Bragg wanted to show Calipari he deserved offer, and then he got one

Carlton Bragg, a top 10 player in the 2015 recruiting class, had 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists and was limited to just 24 minutes because of foul problems in Saturday's loss at Mustang Madness.

Bragg has a number of scholarship offers, and got one from Kentucky Sunday. He admitted Friday he was “playing my butt off” to get the UK offer.

“Bragg played a great game. We seem to bring the best out of people. You can see he still has room to develop his jump shot, but he gets to the hole and uses his body well. He rebounds extremely well,” Arsenal Tech coach Jason Delaney said.

Bragg played against Kansas signee Cliff Alexander Friday at Mustang Madness and knew going against Lyles was a chance for him to make a statement to Calipari.

“I came into the game playing against Trey Lyles who is going to Kentucky and I knew it would be a great game,” Bragg said. “He is a very skilled player. He can go left or right. He is very talented. Good size, strong, physical. He is a monster at times. But I enjoyed playing against him and hopefully showing Calipari that I deserve an offer.”
After one dunk in front of Calipari, Bragg let out a scream and glanced Calipari’s way.

“Yes, that was for him,” Bragg smiled and said. “Just to let him know I was there.”

The pull-up jumper he hit from 17 feet late in the game and along with a couple of nifty passes are things he also hopes Calipari and his staff noticed.

“Pretty much I can do those things, but they (UK) don’t really think I can do that. But I can,” Bragg said. “I just play the game. Coach doesn’t want a lot of that from me this year, especially at crunch time. That’s not my role on our team.”

St. Joseph coach Babe Kwasniak liked Bragg’s overall game even though his team lost 80-76 to Arsenal Tech — a team that he said is as good offensively as any high school team in the nation.

“Carlton was good, but as good as he scored, he passed the ball tonight, which I thought was fantastic,” Kwasniak said. “The young man is growing up. He was the first one to grab our senior when he took that ill-advised shot with time on the clock (at the end of the game). If he does those type of things, he has a chance to be very, very special.”

Kwasniak isn’t sure Bragg was as motivated by Calipari’s presence as the player said.

“I don’t think it mattered that much that Calipari was here,” Kwasniak said. “He has been in the limelight a lot. I think it’s just a mental exercise. Earlier he used to get nervous with this guy or that guy here. Now he is just used to it. We talked about it. No diss on Calipari or anybody, but you can’t play that way. You can’t play for a girl, parents or a college coach. You have got to play the game for your teammates and that is the thing I thought he did tonight.”