Kentucky lands five-star point guard Quade Green

Five-star point guardQuade Greenhas committed to Kentucky.

Green chose the Wildcats over Syracuse, although Villanova, Temple and Duke were also on his final list of five schools.

Syracuse appeared to be the prohibitive favorite for Green for most of the fall, taking the lead from Duke in late August. The Orange hosted Green on at least four visits since the summer, but Green was impressed with Kentucky when he visited Lexington for Big Blue Madness. The Wildcats offered Green in June and remained heavily involved in his recruitment.

Green, a Neumann-Goretti High School (Pennsylvania) product, is ranked No. 22 in the ESPN 100 for 2017. The No. 3 point guard in the class, Green pushed into five-star status after an impressive spring and summer with the PSA Cardinals on the Nike EYBL circuit. He averaged 14.9 points, 9.8 assists and 3.2 steals, leading the competition in the latter two categories. At 6-foot-1, Green is at his best when attacking the basket, utilizing change of speed and crafty dribbling ability to beat his man and get into the lane. He has excellent passing vision and has improved his offensive arsenal, including his 3-point shooting, floater and midrange game.

Kentucky badly needed guards in the 2017 class, with freshmen De'Aaron Fox and Malik Monk and sophomore Isaiah Briscoe all potentially leaving for the NBA draft next spring. There are zero scholarship guards on the roster expected to return to Lexington next season. The Wildcats landed four-star point guardShai Gilgeous-Alexander(No. 44) in the middle of the early signing period, but the two incoming point guards are capable of playing together.

Green and Gilgeous-Alexander join a recruiting class that was ranked in the top five entering the week. John Calipari and Kentucky had zero 2017 commits prior to the early signing period, but five-star frontcourt prospectsNick Richards(No. 12) andP.J. Washington(No. 16) committed on the same day in mid-November.

Calipari remains involved with five-star forwards Kevin Knox (No. 7), Mohamed Bamba (No. 4) and Jarred Vanderbilt (No. 23), and he could also look at wing prospects moving forward, primarily Hamidou Diallo (No. 13).