Thon Maker reclassification decision soon

PADUCAH, Ky. - Within a few weeks, the college basketball recruiting world will know whether top-ranked junior Thon Maker will remain in high school another year or reclassify and immediately become the hottest prospect available in the senior class.

Maker's guardian, Ed Smith, told The Courier-Journal Saturday night at McCracken County's Mustang Madness that Maker's semester at his Canadian high school ends on Jan. 28. They'll take a couple days to evaluate his grades and which courses he's lacking, then announce by the first week of February if he'll stay in the 2016 class or skip a grade, graduate this year and be eligible for college ball next season.

Smith said Maker, who has little else to prove basketball-wise on the high school level, will reclassify if his academic workload will allow it.

"We're going to push," Smith said. "At this stage, it's not that he's overdominating the competition – although he is dominating the position – but he needs to get in a higher-level type setting."

Kentucky, Indiana and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Louisville are among the college teams hoping to land the 7-foot phenom this year or next. UK coach John Calipari and assistant Kenny Payne attended his game on Saturday night, when he had 17 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots for Orangeville Prep of Ontario in a 63-55 win over Prolific Prep of California, which features top-three another junior, Josh Jackson.

Smith said Maker, who's ranked No. 1 in 2016 by Rivals.com, has been "aggressive" in loading up on NCAA-mandated core courses for freshman eligibility, and he will finish all those requirements this semester with probably a 3.8 grade-point average or better. The question will then become if Maker has enough hours in the average week over the next several months to complete the early-graduation requirements specific to his high school, Orangeville District Secondary School.

Maker is in his first year at Orangeville after transferring from the Carlisle School in Virginia, so he's been a little behind the curve in meeting the requirements of his new school.

At Orangeville, Smith said, he'll still be lacking, for example, two French credits – a requirement to graduate high school in Canada - because he'd focused on Spanish courses at his former school. So if he reclassifies, Maker would have to take two French classes in one semester.

And there could be other final requirements he'll need to meet to before that, too, like a co-op project, Smith said. Even though the remaining requirements aren't that difficult individually, "they're harder because they're man hours," Smith said. "How many man hours are there in the day?"

Continuing the earlier example, Smith said it's possible Orangeville would let Maker do one of those French classes online, and he said the school has been helpful in providing tutors to the team during its busy travel schedule. Next semester goes till June 23 – much later than most American high schools.

What seems clear is that Smith thinks Maker is ready for the next level, so the question isn't so much if Maker wants to reclassify but just whether he can and will. Smith is eager to see him play on a higher level with a shot clock and faster pace.

Smith reiterated Saturday night that UK remains one of the teams recruiting Maker most heavily. He also mentioned Kansas and Indiana.

Calipari flew to watch Maker and other players immediately after UK's double-overtime win at Texas A&M. Maker visited UK last month for its home game against Providence, and Smith has been impressed with Calipari's track record of coaching elite prospects like Maker, who projects as a one-and-done collegian.

"That's great," Smith said of Calipari coming to watch. "They're a big-time program. There are few guys in this business that do it really well at that level and dealing with that type of player and have driven that type of vehicle and understand what they're doing. You have to kind of put it in the hands of those few guys and let it go from there."

Calipari's reputation for using freshmen heavily seems to be an advantage for UK over, say, Louisville, where Maker visited a month ago for the game against Ohio State. Smith didn't include U of L among the teams still strongly recruiting Maker.

"I don't know how he fits in (the Cardinals') scheme of things and how they view things," Smith said. "What he's looking at it is more where he can get in there and be immediate-impact and play through mistakes. … I think (the Cards) took more of an approach with their young players like where they have to come out and sit and talk, and it's a progression."

Indiana would figure to make Maker a centerpiece of its system if he were to pick the Hoosiers. Smith said IU's coaches "really want us to try to get up there (for a visit). I saw they won the big one (against Ohio State).

IU is the only school heavily recruiting Maker that has also made an offer to his brother, four-star sophomore forward Matur Maker.

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