Kilpatrick Prepped And Pepped After Post-Grad Year

May 1, 2009


By Zach Smart

A devout, lifelong St. John's fan, Jimmy Lorenzo is still amazed at how the Johnnies struggle to keep local talent.

While he understands that Norm Roberts and his staff have done a commendable job hounding the city's elite players, he wants the team he remembers rocking Madison Square Garden back.

Lorenzo, the president of an entertainment company in Manhattan, will surely never forget the good 'ole days.

"(Hamptons legend) Jimmy Soul and I would drive from the Hamptons to see St.John's," recalls Lorenzo.

"I'll tell you, it was better than going to see a Knick game. And back then, the Knicks were actually good, bro! There were so many great players on those St.John's teams, watching what Louie C did there was like poetry-in-motion. They had the joint jumping, the city buzzing."

Lorenzo and Soul, the legendary D.J. who did his thing at the Boardy Barn (1976-1996), were just two of many high-end playboys to become fixtures in the crowd.

So, Lorenzo's frustration probably compounded when Cincinnati-bound Sean Kilpatrick, an aggressive scorer and post-graduate player at the prestigious Notre Dame Prep (Mass.), opted out of his commitment to the Red Storm last spring.


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Kilpatrick, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound combo guard who loves to play off the ball, was sold on Mick Cronin's program after narrowing his choices down to Cincinnati and Providence.

He'll take his fundamentally sound game to a team littered with players who are beginning to flower this fall and hopefully improve the college basketball odds of winning for the UC program.

Kilpatrick averaged a robust 26 points during his senior year at White Plains.

At Notre Dame Prep, Kilpatrick has averaged 18.1 points while refining other aspects of his game and improving in the classroom. In high school, Kilpatrick was part of a vaunted backcourt that also featured David Boykin (Fairfield), Jamel Cromartie, and the high-flying Rashad James.

Under Spencer Mayfield's we-before-me, no-nonsense style, Kilpatrick helped put the Tigers on the map his senior year.

He cemented his reputation as a player who could score in clusters with a 44-point outburst, though he struggled in the Jordan Brand Classic Regional game (1-for-10, two points).

From recruiting guru Tom Konchalski to the aforementioned Roberts, Kilpatrick lifted eyebrows.

The only hurdle was his academic issues.

So Kilpatrick made the trek to Fitchburg,Mass. (The trip that top-shelf ballers like Michael Beasley and Paul Harris have all made) and made a seamless transition.

At the disciplined environment at Notre Dame Prep, Kilpatrick's academic issues were no more.

"At first, I wasn't really crazy about doing an extra year," said Kilpatrick, sporting a Yankees fitted hat before an entourage of family, friends, and an adviser.

"You know thinking about it now, doing a prep year, it's not a bad idea."

Since he's acclimatized himself to the prep scene, basketball has been the easy part for the kid from the basketball-crazed city in Westchester County (albeit they take a backseat to vaunted Mount Vernon).

"I'm a lot more focused on the books situation than I am the basketball situation," said Kilpatrick, who maintains a solid relationship with Mick Cronin and speaks to the Bearcat coach regularly.

"About once a week," said Kilpatrick.

"SK" added that he'll embrace his role as a scorer at Cincinnati.

A pure scorer he is, Kilpatrick became a presence in the passing lanes this year at Prep.

His increased ability to create plays should pay dividends for Bearcat Yancy Gates, whose shooting hovered around 50 percent his freshman year.

"Sean's made a concentrated effort to get everybody involved," explained Notre Dame Prep coach Ryan Hurd.

"That's why, I think more so than ever at this level, we have a group of kids who take pleasure in the other kids being successful. That starts obviously with Sean and the ability to get to the rim and draw people in. But with Sean, he's willing to give it up. You know, you'll see at this level a lot of kids are going to keep that (possession) and the result is they make a boneheaded play."

Hurd continued, "That's where I think we kind of step ahead of some teams. These guys really want to play together."

Fitting, because Kilpatrick really wants to play for Cronin.

"I know next year, coming into Cincinnati my role is going to be as a scorer. Coach (Cronin) tells me to focus on what I'm doing now and just keep it up. Classes are going well."

With 2009 graduation claiming high-scoring guard Deonta Vaughn, the Bearcats could likely use Kilpatrick's scoring immediately.