Jerry Tipton on UK basketball

Former South Laurel High School point guard Ty Proffitt was in Lexington on Thursday to speak with Kentucky’s coaches about a possible transfer to UK.

Proffitt received his release from Notre Dame on Wednesday and is now exploring his options. He also tentatively planned to visit Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky on Thursday. But the visits could end with a commitment to UK if he hears what he wants to hear.

If Donald Williams, UK’s last-second recruit du jour on Wednesday, joins the team (and that remained up in the air), he would seemingly take the 13th and last available scholarship.

So would Proffitt be willing to walk on? It would seem he would if there was an understanding that he’d receive in a scholarship in a year or so.

Proffitt hardly played at Notre Dame as a freshman last season. He got in only eight of 33 games and scored a total of eight points.

He had hoped to play more this coming season, but a recent tour of Ireland by the team left him discouraged. Hence the decision to transfer.

Proffitt hoped to sign with Kentucky out of high school. But then Coach Tubby Smith never offered a scholarship. That decision left a bitter taste in Proffitt’s mouth. Ultimately he signed with Notre Dame with the understanding that he’d need time to work his way into a prominent role on the team.

“Kentucky was always in mind, and I was thinking they might offer (a scholarship),” Proffitt said when he signed with Notre Dame. “But I came to grasp that it wasn’t going to happen and that I needed to do what was best for me. I was fortunate that another great school like Notre Dame wanted me.”

Proffitt has the ultimate line on his high school resume: a point guard who helped his team win a state championship. He was at the controls when South Laurel won the Sweet Sixteen his sophomore year. In his career he played in four state tournaments and scored 119 points.

He averaged 16 points, four rebounds and 3.5 assists as a high school senior. He also hit 36 percent of his threes and 80 percent of his free throws. In Proffitt’s five years with the varsity, South Laurel averaged 27 wins.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Recruiting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.