Poole commits to Kentucky

Stacey Poole, Jr., a top 50 prospect and the son of a former Florida star, officially became Kentucky’s first recruit in the high school class of 2010 on Thursday.

Poole committed to UK over South Carolina..

Poole cited UK Coach John Calipari’s record of developing players, as a key factor.

“I love Coach Cal,” Poole said. “I think he’ll put me in the right situation. Where I want to be in a couple years.”

When asked where he wanted to be, Poole said, “In the league. I’m not playing this game for nothing.”
Poole draws comparisons to his father, also named Stacey, who came to Florida in 1989 as a McDonald’s All-American. Despite two torn Achilles’ tendons and a torn ACL, the elder Poole scored 1,678 points for the Gators, which ranked third on the school’s career list at the time.
F“He’s like his father,” recruiting analyst Brick Oettinger of the Prep Stars service said of the younger Poole. “He’s a terrific run-jump athlete.”
Oettinger, whose services ranks Poole at No. 56, saw the player as a driver well-suited for UK’s beat-your-man one-on-one offense.
“He’s got a great ability to get a lot of old-fashioned three-point plays,” Oettinger said.
Like his father, Poole is a 6-foot-5 guard/forward with long arms and quick first step to the basket.
The knock on Poole — as it was with his father 20 years ago — concerns perimeter shooting.
Oettinger noted that Poole’s shooting has improved. During the NBA development camp in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this year, Poole hit shots out to three-point range.
“There’s nothing unsound in his shooting (mechanics),” Oettinger said. “He just always been able to score the easier way: taking it to the hoop. My guess is he’ll end up a pretty good shooter.”
Poole acknowledges that driving to the basket is the strength of his offensive game.
“I can get by anybody,” he told The Gainesville Sun earlier this year. “I don’t care who it is. I can get past anybody at any time. It’s just my outside shot, getting confidence back in my outside shot.”
The elder Poole saw himself reincarnated in his son as a highly-toued swingman with several Division I scholarship offers to consider.
“I’m excited for him, to see that he’s doing it through hard work, through being prepared,” Poole Sr. told The Gainesville Sun earlier this year. “. . . I found that I had to pull away a little bit, kind of the empty nest, let him go through this process with the coaches and the schools.”
Poole Jr. was born during his father’s junior year at Florida. His mother also contributes to his athletic genes. His mother, Shelley, was a former standout athlete who ran track and played basketball in high school in Jacksonville.
The players’ parents were high school sweethearts and are now married. They own a private school in Jacksonville, the North Florida Educational Institute.