The coronation of Shaedon Sharpe as the No. 1 basketball player in the class of 2022 is complete. Now, it’ll be all about holding onto that recruiting crown over the next few months.
247Sports updated its recruiting rankings for the 2022 class Wednesday, placing Sharpe — a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Ontario — in the No. 1 spot.
It apparently wasn’t an easy decision.
Sharpe, who announced his commitment to the Kentucky Wildcats last week, followed up a breakout season as a high school junior with a stellar summer on the Nike circuit. Rivals.com and ESPN both moved him to No. 1 in their rankings in recent weeks, and the move by 247Sports makes Sharpe the unanimous choice as the top player in the class.
Dereck Lively II — a 7-footer from Pennsylvania, and another major UK recruiting target — remains in the conversation, however, and the decision over whether to put him or Sharpe in that top spot was apparently a tough one.
247Sports analyst Travis Branham said that Sharpe’s individual production this summer probably clinched the No. 1 ranking for this particular update.
“That’s not a knock on Dereck Lively, by any means,” he told the Herald-Leader. “This is a very close one.”
Branham noted that — while Lively didn’t put up the numbers in Nike play that Sharpe did — the 7-footer was playing on a team that featured previous No. 1 recruit Jalen Duren, who has since reclassified and signed with Memphis for this season, as well as several other top 100 national prospects.
That squad, Team Final, also won the Nike Peach Jam competition, losing just one game over the two-week event in July.
“Any time you’re playing with a team like Team Final, where you have the No. 1 player in the country in Jalen Duren, and you have four other Top 100 guys out on the court with you at all times, it’s hard for two ‘5’ men to shine at the same time, along with having all the other talent out on the floor,” Branham said. “Everyone is sharing. Nobody cares about being the center of attention for that team. Everybody’s letting each other do their thing, just for the sake of winning.
“That said, Dereck didn’t quite dominate quite like Shaedon did this summer. So, for that reason, I think Shaedon got the nod. But this is a very close one. I think these two will be battling it out for the No. 1 spot for the next year.”
247Sports was the first major recruiting service to include Sharpe in its national rankings for 2022 last fall, and he steadily climbed that list as his breakout junior season progressed, ending up at No. 6 following the reclassifications of Duren and fellow Memphis signee Emoni Bates, who had long been seen as the top two prospects in the class.
Lively had moved to No. 3 overall in the previous 247Sports update, so he was bumped up to No. 1 following the decisions by Bates and Duren to head to college early. Going into the high school season, it will be Sharpe at No. 1 and Lively at No. 2.
Both are promising players, and it’s been difficult for talent evaluators to compare them for rankings purposes. One is an incredibly athletic, dynamic, three-level scorer who will play quite a bit with the ball in his hands. The other is a super-versatile center with the size and ability to protect the rim and stretch the floor.
Branham acknowledged that Sharpe has the higher floor, especially when projecting them out to what is likely to be just one season of college basketball. Lively has a higher ceiling.
“There just aren’t many 7-footers in the world that can anchor a defense, switch out on the perimeter, block shots, rebound, run the floor, lob catch, and then stretch out to three the way Dereck Lively is able to do,” Branham said.
Sharpe is a seemingly can’t-miss prospect at a prime position, given the current trajectory of the sport. Lively is a rare talent for the center role. This debate will rage on into the winter and likely won’t be settled until after the postseason all-star circuit next spring.
“The usage rate of a guy like Shaedon — compared to a Dereck Lively — frankly, guys who have the ball in their hands are going to be way more impactful at the end of the day than a big man,” Branham said.
UK recruits in the rankings
Sharpe is already committed to Kentucky. Lively is the biggest name left on the Wildcats’ list.
The rest of the top 10 is also peppered with possible future Wildcats.
Following Baylor commitment Keyonte George and Duke commitment Dariq Whitehead in the third and fourth spots, respectively, is No. 5-ranked Chris Livingston, who will announce his college decision Wednesday night. Kentucky is the major favorite to land his commitment.
Star combo guard Cason Wallace, who will decide soon from a list that includes Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas, is ranked No. 7 overall by 247Sports. UK is also a major favorite to land Wallace.
Five-star center Adem Bona, another Kentucky target, is No. 10 on the 247Sports list. UK is viewed as a possible favorite for Bona, who is planning to visit Lexington in a couple of weeks.
The original Kentucky commitment for 2022 — five-star point guard Skyy Clark — is ranked No. 18 on the new 247Sports list after missing the summer with a torn ACL that is expected to sideline him for his senior season of high school at Montverde Academy (Fla.).
Clark is on track to be 100 percent healthy by the time he gets to UK next summer, and — if things go according to plan over the next few weeks — it looks like he’ll be the first commitment in a class that will be ranked among John Calipari’s best ever at Kentucky.
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