Meet Kansas Jayhawks’ Star Recruit Cliff Alexander
Cliff Alexander is the Kansas Jayhawks’ top-rated recruit coming in next season and has a pretty big reputation that will follow him to Lawrence. Admittedly, he won’t have the same hype that Andrew Wiggins did last year with his LeBron comparisons, but he will be in the starting lineup and will carry most of the hype for the Jayhawks entering next season.
Alexander is a 6’9″, 240-pound power forward/center from Curie high school located in Illinois. ESPN has him ranked the 3rd overall prospect and 1st overall at his power forward position.
Alexander is an interesting prospect because he didn’t even play organized basketball until the eighth grade. He mad big strides as soon as he started playing though, playing for Curie’s varsity squad his freshman year.
What stands out about Cliff Alexander’s game is his athleticism. In his highlight tapes, it’s like watching a dunk contest. He throws down alley-oops, put-back dunks, in transition, over somebody, on somebody; you get the point.
He is a tenacious rebounder who has a tremendous motor and is always throwing his body around to rebound and finish with authority around the rim. He obviously loves to play and always is running the floor and putting out maximum effort to help his team win. He is always fun to watch and has a knack for making highlight plays.
Alexander’s energetic personality could be compared to Kevin Garnett’s in that he leads his teammates on and off the floor. He has a great energetic personality that is hard not to like.
The best part about Alexander’s offensive game could be his pick-and-roll ability. He excels at setting screens for ball-handlers and then rolling to the basket and finishing strong at the hole. He has a wide body that takes up a lot of space and allows ball-handlers to create space by using him effectively.
Bill Self loves to run the pick-and-roll offense with his big men and Alexander should fit perfectly into the offense.
On the defensive side, he is a good and extremely physical post defender that doesn’t give the opposition second chances. If he can force a missed shot, he will likely bring down the rebound.
Also, he is a great shot blocker despite his lack of center-like height, He consistently sends away opposing players shots with emphasis. These attributes give him the possibility of playing power forward and center at the college level.
Alexander doesn’t have many weaknesses, but to nitpick, his 6’9″ height may cause him some issues if Self tries to play him at the center spot, even though 6’9″ is elite height for a power forward.
Another potential issue is his conditioning. At the college level, athletes are much more physical and conditioned than those at the high school level. Being 240 pounds may cause for him to wear down at the end of games, but I’m sure Self will have him ready to go as soon as the season starts.
One last possible weakness for Cliff Alexander is his back-to-basket post game. In high school, Alexander used his size to get to the hole on the majority of possessions not having to use a variety of post moves like he will likely have to at the college level; these can also obviously be developed before and during the season by him and the Jayhawk coaching staff.
Cliff Alexander is a great prospect and Kansas fans around the nation should be excited for the upcoming season with him and fellow future-freshman Kelly Oubre coming in to take over the team in the 2014-15 season.