Kyle Wiltjer joined an already steller class on Saturday after giving his verbal commitment to play for John Calipari and Kentucky. Wiltjer joins Marquis Teague, Micheal Gilchrist, and Anthony Davis in UK's 2011 class that is sure to be the top ranked class. Several articles from the Courier Journal, Lexington Herald, and The Advocate Messenger discuss the commitment.
Wiltjer is a 6'9" power forward from Portland, Oregon. His dad Greg played at Oregon State in the 1980s and played on the 1984 Canadian Olympic team. Wiltjer spoke this summer about why he was even interested in UK. This summer in Cleveland, Wiltjer cited three factors that made Kentucky an attractive choice: "It's a winning program. They have a great coach. They know how to get players into the NBA."
Kyle's decision to attend UK came with out a visit. He chose UK over Wake Forest, Kansas, Texas, California, and Gonzaga. According to the Courier Journal, Wiltjer hopes to be the final piece to UK's 2011 class. He said the UK staff “wants me to be the final piece to the puzzle. ”“I'm very excited to be a part of that team,” he said in a TV interview. “The one thing is I wanted to surround myself with the best players. They have a great recruiting class coming in, and I thought it would be a great fit.”
Click "read more" from comments from Marquis Teague and Dave Telep on the Wiltjer pick.
Recruiting analyst Dave Telep thought Wiltjer was and "excellent pickup" for UK. “I think Kyle is one of only a handful of sure fire excellent college bigs in this class,” Telep said. “He has the unique ability to play in lane and stretch defenses. He had a great summer and is one of the top five power forwards in is class. The timing of his decision caught me by surprise because I thought he would take visits.”
Marquis Teague, Kentucky's 2011 point guard commit, loved the addition of Wiltjer and recent commit of Anthony Davis in the class. Teague said that he has played against both Wiltjer and Davis, and had this to say about his future teammates. “That’s what we had in mind was to get the best players to come play with us. They (Davis and Wiltjer) are two great players, two of the better ones in the country,” said Teague Sunday. “I think we will probably get a few more people, too, because you can never have too many elite players.”
Teague said that both players use their length and ability to rebound and run the court. “They are both really good players. They are both real long players. They will be able to rebound and get up and down the floor, so I know we will get along real well because that’s what I like to do,” Teague said.
