SPORTS

Thomas Bryant likes how UK uses big men

Steve Jones

@stevejones_cj

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The University of Kentucky has a lot of talented big men on this year’s No. 1 basketball team. Thomas Bryant - a five-star center being recruited by UK – likes the way coach John Calipari is using them.

Bryant, the energetic, 6-foot-11 player for Huntington (W.Va.) Prep, is looking like a bigger recruiting priority for Calipari with every passing week. The coach has watched him back-to-back weekends, in Paducah at Mustang Madness last week and at the Spalding HoopHall Classic on Sunday, and Bryant attended the Wildcats’ 86-37 rout of Missouri last Tuesday.

“They were playing a real good Missouri team, and as you know, they went off on them and beat them pretty bad,” said Bryant, whose also considering Mizzou. “Everybody in that system is utilized, and everybody plays together, which I like.”

Bryant, the nation’s No. 16 senior on ESPN.com, said Sunday that he’s still considering four schools primarily - UK, Missouri, Syracuse and Indiana - as has been the case for a couple months. He has taken three official visits and said he plans to officially visit UK sometime with a decision coming near the end of this season.

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Kansas has also shown recent interest, but Bryant’s not sure to what extent the Jayhawks want him.

He received a UK offer about six weeks ago and also attended the Cats’ late-November game against Boston University. After watching the team up-close on his visits, Bryant likes how Calipari is spreading frontcourt playing time around and using players in different positions.

“What stood out is how they utilize their people,” he said. “Their motto is they play big and guard like guards. Even the big men out there can guard guards, and they just play hard, play smart and play together. That’s what the team is all about. When you have that much talent on one team, it’s great to see how they can just come together and play.”

Bryant said he’ll pay attention to who comes and goes off the rosters of the teams he’s considering, and projected playing time will be a factor for him. He said that if UK has multiple top big men come back, he would be “probably less likely” to pick the Cats “because, you know, I don’t want to play behind people.”

That said, he likes Calipari’s “platoon” system, in which five centers and power forwards are logging between 12 and 25 minutes per game.

“Oh, his platoons are great,” Bryant said. “With that, everybody plays the same, equal minutes. He utilizes everybody that’s in that platoon system, and puts the team together that plays the best together, whether that’s the White platoon or the Blue platoon.”

UK could have any number of players turn pro after this season. Bryant said he knows “for sure two of them – Willie Cauley-Stein and Karl Towns – are first-round draft picks,” and he’ll keep evaluating the rest of the Cats to see who’s likely to stay or go.

Bryant, a native of upstate New York, has been pegged as a Syracuse lean since he was an underclassman, and his mother seems to favor the Orange. She’s also said that UK, specifically, “isn’t the right place” for her son.

But Bryant reiterated on Sunday that he has no favorite and that his mother’s views are hers alone. He said it’s realistic he’ll end up at a school other than Syracuse.

“Nah, I’m not set on one school,” he said. “I’m taking all the options I have, and if one seems better than Syracuse, then I’ll go to that school. If Syracuse seems better, then I’ll go to Syracuse.”

Bryant is a passionate, high-motor player. He was fantastic last week at Mustang Madness, posting 33 points and 14 rebounds in a loss to UK target Malik Newman’s team. On Sunday, while battling a bad cold, he had 11 points and 10 rebounds in a 75-57 victory over New York’s Our Savior New American, which features five-star UK target and Bryant’s club teammate Cheick Diallo.

“He always brings it,” Huntington Prep coach Arkell Bruce said. “He was sick as hell (Sunday), and he fought through it, and he played well. … Thomas is just as good as any big man in the country, if not the best one. He’s 6-11, probably going to grow some more; he’s a young senior.”

An assistant from Syracuse joined Calipari on the front row Sunday.

“Having coaches like Calipari and all those guys coming to your games has to tell you that you’re doing something right,” Bryant said. “I’m going to keep going as hard as I can to keep improving.”

Steve Jones can be reached at (502) 582-7176 and followed on Twitter at @SteveJones_CJ.