Gator Country

Pine Crest senior guard Brandon Knight dribbles the ball during the Panthers' 77-63 win against Williston in the FHSAA Class 3A Semifinals on Wednesday at the Lakeland Center in Lakeland. / Gator Country photo by Tim Casey

LAKELAND --- Brandon Knight casts a weary eye skyward, almost as if he’s saying, “Lord, just let this get over with quickly.” Reporters with microphones have stopped him in the hallway and he already knows the subject before the first question is asked. There are certain aspects of recruiting that don’t bother him at all. All the attention he’s getting does bother him and he’s ready to get it over with. Soon can’t get here soon enough.

Nobody in recent memory has held his recruiting cards as close as Brandon Knight (6-4, 190, Fort Lauderdale, FL Pine Crest #3 ESPNU 100), who led Pine Crest to a 77-63 win over Williston in the state Class 3A semifinals Wednesday afternoon at the Lakeland Center. Other than to whack about 10 schools off his list of favorites to narrow things down to a final five, he really hasn’t given many hints about where he’s going to sign. Since he missed the early signing period he can’t sign a scholarship until April but Wednesday he hinted that he might end the whole process in a week or two.

“Probably sometime soon because the season is winding down to the last game of the season but the family still has to think about it a little bit,” Knight said when asked if he will announce his final decision anytime soon.

Where he goes to school next year takes at least a temporary backseat to winning a third straight state championship. Pine Crest is in the Class 3A Final Four for a fourth straight year and the Panthers could join a select group of schools with three or more consecutive state titles.

In leading Pine Crest past Williston, Knight had to endure a constant double team that allowed him to squeeze off only 14 shots. He scored 25 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out eight assists. The scoring was a bit below his per game average of 32.7 but he didn’t need to score the way he was getting teammates involved in the offense.

Most of Knight’s damage was done in transition where he was unstoppable. He had a first quarter dunk in a one-on-three situation where he left the court a good 12 feet from the basket and thundered home a dunk that brought even the Williston crowd to its feet. Twice in transition he changed hands in midair and finished with a left-handed bank job.

It wasn’t Knight’s most spectacular performance of the season but on this day, just being the best player on the floor was good enough to put the Panthers in position to get that third straight state championship, which is his priority. Recruiting and making a final decision will just have to wait as Knight finishes off a high school career that ranks with the best ever in the state of Florida.

While leading Pine Crest to three Class A Final Fours and two state 3A championships, Knight has accumulated a weighted 4.3 grade point average in one of the more challenging private school academic environments in the state. Classmates love him at his school because he takes his academics seriously and never seems to feel privileged just because he’s a big star on the basketball court. Teammates and coaches love him because he is a team first player who chooses to practice with the second and third teamers to help them improve their games while forcing first teamers to defend against his considerable offensive skills.

Teammate Traveon Henry, who scored 17 points in Wednesday’s win over Williston, uses himself as the perfect example of what Knight does for the entire team.

“He pushes me to an extent that I never knew was possible in practice or in the weight room, training or in anything,” Henry said. “He’s always pushing no matter what.”

Teammate Tevin Westbrook calls Knight “the perfect teammate,” a “great role model” and says “when I look at him, I see someone I want to be.”

As a freshman, Knight took the Panthers on his shoulders and took them all the way to the state semifinals where they lost in the final three seconds to eventual state champion Florida Air. Pine Crest came back to knock off Gainesville P.K. Yonge for the state title in 2008 and last year they became repeat champs with a win over Orlando Jones.

Following that freshman season, Knight teamed up with Florida’s star freshman Kenny Boynton to lead Fort Lauderdale-based Team Breakdown to the national AAU title. They repeated as national champs in 2008. Last summer, Knight played for the Central Florida-based Each One Teach One where he teamed up with 2011 Florida commitment Austin Rivers (6-4, 189, Winter Park, FL #2 ESPNU Super 60).

At every level and no matter who he has been paired with in the backcourt, Knight has shown the ability to adapt his game to the situation. With Team Breakdown, Knight, Boynton and Ray Taylor (Florida Atlantic freshman) formed a dynamic three-guard offense where all three shared the point although Knight spent most of his time on the wing. With Each One Teach One, Knight and Rivers were interchangeable on the point and wing. At Pine Crest, he is the team’s best ball handler and passer but he’s also the constant scoring threat so he spends most of his time on the wing moving without the ball.

He has outstanding range on his three-point shot and extraordinary body control that allows him to get in the paint and somehow contort his body so that he avoids charging fouls while getting the shot up and more than often in.

Against Williston Wednesday, Knight did a crossover move to split a double team on the perimeter and snaked his way into the lane. He left his feet just inside the foul line and looked a cinch to land what would have been his fourth foul early in the third quarter on a charge. The Williston defender had his feet set and was simply waiting for a collision that never came about. Somehow, Knight contorted his body, slid past the defender, switched hands in mid-air and threw up a left-handed scoop from six feet away that caromed high off the glass and down through the hoop.

Running back down the court, Knight’s expression never changed. Just another great shot in a career of great shots.

The reserved look he wears on his face when he’s fully focused on playing the game is the same look he wears when the topic of recruiting comes up. Knight has five schools on a list he trimmed down considerably back in the fall. Florida, Kentucky, Kansas, UConn and Miami were the schools he picked that day and he hasn’t said anything that would hint one way or the other if there is a favorite today although he says he has been dissecting each team, each coach and each program in the last few weeks.

“I have obviously a couple of schools that have a lot of similarities --- not similarities but things I like a lot about,” he said. “[There are] things I like a lot about certain programs but there are things I’ve been watching the last couple of weeks about things I don’t like about other programs.”

Translation: He’s figuring out which schools he likes and which ones he doesn’t.

The scuttlebutt in the arena is that he will decide between Florida and Kentucky, and while there might be a measure of truth to that assessment, Knight won’t give any hints who he’s favoring.

“A clearcut favorite hasn’t really been determined yet,” he said. “If I knew that I would have already decided.”

When he bypassed the early signing period in November, it was to give him more time to consider his options for college. Although there were rumors that he might opt for a year in Europe where he could have signed a lucrative contract, Knight has kept his focus on choosing a school to play college basketball. His game is already so refined that if he were eligible straight out of high school for the NBA Draft, he would be no worse than the second or third pick.

About the only thing that isn’t NBA ready is his body. He’s grown some more since the summer and his wide shoulders now carry muscle that wasn’t there when he was tearing up the AAU circuit but it’s evident that a year in the weight room wouldn’t hurt. With his frame he could easily carry 210 pounds without sacrificing quickness.

But the NBA will have to wait at least a year. He will head off to college and the decision where will be announced in the very near future. While he is ready for the recruiting process to end, he says he isn’t under any pressure to go ahead and announce. He would rather take extra time and make the right choice rather than rush into a choice he will regret.

“I’m pretty ready but it’s not bothering me,” he said. “I want to make the right decision. It’s my future and it’s something I have to do.”

Meanwhile the college basketball world will just have to hold its breath and wait.

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