Every year, it seems, when college basketball's recruiting calendar turns another page, there are always players who improve in such a way that it's hard to ignore how drastically they climb up the recruiting rankings.
Kam Craft's recruiting process was slow initially. But within the last six months, the 6-foot-6 shooting guard out of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, sustained a noticeable rise in his ranking, jumping from a three-star to four-star recruit.
"It was kind of a slow recruiting process for him and he never got frustrated with it, he just kept grinding and working," said Buffalo Grove head coach Keith Peterson. "Then two years ago as a sophomore, we had a really good team and he had some big games against some good teams and that's when I knew teams were out there watching him. He had 46 points and set the school record as a sophomore against a good Rolling Meadows team with Max Christie (who's committed to Michigan State).
"That's when I knew he was going somewhere special."
Craft committed to Xavier University's men's basketball team Thursday, becoming the Musketeers' first commit in the 2022 recruiting class.
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Years before that, though, Craft was a tall, skinny freshman on Buffalo Grove's varsity team.
"His first game as a freshman, I think he had 27 against a pretty solid team defensively," said Peterson.
Since his freshman year, when Peterson said he was "more of a shooter," Craft's game has evolved over the last three seasons.
"He would score in different ways, he could make mid-range jump shots, but that athleticism that he's added and his ability to take the ball to the basket, even just this summer seeing how much he's gotten better at beating one or two guys and getting straight to the rim and go up and finish over guys," said Peterson.
"He just keeps getting better athletically which is really challenging to do when you're in high school and your body continues to grow and adjust and he's been able to do that. He's added range to his jump shot and he's added a pull-up 3 over (defenders)."
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Craft's a guy who can fill up the stat sheet and he can shoot. Players that can shoot and score will always receive a warm welcome at Xavier. He's the type of player who demands attention from opposing defenses whenever he's on the floor.
"He's just an unbelievable scorer," said Peterson. "He can score in every way. He shoots over 40% from 3. He set the school the record last year for points in a season and he's on pace to break the conference scoring record probably by January or early February. It was a record that was probably 45 years old and then got broken this past season by Max Christie, and Kam will break that if everything goes smoothly.
"He just finds different ways of putting the ball in the basket. Part of that is he's a grinder. He's tough-nosed. He's competitive. You look at him and you think he's just a scorer but he's led our team in rebounding for three years. He's led our team in blocked shots for three years. He's led our team in steals for three years. He's a grinder. He gets different defenses thrown at him with us. He gets multiple guys guarding him and he still finds a way to score ... makes my job real easy."
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