“Congratulations brother”: Jake West reacts to Meleek Thomas joining John Calipari’s Arkansas
John Calipari might be delighted as Meleek Thomas, a top 10 recruit in the country, has committed to Arkansas. Thomas is a dynamic guard who plays in the Overtime Elite.
NCAA stars and budding recruits recognize his potential and are looking forward to playing against him. Among them is Northwestern commit Jake West.
Basketball recruits, including Jake West, reacted after Meleek Thomas' major news was announced. West sent his best wishes to the top-10 recruit:
"Congratulations brother"
Why Meleek Thomas made the right choice with John Calipari
In an interview with Overtime a day before his announcement, Meleek Thomas explained why he chose to join coach John Calipari, who has four decades of experience:
"The biggest factor in my decision, it will probably be how hard the coach is going to coach me. The play style, I want to do everything that translates to the next level. ... I want to play alongside the best as well. Just so I'm getting that competition level, every day it's battles, every day we got the same mindset."
Having also coached in the NBA, John has seen and coached some of the best talent in the country. NBA stars like Anthony Davis, De'Aaron Fox, Jamal Murray, and Devin Booker have excelled under his coaching at Kentucky, with most of them being guards.
In two games Arkansas has played this season, guard Boogie Fland is averaging 17 points per game. Therefore, Calipari could be one of the best coaches to mold Thomas' game to help him reach the NBA level.
What other offers did Meleek Thomas have?
Meleek Thomas is a 6-foot-4 guard who's a natural scorer and is extremely athletic. Among other offers, he had options to join Pittsburgh, UConn, Auburn or Alabama.
Despite Pittsburgh being a convenient choice for a Pennslyvania native, UConn was widely considered to be the frontrunner to sign Thomas. However, as UConn signed five-star recruit Darius Adams, it cleared the path for Calipari to bring Thomas' talents to Arkansas.