‘High IQ stuff.’ Kentucky’s top basketball recruits savoring their taste of Europe.

The memory and moment is tattooed onto the right forearm of Johnuel “Boogie” Fland.

A ribbon winds from the crux of his elbow toward his wrist, culminating in the depiction of the gold medal he won with the United States in July in Spain.

The circular medal describes the event — the FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup — that Fland played in and won this summer, as the sought-after class of 2024 basketball recruit made a splash on the international stage alongside some of his best friends.

As part of the flowing depiction of the gold medal on Fland’s forearm, seven words add further context to the image: “Big dreams turn in to Big things.”

When speaking to the Herald-Leader in August in Chicago at the Under Armour Next Elite 24 event, Fland was asked what playing for the United States and winning a gold medal at such a young age meant to him.

He grinned, then quickly revealed the artwork etched beneath his skin.

“I can’t even put (it) into words,” Fland explained. “I always thought that I would win a medal pursuing my dream in the NBA. To know that I won it at 15 years old, on my birthday, it doesn’t get any better than that ... it was crazy, it was one to remember for real.”

Fland went from 15 to 16 years old on the day the United States topped Spain to win the 2022 FIBA Under-17 World Cup.

That American team featured several Kentucky recruits like Fland, Karter Knox, Ian Jackson, Ron Holland and DJ Wagner.

Those UK targets combined to help the U.S. win its sixth consecutive FIBA Under-17 World Cup. The United States is the only country to win the event, which began in 2010.

“I learned the basketball is used, not to do all the dribbling that we try to do ... it’s used to get into sets, more plays, more moving around,” Fland said of what he took away from the event, beyond the gold medal and his new ink.

“It’s good to get two sets of basketball. We’ve got the one we play here and you’ve got the one we play there, you put them together and you grow as a person and player and just in general.”

While top basketball recruits routinely display their skills stateside playing for high schools, prep programs and on various travel ball circuits, plenty are now also playing at the highest levels of international basketball.

“Not too many kids have come from the Bronx and play at this level, really,” said Jackson, the top-ranked class of 2024 shooting guard who, like Fland, is from New York City. “So me and Boogie being those two kids and showing everybody from the city that you actually can do it, that’s definitely big.”

Top-level recruits like Fland, Jackson and others already have access to a wealth of exposure, playing opportunities and other resources from their traditional basketball activities in the continental United States.

So what can they gain from competing internationally?

247Sports national basketball recruiting analyst and scout Brandon Jenkins told the Herald-Leader a significant benefit for players who compete internationally is learning what works and what doesn’t at the highest levels of basketball.

“I think like with anything in life, when you get the chance to play different brands of basketball, whether you’re playing overseas or you’re playing on a circuit or you’re playing high school basketball, you’re going through the game and you’re seeing the trials and error of learning how to be thrown in the fire,” Jenkins said.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of international basketball in recent years is Elliot Cadeau, the top-ranked point guard in the class of 2024.

Cadeau — who doesn’t yet hold a UK scholarship offer, but is in contact with UK assistant coach K.T. Turner — plays internationally for Sweden, where his mother, Michelle, was born.

“I’m a Swedish citizen and I had the right to play on the national team and they invited me out and I really liked the European experience. So I just stayed with it,” Cadeau told the Herald-Leader last month in Chicago, also at the Under Armour Next Elite 24 event.

“All my family is in Sweden, I used to go there every single year when I was a kid. So I know a lot about Sweden.”

Those childhood trips to Sweden soon translated into another means by which Cadeau could display his basketball skills.

One of his most impressive international displays came this summer, when Cadeau was named MVP of the FIBA Under-18 European Championship Division B after recording 36 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals in the championship game, which Sweden won.

According to ESPN NBA Draft analyst Jonathan Givony, the FIBA Under-18 European Championship has generated 66 first-round NBA Draft picks (including 12 from Division B) in a 15-year span.

“It’s just a lot more passing, a lot more plays. When I went out there I had to memorize 10 plays in one day, it’s just a lot more high IQ stuff,” Cadeau said of his international basketball experience. “Nobody is really relying on talent, they’re relying on playbooks, cuts, screens and stuff like that.”

Cadeau — who was ranked by Givony as one of the top NBA prospects to emerge from this summer’s European Championships — said he feels the European experience has given him a different basketball perspective that could be a deciding factor between him and other players.

“I know that everybody over here is really talented, they could score 30, 40, but I feel like what could separate me is some knowledge that you can’t get in America that I get in Europe,” Cadeau said. “I feel like little things like that can really separate myself from other people over here.”

That’s also something Jenkins sees when evaluating Cadeau.

“I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve seen with him, how he maneuvers and carries himself and seeing what works and what doesn’t to make him the best version of himself at the point guard position,” Jenkins said.