CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Five-star point guard Immanuel Quickley is amid a grueling schedule. He took time to discuss his approach to travel, his recruitment and whether or not John Calipari and Kentucky have an extra advantage in his recruitment.
A strong and physical point guard, Quickley was in Italy with adidas over the weekend. After he finishes up with NBPA Top 100 this weekend he'll head to Colorado Springs to try out for USA Basketball's U19 National Team.
It's a tough schedule but he wants to make the most of it.
"I just try to embrace the grind," Quickley said. "You can never really be ready for all of it but you have to take it day by day and just fight through fatigue."
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All spring, there has been a debate surrounding the best point guard in the class of 2018. Quickley is in that conversation with Darius Garland, Tre Jones, Jahvon Quinerly and others.
"I think I'm top dog," Quickley said. "I've won pretty much every matchup I've played in this spring so I think I'm top dog. I think they are all really good and I've played against all of them and I know all of them too. I think what stands out about me is that my height and my playmaking gives me an advantage."
Recently, Quickley cut his list down to a final four of Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland and Miami, so he took time to discuss each program.
Kansas: "A big part of it with Kansas is their player development. Frank Mason was originally supposed to go to Towson which is around my area so I know the big difference between Towson and Kansas. For him to that and win national player of the year is really good. I went to the midnight madness and it was a nice environment."
Kentucky: "I think coach (John) Calipari says basically what he says to every other kid he recruits. He only offers pros so for him to think I'm a pro is a humbling and a blessing so that's really cool."
Maryland: "Me and coach (Mark) Turgeon have gotten really close over the years. Especially because as soon as he took the job he started to recruit me at an early age so our relationship is really good."
Miami: "They tell me at Miami that if I feel it's a really good fit I should go there. I like the fact that they brought all of their coaches to the in-home visit so that was a good thing."
Quickley hasn't yet nailed down an exact timeline for making a decision, but he will take at least two or three official visits.
One last thing to keep an eye on is that Calipari is coaching the U19 team for USA Basketball. Many have wondered if it would give the Wildcats an advantage and after initially trying to downplay it, Quickley admitted it wouldn't hurt.
"I won't say it, well actually you can't lie, it does give them an advantage," he said. "Just because I get to spend more time with him. But all of the coaches tell me that they will see me in Colorado so we'll see."
