From Chris Horne, thesabre.com
The Lawrence Central High School (Indianapolis, IN) varsity boys basketball squad begins its 2014/2015 season on November 25 with an away contest against Brownsburg (IN). Leading the Bears is University of Virginia-bound combo guard Kyle Guy, who two years ago outperformed his own expectations as a freshman.
“I came in thinking I was gonna dress a couple of varsity games but would be primarily JV,” Guy said. “Well my coach started me and I played well, had a good season, and then got my first offer.”
Guy averaged 13.5 points per game his freshman season and over 14 points per contest as a sophomore. Indiana State was the first school to offer and Indiana followed suit in July of 2013. Guy entered the 2014 AAU season with three scholarship offers (Purdue had offered as well), but outstanding play on the Adidas Grassroots AAU circuit resulted in national attention, including an offer from the University of Virginia.
Indiana Elite coach Mark Adams was impressed with Guy’s play in 2013, so he was pleased when the 6’2” guard decided to play for his team in 2014. Adams’ 2014 squad went 17-4 and captured the Adidas Super 64 championship.
“I’ve always liked his game,” Adams said of Guy, who was averaging 14.3 points per game in 16 games for the Indiana Elite before the Adidas Super 64. Guy made 49-percent of his field goals, including 44.6-percent of his 3-pointers, and also had 60 rebounds, 26 assists, 13 turnovers and 9 steals this AAU season.
“Kyle has an extremely high basketball IQ,” Adams continued. “He’s very unselfish. He’s efficient. He scores a lot but doesn’t take a lot of shots. He’s just a really good player. He shoots extremely well. This year he was coming off screens for us. I’ve had a lot of good catch-and-shoot shooters, but he is amazing. He’s a good facilitator, too.”
Guy’s efficiency was on display during the Adidas Super 64. After scoring only six points on 2-of-9 shooting in Indiana Elite’s first game, Guy came through with the following performances the next four games:
– 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting (3-of-6 from 3) with 5 rebounds and 3 assists
– 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting (2-of-3 from 3) with 5 rebounds
– 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting (3-of-5 from 3) with 3 rebounds and 2 assists
– 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting (3-of-4 from 3) with 2 rebounds and 2 assists
Butler, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Mississippi, Missouri, NC State, Northwestern, Purdue, Virginia and Xavier had extended scholarship offers by summer’s end. Purdue’s entire coaching staff attended a fall workout at Lawrence Central. UVa’s Tony Bennett traveled to Lawrence Central for three separate fall workouts, and it was Bennett’s pursuit that persuaded Guy to tour the Grounds last month.
Bennett and Guy hit it off immediately.
“Our first conversation [Bennett] told me his middle name was Guy so it had to be meant to be,” Guy said. “We connected and our relationship is great today. We talk all the time, once a week at least, as well as with the assistants.”
The 4-star junior headed to UVa thinking his recruitment was far from over.
“I definitely was not expecting to commit. But I got the “feeling” everyone talks about, multiple times while I was there,” said Guy, who visited UVa on October 17-18 and committed on October 20.
On October 20 “I took my parents to lunch and told them and then I called [Coach Bennett] and he was just ecstatic,” Guy recalled. “I was happy too. My mom started crying and all that. Coach was a little surprised I think. As was I.”
Basketball-wise, Guy calls UVa a “great fit.”
“It’s a great fit because it’s hard-nosed defense, freedom within a structured offense, everyone on the same page,” Guy said. “I like freedom within a structured offense. You have to be smart.”
