Summer Jam: Kahlil Whitney reaching new heights, has new interest
Mequon, Wisc. -- With so many great players and athletes playing high school basketball, it takes a true commitment to being great in order to separate yourself form the pack. Five start wing Kahlil Whtiney has made that decision.
Recruited and offered by the likes of Illinois, Syracuse, Florida State, Oregon, Louisville, Georgetown, Miami, Pittsburgh, Virginia, UConn and many more with Kentucky now jumping into the mix, the 6-foot-6 wing said that his rise to prominence was just as much opportunity as it was a conscious decision to be great.
"I think it's (opportunity) and I've been in the gym a lot," Whitney told Rivals.com. "I made up my mind that I want to be one of those guys, I want to be great. So I've been in the gym two a days with my dad and my trainer taking it real serious.
"Me coming out here with my teammates and it being my team this instead of playing behind some of my former teammates like that were older than me like Ayo Dosunmu, so it was their turn. Now it's my turn and I'm coming out here with a lot of confidence."
IN HIS OWN WORDS
During June, Whitney took an unofficial visit to Illinois. He broke down that visit and the recent interest from Kentucky.
Illinois: "It was great. They showed a lot of love. Coach (Brad) Underwood and Coach Chin (Coleman), I have a great relationship with those guys and they've been recruiting me since day one so it was good. They took me around campus and showed me some of the stuff, I saw my former teammate Ayo Dosunmu so it was cool."
Kentucky: "I talked to coach (John) Calipari once and he talked to my family and I have talked to them about it. He said that he would love to have me on campus. I don't know when I want to take an official or an unofficial, I'm not sure. But, I'll be talking to my parents about that.
RIVALS' REACTION, WHAT'S NEXT?
Whitney told Rivals.com that he'll be cutting down his list to a group of eight sometime in the next week or two. Whitney has been non committal about which schools will make that list but Illinois has been one that many have talked about as in strong position behind the scenes, Georgetown looks to have done some serious work (assistant Louis Orr coached his father) and the amount of interest that Kentucky is now showing -- they've followed him closely the first two days of this live period -- is notable.
The only thing that is 100% for sure in Whitney's recruitment is that he had better feel a high level of comfort with the coaches recruiting him for any program to have a real chance.
"It will probably be the coaching staff, the coaching staff that I have the greatest relationship with," said Whitney on what's most important in cutting down his list. "So those coaches that I have a great relationship with I'll probably be taking an official visit there.
"Right now I"m just taking it day by day. I'll be cutting my list down to eight schools and I'll be looking for the best relationships."