Bradley gets commitment from 2020 recruit Jayson Kent

[Da Coach]

Bradley just got a commitment from 6'7" guard/forward Jayson Kent

We have been the first and only source reporting on Bradley's interest in Jayson Kent for over 2 months-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...755#post490755

He visited Bradley and attended the Missouri State game on Feb. 19-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...184#post491184

That was when Bradley offered-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...182#post491182

And Bradley has remained in close contact with him since them.
He is a very personable and bright young man. I ran into him and his father (who is a coach) at that game. They absolutely loved Bradley.

[Da Coach]

Here are a bunch of YouTube videos featuring Jayson Kent. He is a skilled young man with a great outside shot and a big upside. I think he can contribute right away. But he is a bit thin and needs to get stronger. Hopefully, he can get on campus early this summer and start working with the strength and conditioning guys.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jayson+kent

[egib52]

This was the kind of commitment I was hoping for! Welcome to the team!!!

[Da Coach]

This was the kind of commitment I was hoping for! Welcome to the team!!!

Jayson Kent is one of the 2 types of players Coach Wardle wanted- he has said he wanted a point guard and a wing, both who can shoot the ball.
Jayson Kent is a very good shooter.

[ihatetea]

He has really good form on his shot. Looks confident with the ball as a secondary ball handler. Judging from video alone he looks like an average athlete, so he will need to hit the weight room pretty hard and defense may be a weak point.

Thats more or less the same scouting report that Nate Kennell had coming out of high school or Ville Tahvaneinen had coming over. Nate was great and ville had a strong freshman year. It will be interesting to see what kind of player he develops into.

[BUfan39]

He has really good form on his shot. Looks confident with the ball as a secondary ball handler. Judging from video alone he looks like an average athlete, so he will need to hit the weight room pretty hard and defense may be a weak point.

Thats more or less the same scouting report that Nate Kennell had coming out of high school or Ville Tahvaneinen had coming over. Nate was great and ville had a strong freshman year. It will be interesting to see what kind of player he develops into.

Theoretically if Ville can step into the role of Nate Kennell and you can get Ville freshman production from Kent that would be ideal.

[Da Coach]

Jayson Kent comes from a terrific basketball family in Oak Forest. His sister Jenae Kent is a freshman at Oak Forest and is rated as the #1 girls player in the class of 2023. His father Jason Kent, along with his mother Anna run Next Level 24 basketball academy, a successful coaching and training program.https://nextlevel24.website.sportssi...ut-Us/Our-Team

[LongTimeFan]

Theoretically if Ville can step into the role of Nate Kennell and you can get Ville freshman production from Kent that would be ideal.

It will be interesting to see who gets Kennell's spot in the starting lineup. Noah is 'supposed' to be good and is not a point guard. Then there is Ville who was good off the bench. I believe Mast was recruited as a wing and is an accurate shot. Maybe Mast can help on the front line as pop-out type of player that will help spread the floor. There would seem to be several players that could fill Ville's spot off the bench. Then there is Kingsby that will be playing a lot. I don't know much about McAdoo.

[Da Coach]

I have watched a lot of videos I could find of Jayson, and if there is a good comparison with a former Bradley player it might be Andrew Warren, one of Bradley's greatest shooters. Jayson looks a lot like Andrew in high school, though I believe Jayson is a better ball-handler (and a couple inches taller). It remains to be seen if he can become as deadly a shooter as AW. Recall that when Andrew arrived at Bradley he was quite thin. He played a lot as a freshman and helped the 2006-07 win several games with his shooting. But then he got stronger, improved his game and was a terrific player for Bradley throughout his career. By his senior year (2010-11), Andrew was a 1st team All-MVC player, the last 1st team All-MVC player Bradley had, and averaged 19 points per game. Andrew is also one of a very short list of All-MVC Bradley players who averaged over 40% for his career on three pointers (Jeremy Crouch, Nate Kennell, Anthony Manuel, and Aaron Zobrist are the others).
An overly optimistic comp might be Anthony Parker.

[BRAVE82]

Chicago Sun-Times article about the commitment...

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/4/2/21204582/jayson-kent-oak-forest-bradley-basketball

[Da Coach]

From Jayson Kent's twitter-

https://twitter.com/20Jkent_25/status/1245735300598464513

[Da Coach]

Some video highlights from Jayson's 2019-20 season at Oak Forest. Note that his range extends well beyond the 19' 9" high school three point line-
https://www.hudl.com/video/3/1375543...1b8506604ac817

[Big Mike]

Nice get...finally some positive sports news!

[BRAVE82]

Chicago Tribune article...

https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/sports/ct-sta-spt-boys-basketball-notes-st-040320-20200402-kjjpbybxt5a6fhkgtjhz6qngjq-story.html

[Da Coach]

That Tribune article has a paywall, so most won't be able to read it. But it is a nice article. Jayson was planning on waiting out this current NCAA-imposed "Dead Period" (initially scheduled through April 15) and then making a official visits. But yesterday, when the Dead Period was extended to May 31, he and his family did not want to wait any longer and decided it was time to commit.

Here is a summary-

By this time, Oak Forest’s Jayson Kent hoped to be close to making a final decision on where he was going to play in college.
The 6-foot-7 senior forward planned on taking official visits this month to help push that process to a conclusion.
Those road trips were on hold, however, due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Kent understandably had not made a final call.
“Hopefully, all of this coronavirus will end and I’ll be able to take visits to the schools,” Kent said. “I’m patient. I’m blessed to have the schools that are recruiting me.”
Kent, who had offers from Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois Edwardsville, Loyola University Maryland, Mount St. Mary’s in Maryland and South Dakota State, then abruptly committed Thursday morning to Bradley.
Kent was a force this season, averaging 17.6 points and 5.3 rebounds while leading the Bengals (26-3) to conference and regional championships.

Making (official) visits with family is one of the most memorable experiences about the recruiting process.
“I was really looking forward to going through that,” he said. “But I’ve been able to build relationships with the coaches during this waiting out process.”
Oak Forest coach Matt Manzke believes Bradley has landed a difference-maker in Kent.
“Wait until he puts on 30 pounds and starts developing even more,” Manzke said. “Who knows how good he can be? I look at how far he’s come since his freshman year. I really believe he’s under-recruited.”

As a junior, Kent relied heavily on his 3-point shooting. He has unlimited range. As a senior, he showed an ability to score outside and inside while also making an impact on defense.
....Manzke said. “He was able to get more offers. I feel terrible for him that he’s not able to have the experience of taking visits. Hopefully, this will all clear up and he’ll be able to do that. He’s a great kid.”
Things became clearer Wednesday, according to Kent.
“When the NCAA announced they were pushing the dead period back to May 31, it made me think I should commit,” Kent said. “I did contact all the other schools, and they supported me. They’re happy for me and said I’ll do great things at Bradley.”


Also, a good article from Dave Reynolds-
https://www.pjstar.com/sports/20200402/bradley-lands-commitment-from-6-7-jayson-kent