Brandon Knight signs…with a twist

Brandon Knight signs…with a twist

by Thomas Beisner @ 3:36 pm. Filed under Blue Blooded Opinions

UK’s Media Relations department sent out a Tweet this afternoon saying Rivals’ #1 overall player, Brandon Knight, signed a financial aid offer with UK, rather than the traditional Letter of Intent. While not a cause for alarm, the difference in the paperwork means that should Knight decide that Kentucky is not the place to spend a year of college (as he might if Cal left for a desk job at Eli Lilly), he can have more wiggle room to get his release. The only restriction of the financial aid offer states that he cannot receive financial aid from an SEC school within the next two years. To UK fans, this probably only means that Brandon Knight is indeed just as smart as he’s been built up to be. With that option available, there’s really no reason for any top player to not do the same.

Knight pushes UK's list of signees to three

April 16, 2010

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Brandon Knight has signed a financial aid offer to play basketball at the University of Kentucky, Head Coach John Calipari announced on Friday.

A senior at Pine Crest High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Knight ranks as the top recruit in the country by Rivals.com, fourth on ESPNU's Top 100 and is rated the No. 1 point guard by Scout.com.

“When you hear the name Brandon Knight, you think about a warrior on and off the court,” Calipari said. “This young man is as driven as any other player that I've ever coached. The possibility of having a year of credits before he enters college is unbelievable and he also has a 4.3 GPA.

“As a basketball player, when you are rated one, two or three in your class you know where you stand on the court. He's already being projected as a 2011 NBA Draft pick and rightfully so.”

The 6-foot-3 Knight averaged 32.5 ppg, 8.6 rpg and 4.0 apg in his senior season at Pine Crest. He earned McDonald's All-American honors and hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the West a 107-104 win in the 2010 McDonald's All-American game.

Knight, a Jordan Brand Classic All-American, will play in the Jordan Brand Classic All-American game on Saturday in Madison Square Garden. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET.

Knight joins Enes Kanter and Stacey Poole Jr. in UK's 2010 signing class.