Kentucky basketball recruiting: Briscoe wants to be at Kentucky

By: LARRY VAUGHT

One thing impressed Kentucky coach John Calipari about New Jersey guard Isaiah Briscoe more than anything else when he was being recruited.

What Calipari liked best was that Briscoe wanted to be at Kentucky and made that clear.

“You want players that want to play at Kentucky, that understand what it means,” said Calipari. “When I met with him and his family, I said, 'It's not for everybody. It'll be the hardest thing you're ever going to undertake. I'm not going to promise you you'll start. I'm not promising you minutes or shots. You come with us because you want to get better. Individually, you want to go from A to B to C and you want to be on a terrific team and be a teammate.'

“He never asked me who was going to be on our team. He never asked me, nor did he care, who else we were recruiting. He wanted to play with us, and it's exactly the kind of young man that comes here, improves himself, gets himself better and understands why he came and does well.”

The 6-3 shooting guard from Roselle Catholic High School is averaging 22.1 points, 4.0 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game this year. He’s been named a McDonald’s All-American and is one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy High School Player of the Year award. He won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2014 FIBA Americas U18 Championships and is ranked the No. 9 overall player in the class of 2015 by Rivals and 247Sports.

Briscoe along with UK signees Charles Matthews and Skal Labissiere was named Thursday to play in the Jordan Brand Classic April 17 in Brooklyn. All three will play for the East team in the game that will be nationally televised on ESPN2 at 8 p.m.

Calipari said he did not want anyone to “come here and fail” and that’s why he is careful during recruiting.

“Not every kid succeeds but we work real hard on making it so when we're watching they have a great chance to succeed. Good character kids, and that's what he is. Great family. I went and watched him play. He's exactly what we thought: great with the ball, good teammate. He's got a ways to go, but he's going to be good,” Calipari said.

Calipari wouldn’t speculate on Briscoe’s NBA aspirations.

“I do know that you have to understand when I ask my team that question to start the year – 'How many of you have aspirations to play in the NBA?' every player in the room raised their hand, including the walk-ons,” Calipari said. “I want guys that have that in them that they want to be the best they can be. They know to reach that dream they've got to be at their very best and the team's got to win. They understand it.

“What he'll do here, it's like everything else, I hope you see when he's playing for us, you say, 'I never thought he was this good. I never thought he could get to this point. I'm amazed at how much better he's gotten. Look at his body. Look at the pace of his game. He gets in the lane whenever he wants. I didn't realized this is who he was.' That's what I'm hoping the comments are after he's playing for us."

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Labissiere, originally from Haiti, is a 6-11 forward who is a consensus five-star recruit. He is the No. 1 overall center in the 2015 class by both Rivals and Scout and the No. 2 center by 247Sports.

Matthews, a 6-5 guard from Chicago, is tabbed as the No. 12 shooting guard in the 2015 class by ESPN, 15th by 247Sports and 20th by Scout. He captured most valuable player accolades after leading his team to the 3-on-3 USA Basketball U18 championship.