Kanter signs with Cats

‘One world, one Big Blue Nation’ was the slogan put on the cover of the 2009-10 media guide for the UK men’s basketball team. Perhaps it will be the slogan on next year’s media guide as well.

The Cats received a National Letter of Intent from Enes Kanter, a big bodied 6-foot-10 forward from Turkey, will be looked on to help fill the void left by the departure of DeMarcus Cousins to the NBA.

Kanter is rated as a five-star prospect by Rivals.com, and broke Dirk Nowitzki’s individual scoring record for the World Team in the Nike Hoop Summit game on Saturday by scoring 34 points to go along with 13 rebounds. His performance was against the world’s best high school prospects, including Brandon Knight, the No. 1 prospect in the country.

“Enes has the body and potential to be special,” UK head coach John Calipari said in a statement. “I look forward to working with all the incoming players and our returnees as we build on the foundation we set with our 35-3, Elite Eight team.”

Kanter played for the Turkish under-18 national team in 2009 and was named the MVP at the European Championships in France after averaging 18.6 points and a tournament best 16.4 rebounds a game.

Kanter had given the Cats a verbal commitment weeks ago, but made it official Wednesday. He joins Stacey Poole Jr. as the Cats’ first two commitments from the 2010 class.