5 Star Forward Carlton Bragg Commits to Kansas

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-Cleveland, OH

Carlton Bragg, a #19 ranked 5 Star forward in the ESPN 100 out of Cleveland Villa Angela-Saint Joseph High School (VASJ) which produced many star athletes in football and basketball including Heisman Trophy and Super Bowl MVP winner Desmond Howard, Bob and Mike Golic, London Fletcher, Elvis Grbac, Clark Kellogg, Kevin Edwards, Eric Riley, Stan Kimbrough, Tony Miller, and David Lighty. The school will add another notable alum  in the summer of 2015 with Carlton Bragg headed to Lawrence to play under Bill Self. This is Kansas’ first commitment from their 2015 recruiting class with many more pieces to fall later on. Bragg who is averaging 20.4 points this season with a loaded Vikings squad that also has 2015 Northwestern commit Derek Pardon and 2015 Marist commit Brian Parker  that won over 2 nationally ranked teams this season and averaging 40 point wins against in state competition. What Kansas is getting from the highly talented Carlton Bragg is a guy who can play both inside and outside of the paint, his length can cause major problems for smaller defenders and even get physical underneath the rim. When making his announcement on where hew would play inside the historic gym that many greats played on, he was extremely nervous about his decision when he put on the Kansas hat, he mistakenly said “University of Kentucky” before putting his face into his hands in embarrassment and said the correct school, this blunder was similar to current Jayhawk Cliff Alexander who mistakenly picked an Illini hat instead of a Kansas hat when he committed to Kansas last season. What pulled the Jayhawks over Kentucky and Illinois was when he attended the Late Night in the Phog event. He said in the press conference about why he chose Kansas, “When I went to Late Night in the Phog, that’s when everything changed,” Bragg said. “It was a great experience.” “On my visit, towards the last day, we went to coach [Bill] Self’s house, we got together, hanging out,” Bragg said at his announcement. “The brotherly love they have, I felt comfortable around the guys. That’s when I knew I could be there.” Bragg was apart of VASJ’s 2013 basketball State Championship team when he was a Sophmore.  Also to note, Bill Self has been known to develop big guys and Bragg will fit in as he said in his press conference. Once Bragg gets more consistent with his mid and long range game, he will be a force to be reckoned with next winter in the Big XII.

For #12 Kansas, it’s time to get back to business after they won their Big XII opener at Baylor last night 56-55, they still have their Big XII season schedule left along with the Big XII tournament and the NCAA Tournament and try to add another National Title to the schools historic program. As for Bragg, he and his current team, The VASJ Vikings who are ranked #12 in the nation in the MaxPreps Top 25 and are 26th in the USA Today rankings, still have a few more months of his high school career left with many big match ups left on the schedule including a meeting with national powerhouse Oak Hill Academy  and Ohio State commit Daniel Giddens on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Springfield Massachusetts for the Hoop Hall Classic which ESPNU will broadcast that game live at 1pm. More notable games that VASJ has are against MacDuffie School who have 5 star Omari Spellmen who is the #18 ranked prospect in the 2016 ESPN 100,  Akron St.Vincent-St.Mary who is #13 in the MaxPreps Top 25 with several prospects and  has produced Jerome Lane and current Cavs star forward and two time NBA World Champion LeBron James, then up against long time rival Lakewood St.Edward who is led by 2015 prospect Kipper Nichols and four star Junior forward Derek Funderburk before the Vikings start their quest in the Division III Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) tournament to bring home the schools 6th state title in late March to tie for 2nd most boys basketball championships with Dayton Dunbar and St.Vincent-St.Mary and also become the only school to win State Title’s in Ohio’s four divisions in any sport.(Won in 1991,1992 in D-I, 1994,1995 in D-II, and in 2013 in D-IV).

Right now, Rock Chalk Jayhawk Nation can rest easy now that they’ve beaten out John Calipari and Big Blue Nation for Bragg, but they will now start to see pieces of next seasons team to fall in place. And if Wayne Sheldon and Cliff Alexander stay at Kansas for another season to go along other top recruits that commit to Kansas, the Jayhawks will be early favorites to win the 2016 National Championship. Enjoy it Jayhawks fans, you are getting a special player next season.

Fun Fact: Current Jayhawk players Cliff Alexander and Wayne Sheldon both faced Carlton Bragg while in high school. Sheldon while at Tilton School, played against VASJ while Bragg was a Freshman in West Virginia and Cliff Alexander faced Bragg and the Vikings last season in Kentucky.

 

 

 

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