Video: Ben Simmons highlights
See the McDonald's All-American and LSU commit playing for Montverde Academy
CHICAGO – Ben Simmons and
Antonio Blakeney were both glued to the TV.
The two, watching from different living rooms in separate states, had vested interest in the LSU-Kentucky men's basketball game on Feb. 10.
With the Tigers up six and 7:29 left in the second half, the Wildcats clawed back. Kentucky eked out the 71-69 victory to remain undefeated, and it is tied for the closest contest Kentucky has had all season. Notre Dame took the Wildcats down to the wire in the Elite Eight before falling by two as well.
Simmons, who plays for
Montverde Academy (Fla.) and Blakeney, who played his high school ball for
Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fla.), both LSU commits and McDonald's All-Americans, couldn't believe what had transpired.
"If I were to play in that game, it would be a lot different because they'd have a bigger guy guarding me," said the 6-foot-9 Simmons at the McDonald's All-American media day Tuesday. "I've played against Karl Towns and guys like that, so I know I'd be able to get to the rim and be quicker than some of those guys."
Simmons, widely considered the top player coming out of the 2015 class, and Blakeney, rated high as a shooting guard, will get their chance to knock off Kentucky next season.
Entering college and having to take on Kentucky, winners of 38 games in a row heading into Saturday's Final Four, is never easy for any freshman.
"We ain't worried about them," said a confident Blakeney.
What's that?
"We aren't worried about Kentucky, you can quote that," Blakeney reiterated. "We're not worried about Kentucky.
"A lot of their players are going to leave, so next year they're not going to have the same team."
Kentucky might not have an identical roster and lose some of its talented underclassmen, but coach John Calipari reloads and doesn't rebuild his program.
Antonio Blakeney, left, and Ben Simmons, middle, stretch Monday before McDonald's All-American Game practice. Each of the LSU commits think their presence in Baton Rouge next season could cause problems for Kentucky.
Photo by Chris Stonebraker
"I feel like the players we have coming in (to LSU) are better than the players they have coming in," Blakeney said. "Then the players we have that are staying are better than the players that they've got. Shoot, we could have beat them. We lost by two."
Malik Newman, a McDonald's All-American, is also considering heading to Baton Rouge next season. He's getting heavily recruited by his friends, Simmons and Blakeney.
"As of now, they're doing a tremendous job of recruiting me while I'm here," said Newman, who played at
Callaway (Jackson, Miss.). "If I was to go there, I'd have to give a lot of credit to those guys for it."
Newman believes that if he attends LSU to form a dynamic trio with Simmons and Blakeney, LSU could take over the reins in the SEC and dethrone mighty Kentucky.
"Yeah, I really think we could," Newman said. "It's kind of hard to go against four superstars like us: me, Antonio, Ben and Jarell (Martin)."
Unfortunately for LSU, Martin, a forward sophomore, recently declared for the draft, as did LSU forward Jordan Mickey. Still, LSU will have a stacked roster filled with underclassmen, just like its counterpart Kentucky.
The future LSU players are confident Kentucky is beatable.
"We've just got to play like it's any other game," Simmons said. "For me, I'm just a player. I don't look at who's on the team. I've played the best, I've played LeBron. I've played the top players. Going into a game like that, I'm just going to play."
Blakeney feels like he has a good idea how to get LSU basketball back to when it was winning conference titles.
"By playing hard and listening to coach," Blakeney said. "The coach has the plan and the players have to buy into his system."