Recruiting Report: Kris Wilkes (2017)
On Tuesday night, a fellow colleague made the remark that we might be seeing the potential 2016 Mr. Basketball vs. the 2017 Mr. Basketball when Kris Wilkes and North Central took on Kyle Guy and Lawrence Central. He might be…
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Continue ReadingOn Tuesday night, a fellow colleague made the remark that we might be seeing the potential 2016 Mr. Basketball vs. the 2017 Mr. Basketball when Kris Wilkes and North Central took on Kyle Guy and Lawrence Central. He might be right. Guy looked every part of the front runner for the Mr. Basketball award but Wilkes looked just as impressive.
The 2017 forward is among the best prospects in the country and the #1 prospect in our 2017 PHI Rankings. Wilkes showcased his entire game and even an improved aggressiveness. The 6’7 wing is still rather lean but he’s always been great at finishing around the rim. Tonight, he looked like he wanted to finish through defenders from the opening tip. First play of the game was a missed dunk that would have landed a couple players on a poster. It’s a great sign of maturity.
“We kept trying to run and we let them come back. At the end, we got keep playing hard and stop them on the defensive end. I try to get on that and if they stop me from doing that then I went to shooting jump shots,” Wilkes said of his game tonight.
This was a big win for Wilkes and North Central as it came down to a last second defensive stand to hold Kyle Guy to a tough shot at the buzzer. For Wilkes, he did most of his work early with some ferocious attacks at the rim, a couple alley-oops, and then showing off his range from behind the line. He’s a balanced player that can do a little bit of everything.
Kris took a double visit this weekend to a pair of local schools, Indiana and Butler. He’s been to both quite a few times before but things are getting closer and closer to a decision and he’s getting a better view of how he could fit in.
“It was pretty nice,” Wilkes said of the Indiana visit. “I wasn’t expecting a blow out but it was pretty nice to watch. Butler was fantastic. They play hard they just couldn’t knock down those shots. They tell that I could be one of the top players to ever come there. I could help out the team a lot and help lead them to a national championship.”
Outside of Indiana and Butler, Kris Wilkes says that Maryland and Cornell are the two other schools in regular contact to this point. Kansas, Illinois, Xavier, Purdue, and Vanderbilt have also offered. He’s got a slew of national interest already but some are really trying to distinguish themselves in this point of his recruitment.