Jeff Sheppard pitches in-state talent on staying home to play at Kentucky

Reed Sheppard is the blueprint for what happens when things go right as an in-state hooper deciding to stay home and play for the Kentucky Wildcats. The four-star guard caught lightning in a bottle and lived out a fan fiction written by Big Blue Nation, starting as a McDonald’s All-American from Laurel County and finishing as a top-three draft pick signing a $45.8 million rookie contract.

He was the best player on one of the most exciting Kentucky teams in recent memory, accomplishing just about all you can individually as the NABC National Freshman of the Year and an All-SEC member.

“Slip a national championship in there, and that’s about it,” Jeff Sheppard told KSR.

Travis Perry and Trent Noah decided to immediately follow in the London native’s footsteps to Kentucky, two kids going from competing in the KHSAA Sweet 16 state championship at Rupp Arena to suiting up in the historic venue for all home games wearing blue and white. Malachi Moreno, the nation’s No. 1 overall center out of Georgetown, will be doing the same next season.

Up next? Jasper Johnson, a five-star guard from Lexington set to make his commitment on September 5. Kentucky also extended an offer to Tay Kinney, a top-35 guard out of Newport in 2026 — another loaded class for in-state talent.

Reed Sheppard says staying home was an easy choice

Reed Sheppard already gave his pitch to those guys and anyone else from the state making the same decision he had to make out of high school. That one inarguably worked out in his favor.

“I mean at the end of the day, it’s Kentucky. For me, it was an easy choice. It was my dream school growing up and for them, I hope it’s the same so they have an easy choice to make, as well,” he told KSR. “At the end of the day, it’s Kentucky. You’re playing on national television every game, you’re gonna be playing against the best players in the world, great facilities.

“It’s just — it’s a great place to play basketball and a great place to live.”

What about from his dad’s point of view? He saw his son go through the process and deal with the pressure that comes with being a star at Kentucky. And he went through it personally as a two-time national champion and NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player in Lexington. His wife? Yeah, Stacey Reed was an all-time hooper in blue and white herself.

There isn’t a family that knows more about what it takes to make it as a Wildcat than the Sheppards. They’ve seen it from every angle imaginable across multiple generations in this program’s rich basketball history.

Evaluation unlike anywhere else

Jeff’s advice? Take the shot on yourself if you earn the opportunity to play at Kentucky. Sure, you may be able to make it to the NBA playing elsewhere. But can you stick? Can you handle the pressure? Are you mentally and physically prepared to enter a league limited exclusively to grown men? That’s the risk, one he personally wouldn’t take.

“Our message is very clear and it’s always been clear: it’s Kentucky,” he told KSR. “I believe, after going through the process with Reed, that if you can play basketball in the NBA — whether you play at Kentucky or UCLA or North Carolina, or you play overseas, or you play for a small school and then you leave that small school and transfer in — I don’t think it matters. I really think they do such an intense evaluation that you are gonna be found.

“Then it’s just a matter of, who’s gonna get you ready the best? What games are you going to be playing in? Are you going to be able to be evaluated against — Reed got be evaluated against Dalton Knecht. He got to be evaluated against the guards at Alabama, got to play North Carolina, got to play Kansas. They got to watch that film and that evaluation thrusted him onto the national scene. They got to see how he reacted and he reacted well.”

Life after basketball

Think you can make it as a long-term pro without Kentucky? That’s fine, but what about life after basketball? Will fans of those other schools embrace the local talent the way Big Blue Nation does for homegrown Wildcats? Or any player who wears Kentucky across his or her chest for that matter?

That kid from Marietta, Georgia who made himself a new home in the 606 knows his answer.

“There’s just also something special about Kentucky when it’s all over,” Sheppard told KSR. “Not that other programs don’t have that, but especially for a Kentucky kid, to play here and pursue basketball for however long that takes them, then they’re back here. Darius Miller is a great example of that. He’s done (playing) and now Darius is back in town as he pursues the next era of his life. Jack Givens, Kyle Macy, all of those — and I’m one of the guys.

“I’m not a Kentucky guy — and Kyle’s not a Kentucky guy, either, but some people think we’re Kentucky guys because we’ve been here so long. But when you’re born and bred here — if you were to walk into Reed’s room right this second there are still pictures of Devin Booker and Tyler Ulis, (Rajon) Rondo’s jersey, Anthony Davis. They’re still hanging there.

“There is just something different about being a kid from Kentucky.”