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Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum and Malik Monk under Kentucky's watchful eye at Nike EYBL

Harry Giles (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)

Harry Giles (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)

LEXINGTON, Ky. — With Kentucky the center of the basketball recruiting universe this weekend — all three major AAU circuits are in the region — it’s not surprise that the University of Kentucky was out in force.

At the Nike EYBL event Friday night in Lexington, assistant coach Kenny Payne – flanked by returning Cats Tyler Ulis, Alex Poythress and Marcus Lee, along with NBA-bound Devin Booker and Willie Cauley-Stein – watched rising high school seniors Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum and Malik Monk.

Giles, Tatum and Monk are No. 1, 3 and 4, respectively, in Scout.com’s 2016 class ranking.

 

The three players talked recruiting, in general, but also where they stand in relation to Kentucky.

HARRY GILES, 6-10 PF – How hard is coach John Calipari trying to pry the North Carolina native away from in-state Duke and UNC? “Really hard,” Giles said. “They’ve been recruiting me hard. Coach Cal came to my house last week, so it’s been a lot of fun. They’re recruiting me like some of the top schools.”

The Kentucky coach’s main message, which will be a theme here: “Just development,” Giles said. “He wants to coach me bad and he thinks he can get me to the next level, so he just wants to develop me and make me the best player I can be.”

As a star big man, he’s aware that UK will have four guys 6-10 or taller picked in this June’s NBA draft and it is “definitely an attraction,” he said, repeating that he wants a school that will “develop me the most, a school that’s going to push me, a coach that’s going to push me, not going to tell me what I want to hear.”

That probably sounds familiar to Kentucky fans, as Calipari talks often about keeping it real – as the kids say – with his players. Giles also noticed Cauley-Stein and company in the building Friday night. Booker spoke to Giles before his game.

“It’s cool seeing them around here, seeing them in public, being able to talk,” Giles said.

JAYSON TATUM, 6-8 SF – The top small forward in the Class of 2016, Tatum squared off against the top small forward in the Class of 2017, Michael Porter, in Friday night’s final game. Both players scored 20 points in a three-point win for Tatum’s team. He added eight rebounds and three steals.

Afterward, Tatum talked about cutting his list to four schools: Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina and hometown Saint Louis. The Cats made the cut because of “my relationship with the coach,” he said. “Coach Cal is a great guy and a great coach and he’s been recruiting me hard since he offered me my freshman year. He does a great job coaching those guys, getting them to play hard.

“And, you know, they win ball games and he sends them to the NBA, and that’s every kid’s goal.”

Calipari had an in-home visit with Tatum this week and it went well, the player said. Again, the message was simple.

“He just shows me that he’s had the caliber of players like myself,” Tatum said. “Top guys come to this program and he’s developed them and made them a better player, got them to their dream, to be in the NBA. … There’s certain things I like about each school that’s different from the others, like in the last couple years, Calipari’s sent the most guys to the NBA. That’s probably the thing that stands out the most.”

The Blue Devils, though, are strong contenders for his services and impressed Tatum by coming to visit him just three days after winning the national championship.

“It definitely showed a lot,” he said, also addressing the rumor that Duke is his leader. “I hear it a lot – social media and people’s articles. I can see how it looks like that: first official visit, first in-home visit. You know, they’ve just been recruiting me really hard, showing that extra effort that they really want me.

“(But) I don’t have any favorite right now. They’re all head to head.”

MALIK MONK, 6-3 SG – Calipari made an in-home visit last week – Oregon and Arkansas (his home school) were the only other programs that stopped by – and UK’s coach “really wasn’t telling me no lies,” Monk said. “Just wanted me to come to his program and face my dreams.” Which are? “Go to the NBA.”

In that case, what does Monk make of the Cats sending seven players from this year’s team into the draft? “It’s crazy,” he said. “Their program is nice and develops their players real good. So it was a good impact – it made a good impact on my choice.”

He plans to trim his list of schools to six after Peach Jam in mid-July. In the meantime, Calipari gave Monk something to chew on. He compared the 6-3 guard, whose game features a remarkable blend of sharpshooting and athleticism, to former pupil Derrick Rose.

“I mean, (that’s) big,” Monk said. “It’s great. It has an impact. Derrick Rose is one of the best guards in the league, so it’s nice to have a comparison to him.”

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