Kevin Knox is an elite wing with “wow” factor athleticism, a reliable jump shot and a motor that won’t quit; evident in why he’s ranked No. 6 overall in the ESPN 60. Knox claimed a gold medal last summer at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship and pumped in 30 points and 11 rebounds a game at Tampa Catholic (Tampa, Fla.) this season. That kind of production has college basketball heavyweights like Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Maryland, Florida and Florida State, among many others, all in hot pursuit. Now Knox has agreed to give USA TODAY HSS exclusive access into his world by chronicling everything from intimate details about his recruitment to his everyday life in a blog.
What’s up world, this is Kevin Knox and this is my blog called “Hard Knox Life”; this is my first one so I’m hoping you guys are feeling it!
Well, my season didn’t end the way we wanted it to; we lost in the state semifinal game. I mean it was hard because we were favored to win it all. We just didn’t shoot well in the second half, but we had a great season. We finished 26-5.
I feel like I did pretty well this season; I averaged 30 points and 11 rebounds a game. I think just focusing on my perimeter game over the summer helped out a lot. I wanted to prove to people that I could play on the wing and make jump shots and I did that. All of my percentages went way up on my jump shots so that’s something I’m proud of.
Now that the high school season is over, I’m definitely excited about AAU!
This will be my second year running with E1T1 and we’ll have a lot of really good players on our team. People are underestimating us, but we’re gonna prove a lot of people wrong this summer.
We made Peach Jam last year and lost to Team CP3 in the Elite 8, but I think we have what it takes to get back there. The chemistry on our team is gonna be big for us.
I just took unofficial visits to Duke and North Carolina and both of those visits were crazy!
First, I went to Duke and watched their practice the day before the game and it was really intense. They really go hard in practice. I loved all of the facilities and their locker room is crazy.
Of course the coaches were all great too; they told me to watch Brandon Ingram because that’s how they wanted to use me if I were to come there. They use him everywhere; at the point, in the paint, on the wing, everywhere. That was big for me because he’s easily gonna be a top three pick in the NBA draft this year probably.
The atmosphere was ridiculous! It was loud the whole game.
I was there for the Virginia game when Grayson Allen his that buzzer beater and when he made the shot it got so loud that my ears actually popped!
Before he took the shot I took out my phone and started recording. You couldn’t help but to join in with everybody when he made that. You had to be there; the place went insane!
After the game the locker room was fun. They had some tradition because he made a buzzer beater they threw Gatorade and water all over him when he walked in. It was all fun and laughter.
I went to North Carolina after that and I was really impressed with them too.
I loved the way they practiced; they really got after it.
All of their facilities are great and the cool thing was I got to spend a lot of time with Coach Roy. I was with him the majority of the time I was there. I got to walk around the campus and talk to some of the students so I definitely liked that part of it. Everyone there was really cool.
Their stadium was huge and it was packed! Their fans are pretty loud too. It was a convincing win, but I had a really good time.
Right now I don’t have any confirmed visits coming up, but I’ll definitely take some more down the road.
I’m not in a rush with my decision. I’ll probably wait to cut my list to around 10-12 after AAU, so we’ll just see what happens with that.
As for school, things are going great!
The quarter is about the end and I’m doing really well; I love all of my teachers and they all love me, of course!
Right now I have right around a 3.5 GPA. I made a deal with my mom that if I end up with a 3.5 or 3.6 I would get a car so I’m motivated!
She gave me a few options on the cars I could get and I like them all so I’ve gotta get this done!
Right now I’m listening to a lot of Young Thug; I’m definitely waiting on the new album to drop. I listen to Future too.
When I’m not doing that, in my downtime, I definitely stay on the sticks with NBA 2K and, just so y’all know, I don’t lose! Ever.
OK, everybody that’s it for my first blog; I hope you liked it because I had a really good time writing it.
I’ll be back with the next one in a few.
Don’t forget to follow Kevin Knox:
Twitter: @kevin_knox23
Instagram: @kknox_23
