All Eyes on Florida's Brandon Knight

College basketball coaches will be watching Brandon Knight's every move the next four months.

Knight, a senior at Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest High, is widely considered the top point guard and top overall player in the Class of 2010 by recruiting services. Knight has visited Connecticut, Kentucky, Kansas and, most recently, Florida; he also has Syracuse and Miami on his list of favorites.

Since Knight's not expected to make a final decision concerning college until the spring signing period, the interest in Knight's play should only increase. The Panthers split two exhibition games and open their regular-season next Tuesday.

Knight, at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, led Pine Crest to its second consecutive Class 3A state title in 2009. He averaged 31.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists and three steals per game. Knight had 27 points, nine rebounds and four assists in a 60-44 win over Jones High in the state final.

Knight earned the 2009 Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year Award, joining LeBron James (2002 and 2003) and Greg Oden (2005 and 2006) as the lone juniors to win the award.

Knight also beat his own school single-season record by more than 200 points, finishing with 968 points. He set a school record with 127 three-pointers.



"Knight might not be a freak athlete like the top point guards before him, but he possesses a complete game of an elite nature," writes Jerry Meyer, national scout and recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. "His physical strength and tight ball handling get him wherever he needs to be on the court."

Knight scored 22 points with eight assists, eight rebounds and three steals in the Panthers' easy 78-29 win over Chaminade in their exhibition opener, and he followed it with a 28-point performance in a 59-57 defeat to Pompano Beach Blanche Ely last Saturday night.

Knight scored 22 of his 28 points in the second half as the Panthers nearly rallied from a 13-point deficit for the win. Knight has said he's fully healed from a broken bone in his foot he suffered during the second week of the travel league season last July.

Of the top-10 prep recruits ranked nationally by Rivals, three did not make a decision during the early-signing period -- Knight, No. 4 (guard) Josh Selby of Baltimore and No. 7 (guard) Corey Joseph of Henderson, Nev.

Forward Harrison Barnes, of Ames, Iowa, who was also regarded as the top player in the country by many analysts, announced earlier this month his intentions to play at North Carolina. Barnes led Ames to a 26-0 record and a state title last winter, but he's made a name for himself nationally with impressive performances on the summer circuit.

Knight fever swept through Gainesville, Fla, on Nov. 15, when Knight watched Florida's season-opening 74-46 victory over Stetson just behind the Gators' bench.

Florida pulled out all the stops to impress Knight, including inviting former Gator and current Orlando Magic point guard Jason Williams to the game.

Williams was later introduced to the crowd during a television timeout. Knight has said he's a big fan of Williams when Williams played on the 2006 Miami Heat NBA championship team.

Florida's student section also chanted "Bran-don Knight" during timeouts in play.

Knight told Rivals and the Gainesville media that he spent most of the weekend with Florida freshman guard Kenny Boynton, also a Fort Lauderdale native. Boynton and Knight played in the same travel-league backcourt in leading Team Breakdown to an Amateur Athletic Union title in 2008.

"This is my first time seeing the campus," Knight told the Gainesville media. "I'm really impressed with the facilities and what they can do to help me improve as a player."

Earlier this month, Knight and the Panthers were invited by the television show "Good Morning America" to shoot baskets aboard the $1.5 billion cruise ship MS Oasis of the Seas, of the Royal Caribbean International that was docked in Fort Lauderdale. The show filmed a segment on the amenities of the ship; in the Panthers' case, a full-sized basketball court on Deck 15.

While Knight plays the season and weighs his decision, Memphis is currently rated No. 1 in Rivals' team rankings, followed by Ohio State, UNC, Tennessee and Syracuse.

Rivals writes: "First-year Memphis coach Josh Pastner improved his already-impressive recruiting class when he added top-50 prospects Jelan Kendrick and Tarik Black during the early signing period. The Memphis recruiting class is loaded with seven prospects, five of which are ranked in the top 100 in the country."