Pictured left to right: Kevin Love, Brandon Knight, Wes Welker
The Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year Awards were handed out last week in Los Angeles. Both winners were basketball players — Chiney Ogwumike from Cypress, Texas was the female winner, and the male winner was Brandon Knight of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Knight actually is in some elite company because he’s one of only three two-time Gatorade National Boys Basketball Players of the Year (LeBron James and Greg Oden are the others). Only time will tell how Knight is able to develop, but if history tells us anything he has an extremely bright future.
Examining some of the recent Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year winners, the basketball players who have taken that award have gone on to great things. The recent list includes LeBron (’03), Dwight Howard (’04), Greg Oden (’06), and Kevin Love (’07). Love was actually on hand last week in LA for the presentation and his future success path seems to have been opened by Minnesota’s trade of Al Jefferson to the Jazz. Being included in that group, Knight seems almost destined for success.
Not only is Brandon Knight in good company as a Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year, he also seems to be headed for a promising future at Kentucky. The last three point guards for John Calipari have all been one-and-done freshmen who ended up as top four picks in the NBA draft. Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans (both were coached by Calipari at Memphis) ended up winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award, and there’s a strong chance John Wall will claim the honor this year. From Rose to Evans to Wall and now Knight, Calipari sure knows how to recruit top flight point guards. Looks like Knight is next on the list of future number one picks pumped out by Coach Cal.
