Three future Wildcats set to participate in tonight's McDonald's All-American Game

ZGeogheganKSR

Half of Kentucky’s talented 2024 recruiting class will take the stage on ESPN later this evening. At 9:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday night in Houston, the future Wildcat trio of Jayden Quaintance, Boogie Fland, and Karter Knox will participate in arguably the biggest high school basketball All-Star event around: the McDonald’s All-American Boys Game.

Quaintance and Fland will suit up for the East team while Knox will play for the West team. All three have been at the Toyota Center since Sunday to prepare for the event, which also features the All-American Girls Game (6:30 p.m. EST on ESPN2; no Kentucky connections).

Kentucky men’s basketball’s three representatives are the most of any school for the Boys Game. Alabama, Duke, North Carolina, and Rutgers all have two representatives participating.

Looking at the Wildcats’ Burger Boys, Quaintance, who has already signed with UK, is the highest-rated of the bunch. The 6-foot-10, 16-year-old center is ranked No. 8 overall in the 2024 class by the On3 Industry Ranking. He’s considered a consensus five-star recruit and will be required to spend two seasons at the post-high school level before turning pro.

Fland, a 6-foot-2 point guard who is also signed, isn’t far behind in the rankings at No. 19 overall with a four-star rating. Knox is just a couple of spots below. The 6-foot-6 wing, who has yet to officially sign his National Letter of Intent, checks in at No. 21 overall with a four-star rating.

“I dreamed of this as a kid. Coming from the Bronx, you don’t really get this opportunity that much,” Fland said on Monday. “For me, I had to grind for it. I just feel like I earned it. To be here with all these top players, I feel like it’s no more than a blessing.”

In the leadup to tonight’s matchup, Knox was listed as a Top 10 practice performer on Sunday by On3’s Jamie Shaw. Knox, who will be following in his older brother’s footsteps (Kevin Knox) as a Kentucky commit to play in this event, received the same recognition following Monday’s practice, too, as did Quaintance.

Two other Kentucky commits, four-star point guard Travis Perry (No. 87) and four-star wing Billy Richmond (No. 24) were nominated for the All-American Game but did not make the cut. The sixth and final future Wildcat from this group, four-star center Somto Cyril (No. 42), was not deemed eligible as he’s considered a postgraduate student at Overtime Elite.

Kentucky has been a consistent player in the McDonald’s All-American Games over the years, especially during the John Calipari era. UK has signed 47 McDonald’s All-Americans out of high school under Calipari (including six in 2013 and five in 2017), and a total of 79 throughout the program’s history. Last year, Kentucky sent out Aaron Bradshaw, Justin Edwards, Reed Sheppard, and DJ Wagner for this event, with Wagner taking home MVP honors.

Will we get another MVP-like performance from a future ‘Cat tonight? We’ll find out soon enough. As always, we’ll have immediate coverage of the game on KSR. You can also follow along with the KSR crew as we discuss the game as it’s happening over on KSBoard.