Braydon Hawthorne sat next to the statue of former UK coach Joe Hall when he attended John Calipari's Father-Son Basketball Camp.
Mark Pope pulled off one of his biggest recruiting surprises when he signed 6-foot-8 Braydon Hawthorne, a four-star wing prospect ranked in the top 40 in his recruiting class.
The Kentucky coach already had what looked like a loaded roster when Hawthorne, a one-time West Virginia commit from Beckley, W.Va., chose the Cats over Duke, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Pittsburgh.
However, this was not a fluke because Kentucky had started recruiting Hawthorne last summer.
“Not a lot of people know this but last July he was playing in Rock Hill, S.C., and we got a call from (UK assistant) coach (Jason) Hart. He said they were interested in him and think that your son has pro potential,” Walt Hawthorne, Braydon’s father, said. “He and Braydon started communicating.
“Once Braydon got back to school (at Huntington Prep), coach Hart was going to come see him but West Virginia came in, watched him and he committed. The day after he committed but it had not gone public, coach Hart called to say they were coming to see him real soon but he let them know he had committed. Coach Hart told him congrats and he was proud of him.”
Once West Virginia coach Darian DeVries left for Indiana in March, Hawthorne decommitted and Pope saw the news on social media.
“He told coach Hart to give us a call while they were at March Madness. They have been in contact ever since. Braydon didn’t say a lot about it to many people but Kentucky was there and very consistent with him. He had a great relationship with coach Pope and the entire staff.”
It didn’t hurt that he was a long-time Kentucky fan when his father took him to a John Calipari Father-Son Basketball Camp at Kentucky. He also took Braydon’s younger brother, Zyon, a point guard who averaged 17 points per game for Woodrow Wilson High School and just got a scholarship offer from Wichita State.
“I wanted the boys to love the game and I was looking for camps to take them to. I found a father-son camp at Kentucky. They loved the Kentucky camp so much that we did it two times,” Walt Hawthorne said. “Braydon even asked coach Cal if he was wearing the same shirt as last year when we went the second year.
“After that, they grew up Kentucky fans from going to those camps. They were probably 7 or 8 (years old) at the time but they loved it.”
Walt Hawthorne still has pictures of his sons on the Memorial Coliseum court, posing in front of photos of UK draft choices and even one of Braydon sitting on the bench outside of Wildcat Lodge beside the statue of former UK coach Joe B. Hall.
“I am sure he had no idea who coach Hall was, but he wanted that picture,” Walt Hawthorne said. “But they really enjoyed the camp. I took a lot of stuff back with me to train them with. I asked coach Cal what one of the most important things they needed to work on and he said ball handling and that’s why Braydon can handle the ball so well at 6-foot-9. I trained him to be a basketball player with guard skills.”
The UK signee’s father says it’s “crazy” that his son is scheduled to report to campus on exactly the same June date that they arrived at their first father-son camp at UK.
“When (assistant) coach (Alvin) Brooks told us the reporting date, I was speechless. It is unbelievable how the date worked out,” Walt Hawthorne said.
It’s almost unbelievable that a four-star prospect like Braydon Hawthorne would be willing to join a loaded roster that already has four returning players, four incoming freshmen and five transfers.
“Basically the way the conversation went with coach Pope was you come in, compete and minutes can be earned,” Nate Hawthorne said. “Based on his development this season, coach Pope told us if they had been having the same conversation last summer he would have been talking redshirt. But the way he progressed this year, Pope told him he would give him an opportunity to come in and compete.
“Pope told him if he is ready to play, he will play him. If not, they will have a conversation in November (about the upcoming season). That was all Braydon needed to hear. That’s just how he is. If he’s not ready (for this season), then he’ll work and watch out next year.”
Nate Hawthorne says his son is “ecstatic” with the talent he will be practicing against daily.
“He knows that there will be some of the best players in the country on his team he will go against every day and that makes you better,” Nate Hawthorne said. “I think when he plays against competition like that he raises his level of play.
“He’s always had a chip on his shoulder to prove people wrong. He thrives off that. It makes him better. When he was in ninth grade he played for Team Durant in (the Nike) EYBL. He did not play a lot but that is when he started transforming his game. Tenth grade he played more and got better.
“When he went to Huntington Prep, (coach) Arkell (Bruce) did not guarantee him anything. Braydon went to work and got better. He’ll take the same approach at Kentucky and can’t wait to get started.”
2 Responses
He asked coach cal if he was wearing the same shirt lol. That’s funny and amazing. The kid probably was so star struck that he didn’t forget anything about that even the shirt Coach Cal was wearing. That day meant alot to him. He left that camp a Kentucky fan. So to wear the Kentucky jersey must mean a ton to this kid. He could have signed with Duke and not been #13 on the roster. No team in college basketball is 14 deep. No team is even 13 deep and good 1-10. I wonder when trading will be allowed in college basketball?
That shirt question got my attention, too. He sounds like the true-blue type player I want to see getting a lot of minutes. He can to UK because he is FOR UK and that means he did not consider playing at UK nearly as valuable as wearing UK on his jersey.
He was trained by his father to be a basketball player! That’s why he has the Anthony Davis ball handling skills as a big man. He kept growing while learning to handle the ball.