UK Basketball Recruiting is Second to None!

On the surface, it seems like an impossible task to underrate a man who’s one of the best collegiate basketball coaches of his era (not to mention one who holds a spot in the conversation amongst the all-time greats). With 790 career wins (good for No. 14 all-time), a national championship, three Coaches of the Year awards, six final four appearances, and a bust with his name on it in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari’s resume should speak for itself.
 

A Look at the Numbers

Calipari helped popularize the one-and-done recruiting format that dominated college basketball following a rule change that allowed players to enter the NBA draft following just one college season. By pulling in high-profile recruits with the sales pitch of using college as a sort of prep year before declaring for the draft, Calipari solidified himself as one of the greatest recruiters the sport has ever seen.

As Calipari enters his fifteenth season as the head man for the Wildcats, it’s time to put into perspective just how good of a job he’s done during his time in Lexington. Like all things in college sports, that starts with recruiting.

In nine of the 15 years he’s spent coaching Kentucky, Calipari has inked a No. 1 class by at least one of the three major recruiting publications. Those stellar classes included many of the 72 top-50 recruits, 57 top-25 players, and 33 top-10 players (according to Rivals) that Calipari has pulled in what will now be his 15th recruiting class at Kentucky.

(https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/secret-to-recruiting-from-best-sports-recruiter)

Because Calipari hasn't seen his efforts bring in a hand full of championship rings (he led the Wildcats to his first and only championship win in his third season as the head man, setting impossibly high standards for himself to reach in a town used to breathtaking success), it often seems like he doesn’t receive due credit for the dynasty he’s built. Fans and journalists alike have called for Kentucky to fire him in the past few seasons, seasons that still ended with a tournament appearance.

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

The one-and-done era seems to be coming to a close in the heyday of the transfer portal, where veteran players at smaller programs can jump ship for the major schools once they’ve made a name for themselves with little to no repercussions.

Calipari has seen some of the toughest times of his career over the past three seasons of the Portal free for all, missing the tournament entirely in 2021 before a pair of first-weekend exits.

A hallmark of the greatest coaches and players is their ability to change their tactics when necessary, even if their previous blueprint brought them great success.

Calipari’s recruiting class this year (both high school players and transfer portal additions) indicates that he may have figured out the new way of the world as it pertains to college basketball… and his Wildcats may be ready to run rampant through the NCAA as a result.

The best Kentucky sportsbook promos are going to come in handy this year as the Wildcats will once again have a stacked team with such good recruiting from Coach Calipari. You can bet they will be one of the favorites in the SEC this season (not to mention the entire NCAA). Here’s a look at the talent Calipari brought in.
 

This Year’s Class

Graphic via @KentuckyMBB

The Wildcats logged yet another No. 1 recruiting class under Calipari (per 247sports), spearheaded by a quartet of five-star recruits: forward Justin Edwards, center Aaron Bradshaw, and a pair of guards in Robert Dillingham and DJ Wagner.

With seven enrollees out of high school (along with a pair of players who signed letters of intent), it seems that Calipari is up to his old tricks. Two veteran additions add a healthy dose of intrigue, though.The first of those is forward Tre Mitchell, whom Kentucky swiped away from West Virginia after the Mountaineers’ program was racked with uncertainty during the coaching search following the dismissal of hall-of-fame head coach Bob Huggins for a DUI incident.

The veteran big man provides an excellent presence in the paint, and he also has a healthy feel for his three-point shot when the opportunity presents itself, making roughly one in three through his collegiate career.

The other prospect is 7-foot-2 center Zvonimir Ivisic, who hails from Croatia. If Calipari wants to keep his one-and-done strategy in place, dipping his feet into the robust basketball market in Europe (which has seen players like Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic turn into bona fide superstars in recent years) could be the wrinkle he needs to maintain success. A unicorn of a big man who could use some time to bulk up and polish his approach as an offensive player is just what the doctor ordered, and with a log jam in the paint for the Wildcats (a rarity for the guard-centric Calipari teams of days past), Kentucky will have plenty of time to rotate him in without sacrificing wins, allowing both player and coach to find a healthy balance as they continue to adjust for the future.