Cats Attack: Elite Guard Archie Goodwin Commits to Kentucky

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Owners of an unprecedented streak of three consecutive top ranked college basketball recruiting classes, it was somewhat unexpected for Kentucky to roll into late September without a commit in the 2012 recruiting cycle, provided one doesn’t consider NC State transfer point guard Ryan Harrow. The brief “dry spell” was broken, as elite shooting guard Archie Goodwin of Sylvan Hills (AR) committed to join Big Blue Nation on Tuesday night.

Goodwin, arguably the top pure shooting guard in the country and a Top 15 national prospect, narrowed his choices fo the Wildcats, his home state program Arkansas, and Memphis recently. Despite battling a spring injury, Goodwin was easy to identify as one of the top scorers in the country through his play for the Arkansas Wings. Goodwin tweeted on Tuesday night,”If you don’t know by now, I’m a Wildcat”.

As a junior af Sylvan Hills, Goodwin averaged 28 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists per game in leading his team to the 4A state championship. He was selected as the Gatorade Player of the Year in Arkansas.

Curiously, Kentucky coach John Calipari made a visit to touted shooting guard Gary Harris of Hamilton Southeast (IN) on Monday. While Goodwin was known to be the top Kentucky target at shooting guard, a message might have been sent with the visit to Harris.

While the NBA situation is still up in the air, Goodwin does project as a potential freshman starter in Lexington, provided expected NBA early entries occur with Doron Lamb, Marquis Teague or others. Goodwin has the size, shooting and scoring ability, and burst to be an immediate impact player for Kentucky in the SEC.

It is way too early to tell if Kentucky will land a fourth top national recruiting class, especially with the success Arizona and UCLA are having as of late. Still, prospects with pro aspirations seem to be flocking to John Calipari, and he and his staff are in on a more than a half dozen Top 50 prospects that remain uncommitted. The rumored attendees to Big Blue Madness include some the elite uncommitted prospects in the country.

For now, Goodwin and Harrow ensure thr pipeline of talent at Kentucky isnt drying up anytime soon. Like UCLA and others, the Wildcats are still among the players for the #1 prospect in the country, wing Shabazz Muhammad. He is a different player than Goodwin, and it is conceivable that their games could complement each other at the college level.

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