When he steps on the floor with the PSA Cardinals on Wednesday at Peach Jam, Quade Green will be one of the most sought after players in the Class of 2017.
The 6-foot point guard from Philadelphia (PA) Neumann-Goretti recently visited both Duke and Kentucky, picking up offers from both school along the way.
“[Kentucky] went well, I liked it,” Green told SNY.tv on Tuesday. “[Coach John Calipari] wanted me to come in and play, he’s going to have eight people leaving. He wanted me to come in and play.”
Asked if Kentucky told him all three main guards — Isaiah Briscoe, De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk — were expected to leave, Green reiterated, “Yeah, possibly.”
Green, who leads the Nike EYBL in assists (10.5) and steals (2.9), is the third Class of 2017 point guard to pick up a Kentucky offer, following Trae Young and Tremont Waters.
“I know they do feel like their backcourt this year is going to be talented enough to all be gone possibly next year so they’re looking for players to come in and play,” Neumann-Goretti coach Carl Arrigale said last week on The 4 Quarters Podcast. “They see him as a Tyler Ulis maybe with a couple more inches, which is probably a pretty good comparison. He’s got the guts of burglar. He plays really hard, he’s not afraid of any moment and he watched the Kentucky teams with Tyler out there. They see him as being a guy who can play that similar role for them the next few years.”
Green likes that Calipari has sent many point guards to the NBA, including Derrick Rose, John Wall, Brandon Knight, Marquis Teague and Ulis.
“Going there means he wants me to be a pro,” Green said.
Green also visited Duke and picked up an offer.
“It went well,” he said. “I liked that, too.”
As for what Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, Green said, “Same thing Coach Cal wanted me to do, come in there and play right away.”
Duke has Frank Jackson coming in as the starting point this season.
Green says he’s tight with players at both schools.
“I know all the players at Kentucky and Duke,” he said, adding “Fox, Amile Jefferson, Grayson [Allen], Isaiah [Briscoe].”
After the Peach Jam, Green and his PSA Cardinals teammate Mohamed Bamba — who plans to cut his list in August — head to Houston to train with the USA U18 team before heading to the FIBA Americas Championship in Chile.
“I’m ready to compete,” he said. “Mohamed’s been hurt so I don’t know what he’s got going on. He’s playing at Peach Jam.”
Green, who holds offers from a slew of other schools including Syracuse and Villanova, will cut his list sometime later this summer.
“I really don’t know,” he said. “Soon.”
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