It's Malachi Moreno, right? I can't think of another Center that played high school ball in Kentucky and signed with UK better than Malachi.
Best KHSAA Center to Sign with UK?
- Thread starter FtWorthCat
- Start date
Forgot about Turpin. I think you're right. I would put Malachi over Estill at this point, but debateable.
As far as the other great big men from the KHSAA, Wes Unseld went to UofL, Dave Cowens went to Florida State and Jim McDaniels took Western Kentucky to the Final Four. Any other Kentucky high school big men I'm missing?
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One of my favorites under Tubby
Man I loved watching him operate downlow
Anyone out there old enough to remember anything about Dave Cowens in high school? I'm referencing the KHSAA Basketball Encyclopedia by Jeff Bridgeman. He went to Newport Catholic in 1966 and they went 29-3 but lost in first round of the Sweet Sixteen. Cowens was only all-state honorable mention. But Hugh Durham (Louisville native, coached Florida State at that time, went on to UGA later) gave him a scholarship. He is arguably the greatest Florida State player to this day, still all-time leading rounder, top 10 in scoring. Seems like UK would have been all over him in the mid 60s, would have been a Soph at UK in Issel's Senior Year.
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Big Mel was a scoring machine. Moreno could be better but got to play it out to see.
Was the rumor about a joint falling out of Estill's pocket during a team meeting ever verified ??
Always seemed a bit far-fetched to me ...
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I would go with Mel Turpin, definitely. I think he signed with Morehead, orginally, until Joe Hall called Lake Kelly and said he wanted him. However, don't forget Thad Jaracz on Rupp's Runts ... although perhaps considered a C-F by some, he was very good and a third-team All-American.
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Turpin and Estill played in Kentucky right?
Good handle for a big guy, great passer. I love seeing he dunks everything in the post when he can.
I really hope he lives up to his ranking. I would love for him to be the best center to ever come out of Kentucky.
We won’t know until he’s played at this level for a bit and we have seen way too often a highly ranked recruit come in and just struggle to make the transition at the same level right away. He’s going to be playing 22 year old grown men. Granted, he has a bit of time and may put on a few pounds and hopefully continue to develop in terms of skill, but so does everyone else.
He seems to be a willing and able passer which should fit well into the game plan. Looking forward to seeing him in blue and white soon!
We won’t know until he’s played at this level for a bit and we have seen way too often a highly ranked recruit come in and just struggle to make the transition at the same level right away. He’s going to be playing 22 year old grown men. Granted, he has a bit of time and may put on a few pounds and hopefully continue to develop in terms of skill, but so does everyone else.
He seems to be a willing and able passer which should fit well into the game plan. Looking forward to seeing him in blue and white soon!
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Without question THE BEST KHSAA center to sign with UK was Melvin Turpin. Had two 42 point games as a wildcat, was an All-American & was the 6th pick in the 1984 NBA draft behind guys like, Olajuwon, Jordan & Barkley. Dave Cowens & Dan Issel was in the same class. They both left college in 1970.
Great hands for his size. Good footwork. Comfortable with touch passing to cutters. Can dribble well enough in an open break and that will likely improve to him being comfortable to 2-3 power dribbles on a strong hand drive from the perimeter like TJones was…not a great ball handler but effective when paired with his size
Honestly, in terms of how they were regarded in HS, this is probably the correct answer. Because I believe both Estill and Turpin were originally sort of overweight projects who later blossomed at UK. Whereas Payne arrived at UK being much hyped as an "Wilt/Alcindor-like" physical specimen.
But, of course, we'd all now like to forget that Payne was ever here given how it turned out.
Played for florida st and Hugh Durham than was drafted by Boston Celtics great player Newport native
Thad jaracz played center for rupps runts he was from Lexington
He and Coach Durham clicked and the rest was history kinda like diamond in the rough Zazi Mohammad and Pitino.
I do remember back that far. I would add Thad Jaracz from that era who played at Lexington Lafayette and a very good career at UK…although he played forward his senior year because of Issel
Yes he did and issel may have been the reason rupp did not look at Cowans or northern Kentucky athletes were more into Cincinnati and louisville or elsewhere
I couldn't find it via Google but i thought estill was not a highly regarded recruit. He really developed into a nice player.
Spivey was born in Fla and played HS ball in Georgia.
I believe that was Jason Parker, though to be fair, a lot of guys on Team Turmoil 2002 were dealing with extra curricular activity (ALLEGEDLY)
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