LEXINGTON, Ky. — It has been a little more than five months since John Calipari extended a Kentucky scholarship offer to on-the-rise basketball recruit Shaedon Sharpe.
In the time since that offer, Sharpe's ascension in the recruiting ranks hasn't waned. Nor has the mutual interest between him and the Wildcats.
At the time of Calipari's offer, Sharpe was ranked by 247Sports as the No. 42 overall prospect in the 2022 class. A month earlier, he wasn't even listed as a top-100 player by the major recruiting services. And now? The super-athletic, 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Canada has risen to the No. 11 spot in the Rivals.com rankings. 247Sports analyst Travis Branham has also said that he's due for a bump to five-star status when that website's 2022 rankings are updated in the near future.
After coming off the bench as a high school sophomore just a little more than a year ago, Sharpe is firmly cementing his status as one of the very top prospects in what looks to be a talented class.
"He's exploded over the past two months," Branham told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "He's just an elite, elite athlete. He's very skilled and has the size and body — just a great talent. He can score from all three levels. He has the ball skills. He's an explosive athlete with a strong frame, and he's going to continue to get stronger.
"Shaedon is explosive. He will finish above you in traffic. He can take contact, hang in the air, and still finish. He's a big-time talent that you're going to see continue to make waves and climb up the ranks here in the coming weeks."
Sharpe left his home province of Ontario two years ago to play his sophomore season at perennial prep powerhouse Sunrise Christian in Kansas, spending that year as more of a role player off the bench before making the switch to Dream City Christian in Arizona last year. At his new school — and after an offseason of working on his game — Sharpe flourished.
As he put up big numbers — nearly 25 points, six rebounds and five assists per game against a national schedule over the first part of the season — the college interest started rolling in.
By mid-December, he had offers from Kansas, Oregon, Alabama, Illinois and others.
His grassroots coach and basketball mentor, Dwayne Washington, saw the interest mounting and decided to make a proactive phone call. He got in touch with Calipari, who had taken one of Washington's former players, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and helped develop him into a one-and-done NBA draft pick just a few years earlier.
Washington was highly involved in Gilgeous-Alexander's development and is now helping guide Sharpe through the recruiting process. He's well familiar with Calipari and Kentucky basketball, and that's a good thing for the Cats.
"I already know Calipari. And I already know what they do," Washington told the Herald-Leader. "They don't really have to call me and tell me about the program. It's just a matter of getting Shaedon ready for when he starts to look at schools and cutting down lists and understanding what they want from him.
"It's a unique situation, because they don't really need to recruit me. They're already on the list of programs and situations that I think could be really mutually beneficial for a kid with potential like Shaedon."
Off the court, the Wildcats seem to be in a great spot in Sharpe's recruitment.
On the court, Sharpe appears to be the type of player Calipari is always looking for.
He has that tremendous athleticism — a 45-inch vertical and the ability to be explosive with the ball — and Branham said he has the potential to be a "great defender" at the college level.
Sharpe's outside shot has also come a long way, according to Washington, who is continuing to oversee his development this spring with his Nike-affiliated UPlay Canada program.
Sharpe is known in recruiting circles for his athleticism, but Washington said his ability to shoot the ball is right on par with that aspect of his game. He said Kentucky fans have seen players like him in the recent past, mentioning Malik Monk as a point of comparison.
"There are a lot of guys who are athletes — you know that," he said. "But he's really working on all of his mid-range, pull-ups, creating separation, threes, spacing and playing in space and making the right reads — playing angles and getting to his spots. And he's a very quick learner. That's probably the thing that's the most important. And when you have that — with all those other abilities — that means you're a candidate to play at a blue blood."
Last week, Sharpe gave the popular recruiting outlet Tipton Edits a list of the schools that were on him the hardest to this point. Kentucky was at the top of that list, followed by Alabama, Kansas, Arizona State, Oregon, Cincinnati, California, Texas, Xavier and Arizona.
There's still a long way to go in Sharpe's recruitment, but Kentucky started from a good spot.
Washington was effusive in his praise for Calipari and the way Kentucky helped develop Gilgeous-Alexander and prepare him for what is becoming an impressive NBA career, describing the UK coach as a straight-shooter in a college basketball recruiting world that's filled with false promises. "He says what he does and does what he says. And if you're a dog, you'll play. And if you're not, you won't."
Calipari clearly sees Sharpe as a priority target.
With the NCAA's recruiting dead period finally coming to an end this week — allowing for recruits to see coaches and college campuses in person for the first time in more than a year — Washington said UK reached out and wanted Sharpe to visit Lexington next weekend to coincide with the official visit of point guard Skyy Clark, the Cats' only 2022 commitment so far.
That visit sounds unlikely. Sharpe's parents, who live in Canada, would not be able to join him for the trip, and Washington is taking a more deliberate approach to Sharpe's recruitment anyway. Right now, his priority is continuing to get better on the basketball court. With an early college decision sounding unlikely, Washington said there would be plenty of time for future visits.
In the meantime, Sharpe and Washington will continue to watch the teams that are showing interest. And they're letting the new UK coaching staff get settled in before making any big moves. Joel Justus, who left this offseason for Arizona State, had been UK's point man in Sharpe's recruitment. Jai Lucas has since taken over that role, while Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman had both been pursuing Sharpe at Illinois.
In a college basketball landscape that is always in flux, this is one recruitment that seems destined for a more cautious approach.
"There's no reason to have a timetable, because college (programs) change all the time," Washington said. "You can't really trust colleges. But I trust Cal, and that's good enough. But do you want to rush a freshman — in this environment — to make an early decision? They could bring in five guys that are 24 years old. So, no, we're going to be waiting for a while.
"We have a whole year to watch. So to come in (and visit) early doesn't make a lot of sense. There's no need to rush. It's more of the timetable that works for him. Kentucky is always going to be Kentucky. Calipari is going to be Calipari. But it has to be right for him. And at that time, we'll do it."
