Texas Basketball: 3 early storylines for Big 12/SEC Challenge vs. Kentucky

3) Storylines for Texas basketball vs. Kentucky: Battle of the freshmen

There was only one signing that Smart had with his 2020 recruiting class, which was the elite five-star Vandegrift power forward Greg Brown. But if there was going to be any single signing that Smart landed in the Longhorns 2020 recruiting class, hitting on the hometown product Brown was definitely the right move.

Coming out of Vandegrift High School in Austin, TX, Brown ranked as the nation’s No. 9 2020 high school prospect, No. 2 power forward, and top overall prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite).

And while landing Brown was huge for Texas, Kentucky’s 2020 recruiting class makes that look small. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2020 Kentucky recruiting class held claimed the throne for best in the nation. Kentucky was even ahead of the North Carolina Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils in the national class rankings for the 2020 recruiting cycle.

The highlights of Kentucky’s 2020 signing class were five-star Sierra Canyon shooting guard BJ Boston and five-star Brewster Academy shooting guard/wing Terrence Clarke. Both Boston and Clarke slotted ahead of Brown in the 247Sports Composite prospect rankings, among the top eight in the nation.

Boston and Clarke could be very problematic for the Longhorns, but so could Brown for the Wildcats. If these three uber-talented true freshmen have solidified starting role on each of their respective teams by the time the Big 12/SEC Challenge arrives, this could be a really special matchup with a ton of NBA caliber players in each starting five.

Another key true freshman to watch on the Kentucky side is the former Longhorns blue chip guard target, and four-star Mater Dei point guard Devin Askew.