Ontario Player of the Week March 5 – March 11

With March Madness right around the corner and people filling out their brackets, this week’s Ontario Player of the Week has some college flavour, with top recruit and Hamilton native Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from the Kentucky Wildcats being selected for this week’s honour.

Gilgeous-Alexander, a 6’6” guard, was a 4-star recruit coming out high school at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy, and was ranked 35th in the top 100 high school recruits coming into the 2017 NCAA season according to ESPN. He was offered by top schools including Florida, Syracuse and Texas before opting to accept an offer to play at college powerhouse Kentucky under coach John Calipari.

It was a very solid first season in the college ranks for Gilgeous-Alexander, as he earned multiple SEC Freshman of the Week awards throughout the year, including a week where he erupted for his career high of 30 points against Vanderbilt in an 83-81 victory back in January. The Wildcats went on an unprecedented four-game losing streak after that game as their tournament hopes looked to be on the ropes. Gilgeous-Alexander was a large part to Kentucky turning that streak around, winning seven of their last eight games of the season, including their 4th straight SEC Conference Championship with a 77-72 win over Tennessee in the title game where the star freshman dropped 29 points and 7 rebounds.

The NBA looks like it will be the next step for Gilgeous-Alexander, who was recently named to the All-SEC Second team and to the All-SEC Rookie team. Kentucky has had a long history of sending freshman to the NBA after their only season in college, including John Wall, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins among many others. He has not yet announced his intentions, but he is widely projected to be a top-15 pick this coming NBA draft if he declares.

Gilgeous-Alexander and his Wildcats are getting ready for the NCAA Tournament, and are headed to Idaho where they will be the #5 seed in the South region taking on the #12 seed Davidson Wildcats in the first round on Thursday, March 15. You can catch the game on CBS at 7:10 p.m. EST.

Don’t forget to tune in next week for another edition of Ontario Player of the Week!

Here are some highlights of Gilgeous-Alexander’s 29-point performance in the SEC Championship Game against Tennessee in hopes of getting you excited for the tournament!