Just over the Mississippi River in Lepanto, AR, East Poinsett County High School combo guard Ky Madden says he has definitely been in touch with Josh Pastner and the Memphis staff.
“I’m hearing more from Memphis,” Madden said.
Memphis’ recruitment of Madden is nothing new. The highly athletic guard has starred for his East Poinsett squad for three years now and was a standout for the Arkansas Wings’ AAU team this past summer. Prior to Josh Pastner becoming the head coach at Memphis, John Calipari recruited Madden to Memphis heavily.
“Yes sir they were showing me quite a bit of interest,” Madden said.
Madden (6-5, 195) is just the type of versatile guard who can do a number of things offensively and and guard a multitude of positions on the defensive end. Madden says he’s always been a two-guard but college coaches say that they would like for him to transition into more of a point guard.
“I’ve been a two-guard all my life but I’m trying to build into a point guard,” Madden explained. ”All of them see me as a point guard.”
Madden says Ole Miss, Arkansas, Florida, Baylor, Georgia Tech and Marquette are in constant contact and added that he hears a bunch from Josh Pastner and the new staff at Memphis. He also added that he hears from Kentucky occassionally, speaking with their staff roughly a month ago. In terms of visits, Madden was in Memphis when the Tigers hosted Tennessee while also making an unofficial visit to Ole Miss when they played Mississippi State.
”I went on an unofficial to Arkansas during football season and I went to a few basketball games this season at Arkansas, Ole Miss, Baylor and Memphis,” said Madden. “I thought [the Memphis visit] was crazy. I liked how the fans got involved and just how loud they are.”
Madden’s high school team was knocked out of their state tournament this past Friday on a controversial call leading to not so elegant ending to the game for Madden. With such a disappointing end to his junior season at East Poinsett, Madden looks toward spring and summer AAU ball. Madden is ranked by ESPN Scouts, Inc. as the #20 shooting guard with a Scouts, Inc. grade of 93.
Scouts Inc. Evaluation
July, 2009: Madden has the ability to take the ball strong to the basket. He is very long and athletic combo guard who is capable of playing multiple positions on offense and can defend multiple positions as well. Few players in the class his size have the ball-handling skills that Madden possesses. He has great size and that allows him to see over smaller defenders to make the pass to his teammates. He is a good ball handler and can shoot the ball with time as well. He does a great job of making quick and powerful moves to the basket. He covers an incredible amount of ground with one powerful dribble that takes him to the basket. He slices through the defense to get to the basket to score, he can score through contact as well. He rebounds well as a guard and can push the break himself or finish running the wing as well.
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