Keep your fingers crossed for a little while longer. But from everything I've seen, Mizzou has done a nearly perfect job of recruiting this kid, from the initial offer to the love and back-to-back visits. I obviously hope Booker chooses Missouri - you need as many legacies as you can get, and this is a pretty damn awesome one - but if he wants to go elsewhere, he wants to go elsewhere. That Booker visited Columbia in back-to-back weekends, posted lovely things about Norm Stewart, etc., certainly suggests Missouri is in good favor, but recruiting analysts have almost unanimously predicted that he'll go to UK, and it's hard to say whether that's because of SOURCES or because "Come on, it's Kentucky." PowerMizzou's Gabe Dearmond has been pretty confident in Mizzou's chances for a while, but late speculation seems to have his opinion shaken a bit. It appears as though it has come down to Missouri and Kentucky. "I'm loving the opportunity to be in this position, and I'm just going to keep grinding.Devin Booker will announce his college choice shortly. "I'm enjoying this experience, being a part of this team that I'll never be a part of again," he added. "I knew that if I stuck to the fundamentals, my shot would fall."īooker is just as confident entering the most important stretch of the season. "I didn't get down early in the season because I knew I'd get adjusted to the college game," Booker said. Make or miss, his mindset is to keep shooting and the rest will take care of itself. What's also apparent is Booker's happiness at getting so many chances despite playing limited minutes in Calipari's system. "You can see the improvement each game, each day, each month." But I've been working with him for years and knew once he got to Kentucky, he was going to work extremely hard," he added. "I knew back in January when he was shooting 70 percent that that wasn't going to hold up very long. "The game of basketball will humble you, and what I've told Devin in those situations is that you just learn from it, move on and try not to make those same mistakes again," Melvin Booker said. The two talk often, and dad always offers feedback about his son's performance.ĭuring conversations with his father, Booker is usually calm and has a positive attitude, including earlier this season when his freshman year got off to a slow start. One person confident that Booker's shot will start falling again is his father and high school coach, Melvin, a former Missouri standout. He was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team, Second-team All. He has cooled off considerably since but has hit enough timely jumpers to make Calipari believe another hot streak is possible. At Kentucky, Devin Booker played 38 games during the 2014-2015 season and he averaged 10 points, 2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. After all, the coach didn't get too giddy at midseason when the 6-foot-6 high school All-American seemingly couldn't miss.ĭuring an 11-game stretch from mid-December until the end of January, Booker was 45 of 77 from the field (58.4 percent), including 25 of 38 from 3-point range (66 percent). During that stretch he has shot just 36 percent from the field and 35 percent from long range.Ĭalipari isn't concerned that Booker's struggles will continue in the NCAA Tournament. The Grand Rapids, Michigan, native has just one double-digit scoring game in his last five - Saturday's 12-point effort against Auburn in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinal. There are times he's thinking a little bit too much because he played so well (and) the expectation was every shot was going to go in." "I think you'll see Devin in the tournament get back to the way he was playing, losing himself in the game. "Devin's got to step up a little bit," Calipari said Monday during an SEC coaches teleconference. But he seems to have lost his shooting rhythm, and the Wildcats will need him to find it again - quickly.
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