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According to most recruiting experts, 2013 is supposed to be the year the University of Kentucky lands a historic recruiting class. So far, Derek Willis is the only committed player for UK in the 2013 class and there is probably a good reason for that: He isn’t the type of young man who revels in the attention that comes with being recruited.
His Head Coach at Bullitt East High School, Troy Barr, said of Willis: “Derek is a really humble, quiet and respectful kid. He likes to fly under the radar because he is really shy.” Coach Barr possibly gave the reason in those two sentences why Willis, who was once ranked in the top 50 in the country, slipped out of the top 100 during the summer evaluation period when scouts want players to “wow” them. “Derek is too unselfish at times, he is a great passer which will probably be his biggest strength at UK since he will be playing with so many other great players. He has the ability to go get 40 a game in high school, but he wants his friends to get involved too.” Coach Barr said he is going to look for his star to score more this upcoming season and get him more into the role of a star instead of a facilitator. “He can score inside with jump hooks and dunks, or he can take you out to the three point line and shoot over you or take you to the basket, he just needs to be more assertive and look for his shot more.”
Coach Barr thinks Willis, who is 6-9 with a 7-1 wingspan with great athleticism, has the versatility to be a force at UK after he adds bulk to his slender frame. Coach Barr said that Willis isn’t a one-dimensional player who just tries to use height to score in high school, “Derek is unbelievably versatile for his size, he literally plays 1 through 4 for us during the high school season and I really think he can play 4 positions in college as well. We don’t just bury him on the block, he is too good for that.”
Still, Barr knows what Willis has to do in order to turn into the player he thinks he can be at UK, “He needs to become dominant at something, take one part of his game and make it really good, right now he is truly good at most everything but not dominant in any one thing.”
With only one more season of coaching Willis in high school, Coach Barr knows this is a great chance for the school to get a state championship and he will be leaning heavily on his star player to take on more of a load this year. “I need him to score more for us, he has the ability, just has to change his mindset.”
Oh yeah, about that “wanting to fly under the radar” mindset, a major question will be how will the quiet, humble and painfully shy kid be able to handle all of the hoopla that constantly surrounds the fishbowl existence of UK basketball? “Well, no kid is going to be ready for the circus that is UK basketball when they are a freshman,” Barr said, “but he is such a nice kid and everyone always seems to like him so there is no doubt he will fit in great with his teammates, so I don’t worry about him, he will handle it fine.”
I seem to remember another shy kid who grew up in the Bluegrass State who was accused of deferring too much to his teammates. His name is Darius Miller. That seemed to work out just fine.
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