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2014 shooting guard Devin Booker picks Kentucky

devin booker

Scott Phillips/NBC Sports

Recruiting is a never-ending process, with the carousel never seeming to stop because of the need for talent that can help programs either remain on top or build towards reaching that point. Kentucky’s one school where annual recruiting classes have taken on even greater importance, as John Calipari’s ability to land the nation’s best prospects means that the majority of those players may spend no more than a year in Lexington before becoming millionaires.

With six McDonald’s All-Americans on this season’s team, which sits atop the Associated Press’ preseason poll, the 2014 recruiting class is an important one due to the possibility (some would use the word “likelihood”) of multiple players being lottery picks next June. Thursday afternoon the Wildcats received their third verbal commitment in the 2014 class, with Moss Point, Miss. shooting guard Devin Booker picking the Wildcats over programs such as Missouri, Michigan and Michigan State.

Booker, an elite perimeter shooter who’s a consensus Top 50 prospect, is the son of former Missouri great Melvin Booker. This past weekend the Tigers honored the 1993-94 team that won the Big 8, with the elder Booker winning Big 8 Player of the Year honors that season. The hope amongst the Missouri faithful was that the weekend would help sway the younger Booker, who was on an unofficial visit for obvious reasons, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Booker joins point guard Tyler Ulis and versatile center Karl Towns in Kentucky’s 2014 class, and there’s a chance the number could grow to four by the end of the evening with wing James Blackmon Jr. announcing his decision tonight. Blackmon, who was originally an Indiana commit, de-committed from Indiana in August. Both the Hoosiers and Wildcats are in the running for his services.

With talented players such as forward Julius Randle and guards Aaron and Andrew Harrison and James Young on the current roster, Kentucky’s lineup in 2014 could look far different than it will this season. But the program is used to such change, and with that being the case the 2014 crop will have the opportunity to compete for immediate playing time.

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