The recently reclassified 6-foot-6 2014 forward Kyle Kuzma, the most well-traveled high school player I’ve ever seen, threw his former conference and Flint basketball under the Greyhound on his way to prep school in California.
Burton Bentley star Kyle Kuzma has followed a recent hoops trend by transferring to La Jolla Prep Basketball Academy near San Diego, Calif. His eligibility status has also been reclassified to the class of 2014 – which isn’t allowed by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
Kuzma would have graduated in 2013 if he had stayed in Michigan.
“If I would’ve went back to Bentley this year I probably would’ve dominated the (Genesee Area Conference Blue) because the league is really weak, so I wanted better competition,” Kuzma said. “I also wanted to play against better players and get more college looks. The competition in the Flint area has been going down for high school basketball and the Flint teams mixed with the overall crime rate of the city is really tough.”
A couple things: It’s a little weak to clown the conference that put you and your numbers on the map. Also, it’s odd that his former class (2013) is probably the best in Flint in a decade and yet he cites the weakness of the competition. That’s fine if you want to go on diminishing your former conference, but don’t lump other conferences in with it.
Somehow the competition level is good enough for Monte Morris, Denzel Watts and JD Tisdale. Go figure. And if better competition was the goal, why drop down to play U-16 ball in the summer?
If Kuzma really is still growing, he may end up as a D-1 player; heck, he could end up being an impact player at that level (he can shoot the heck out of the ball from 3-point range). That being said, there’s a right way and a wrong way to take the prep school route: Just say you’re looking for a better opportunity.
Or, try to put up GAC numbers in the SVL.
Well put…Kuzma has a couple things going for him for sure (tall and can flat shoot it), but there needs to be some tact when making these type of bold statements in the article. Overall, city hoop is down by comparison to the 90′s, but up by comparison to recent history easily. 4 potential D-1 guys from the same position (Watts and Morris committed with Tisdale and perhaps Richie Lewis [now at Flora McDonald] to come) says a lot about the class. In 2014, Cam Morse, Justin Person, Ray Ray Lewis, Justice Green, Emanuel Phifer, Kaylin Johnson, Malik Young, Marquavian Stephens, and others that I am sure I missed give the area a nice balance of talent even if none “high major” players. 2012′s JaVontae Hawkins and Anton Wilson earned their scholarships before they went to prep school out of state, so really the area has been very productive recently. Anyway, time will be a reality check on both sides…it always is.
Good points. Also, why diminish a conference your team didn’t come close to winning?
A D-1 athlete in the GAC better be dropping 25 a game minimum. Or dishing 10 and winning state championships i.e. Monte Morris. Kuzma is counting his eggs before they’ve hatched. Honestly I’ve never even heard of Kuzma before this article was released
Why are you CLOWNING him for making a decision that HE thinks will benefit his future?
This article is dumb.
Clearly you didn’t read it. I was critical of what was done after the decision was made, not the decision itself. It may well be a great decision for his future. Here’s the lesson: Don’t diminish a conference that your team didn’t come close to winning, as if you’re too good for it. That’s laughable.
He made a mistake. Sometimes young athletes don’t think before speaking. He put up good numbers at that school. So maybe he needs a change of scenery. I am not condoning his action, but it should not be the focus of an article either. And I never heard of him until now.
So you don’t think other young athletes could learn something from this example?
i have never heard of kuzma either, john said it best..go put those numbers up against svl teams or the real flint teams (CA, powers, northern, etc)
I dont know the kid, but just looking up the stats from last year…in the only games where he played “good competition” he scored 10 points in each game against Hamady and 12 points against Beecher. Not exactly dominating….I am curious what he thinks playing those kind of teams all the time will do for him.
They could possibly. Maybe he was just being honest, but whatever the case; it’s he reason for leaving. He wants better competition but maybe he wouldn’t want to transfer to a valley school. All I can say is good luck.
Everyone seems pretty hard on an awfully young man. The pros often open their mouths without connecting with the brain. Let the kid make his errors and learn from them.
True. Let us all learn from them.
I laugh at this now… This kid is blowing up now, the prep route really worked for him. Good to see a flint kid striving for his goals. Never heard of him in HS ball.