Heights' Alexander Signs Kentucky Basketball Scholarship

Walker To Virginia Tech; Szmidt Heading To MTSU

  • Monday, November 14, 2016
  • Larry Fleming
Hamilton Heights basketball standouts, front left, Therren Shelton-Scmidt, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nickeil Alexander-Walker have signed college scholarships with Middle Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia Tech. Alexander and Walker are cousins. All three are from Canada.
Hamilton Heights basketball standouts, front left, Therren Shelton-Scmidt, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nickeil Alexander-Walker have signed college scholarships with Middle Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia Tech. Alexander and Walker are cousins. All three are from Canada.
photo by Larry Fleming

Hamilton Heights’ four-star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, ranked 12th at his position by scout.com, has signed with Southeastern Conference powerhouse Kentucky.

The 6-foot-5, 185-pound Alexander, who is in his second year with the Hawks, de-committed to Florida in October, reopened his recruiting and took an official visit to Kentucky in early November.

“Florida didn’t do anything wrong,” Alexander said Monday afternoon. “I reevaluated my goals and what I wanted to do with my life. I made the decision to benefit my future.”

Kentucky assistant Joel Justus and coach John Calipari visited Alexander a week later in Chattanooga on separate trips last week. Calipari offered Alexander during his visit. Alexander also considered Syracuse and UNLV.

Alexander, who announced his commitment in an early-morning tweet, becomes the city’s highest profile basketball signee in several years and already has signed national letter-of-intent papers.

He’s a Wildcat now, joining two five-star prospects in Kentucky’s 2017 class.

“I got a great feel from the assistant coach (Justus) and then coach Cal game in a week before I visited Kentucky,” Alexander said. “He was great, straightforward and got down to business.

“On my visit up there I saw a great atmosphere for basketball. They work hard and practice is intense. Their culture is great because it’s Kentucky and I noticed that as soon as I got off the plane. I realized then what Kentucky basketball is all about.”

Alexander, who has a 6-foot-10 wing span, is one of three Hamilton Heights teammates to sign scholarships to major-college programs.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker, a 6-5 guard and Alexander’s cousin and life-long pal, has signed with Virginia Tech of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Therren Shelton-Szmidt, a 6-5 shooting guard, is a Middle Tennessee State University signee and will be playing in Conference USA.

America East Conference member Binghamton, a low-major school, was the first program to offer Alexander a scholarship. His stock readily moved up and then skyrocketed this past summer.

“That surprises me a little bit,” he said, “but I’ve worked hard for this. I really expected it to happen. It’s what I do. My dad put the rock in my hand when I was 3 or 4 years old. I always wanted to play college and started believing I could do it when I was a sophomore.”

All three Canadian players arrived at Hamilton Heights prior to their junior year and the Hawks added three other north-of-the-border players for this season – 6-6 Tre Edwards, 6-6 Wheza Panzo and 6-10 Kaosi Ezeagu. Also of note is that former Ooltewah player Jordan Rawls has enrolled at Hamilton Heights.

Alexander is rated Tennessee’s No. 1 point guard for 2017, No. 6 in the south and 46th overall prospect for the 2017 recruiting class. He came to Hamilton Heights through Canada’s UPlay program and played with the Under-18 team in the FIBA Americas event in July.

He is, as one observer noted, exactly what Calipari likes in a point guard – tall, long and versatile.

“Shai has unlimited potential,” Hawks coach Zach Ferrell said. “He’s gotten better and better each day and has a phenomenal upside – he’s 6-5 with a 6-10 wing spin and a point guard. He definitely has the potential to play on the highest level of basketball in this world.  A lot of things have to go right for that to happen, but I believe he can get there.”

Alexander, 18 years of age and two months older than Walker, joins five-star recruits P.J. Washington and Nick Richards in Kentucky’s 2017 class. The three players – each a Top 50 prospect – committed to the Wildcats within the last five days.

The early signing period ends Wednesday.

Alexander averaged 14.1 points, 4.4 assists, 3.6 rebounds and shot 38 percent behind the 3-point line a year ago.

With Alexander’s commitment, Kentucky’s 2017 recruiting class moved to No. 5 in the 247Sports composite team rankings. And Alexander’s decision lit up twitter.

Walker and Alexander have always been close and frequently played hoops in the Walker family apartment. They had an adjustable rim and started with it at 4 or 5 feet. Eventually, they went outside to a 10-foot rim.

“We used to play all the time growing up until Shai moved (to Hamilton, about an hour south of Toronto,” Walker said. “After he moved we still played for the same AAU and club team.”

Walker chose the Hokies over Maryland, Southern Cal, Miami and Baylor. He whittled the final list to Virginia Tech, Maryland and Southern Cal.

Coach Buzz Williams used an interesting strategy to persuade Walker that Blacksburg, Va., home of the Hokies, would be a good place to four years playing basketball.

“He talked about life and asked me by age 30 how much money did I wish to make,” Walker said. “I said around $30 million. He did the taxes and stuff and told me I’d likely get around $18 million of that.

“Then he said, ‘Do you want to build a house or guy a house?’ He told me Maryland and Southern Cal have put a lot of players in the NBA (actually 45 and 42, respectively) and Virginia Tech hoops is still trying to establish itself as a producer of NBA players.

“By going to Virginia Tech I can strive to build a house and a name. And I can help start something new and set a trend for the program. I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life. I can’t wait to get to Virginia Tech and play in the ACC.”

Walker averaged 14.9 points and was the team’s second-leading scorer in 2015-16. He also got 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.2 steals per game and shot 35.3 percent from the 3-point distance.

Said Ferrell of Walker, “He’s more of a combo guard right now, but will work his way into the point guard position as he grows older. And it’s the same thing with Nickeil as Shai: he’s got the same ceiling and potential and both have the work ethic and mindset to make it happen.”

Szmidt was the Hawks’ leading scorer last season with a 15.0-point average and could earn that distinction again this year, Ferrell said. He also pulled down 3.9 rebounds per outing and hit 36.9 percent of his 3-point attempts.

“He’s a phenomenal player and is going to be a great player for MTSU,” the coach said. “We’ve had many high-major coaches come in and say Middle got a steal with him. He can put the ball in the basket.”

Szmidt had two other schools on his final list besides MTSU and they were Old Dominion and Cal State-Fullerton.

The decision became easy toward the end.

“Everyone I talked to about MTSU had only good things to say about them,” Szmidt said. “Coach Kermit Davis was impressive when I visited over there. At practice I saw a team that could beat anyone and any time. I don’t believe their NCAA tournament win over Michigan State was a one-time fluke thing.

“I know they can do great things in the future.”

In the 2016 tournament, the Blue Raiders shocked the college basketball world by becoming the eighth No. 15 seed to stun a No. 2 seeded squad (the Spartans).

“The coach thinks I fit their program well,” Szmidt said. “They have a tough mentality when it comes to basketball, they don’t take days off and I’m looking forward to getting over there.”

Szmidt said he would like to use his senior year with the Hawks to do a couple things.

“I want to get bigger for the next level, sharpen everything and work on my 3-point shooting range because the line is a little deeper,” he said.

With Alexander, Walker and Szmidt signing this month, the Hawks have now produced four major-college players in two years. Abdulhakim Ado is now a freshman at Mississippi State.

On Monday, USA Today's computer rankings had the Hawks at No. 1 among all boys' high school teams in Tennessee, regardless of classificaiton, ahead of Memphis East, Brentwood Academy and Cordova.

Oak Ridge is ranked No. 8 by USA Today and Hamilton Heights crushed the Wildcats, 76-49, in a recent scrimmage game.

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)

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