similar place. That is certainly what Hood should have done.

It tells of nothing at all.

1) First off, it is an announcement of a verbal committment, not a NLI signing.

2) Secondly, the official signing period is not until April anyways. (the early signing period was in November).

3) Most important,the NCAA forbids it, unless a NLI is signed on the college campass during an official visit.

4) And Dusty, you are a high school coach and didn't know this stuff? (There're gonna make you turn your badge in.) :biggrin:

Calipari and Joe B. were at his game last night.