Kentucky Wildcats Recruiting: Who Cares with the Magician at the Helm
By Wayne
Dec 29, 2012; Louisville, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari calls out instructions during the second half against the Louisville Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated Kentucky 80-77. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports
With all the talk about UK’s 2013 recruiting class being the best ever, it’s taken me four years to realize this, but it doesn’t matter how good the 2013 class is. I repeat:
It does NOT matter how good the 2013 Recruiting Class is.
Why, you as, does it not matter how good the 2013 class is? Think about it, Nation…
The answer is as simple as the surrogate father to many a young men…John Calipari.
The ONLY common denominator in every class is John Calipari and his staff.
You see, these kids are all the “cock of the walk” in high school and when they arrive on campus, we treat them like rock star gods. We worship the ground they walk on and are willing to give everyone of them a pass for any transgression and vehemently attack any journalist to hunts down any perceived dirt on these young kids…even if the dirt is actually dirty.
No matter how good these kids are, they’re still kids and need tough love and sound direction. Remember John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and Boogie? Yeah, they didn’t win the NC. Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb, and Terrence Jones (as a Frosh) either. MKG and Anthony Davis spearheaded the Cats to #8. All stellar classes, yet they all lacked one thing coming in: Direction.
And that’s where John Calipari comes in.
Coach Cal is the best coach in CBB AND is the best at getting the most out of his players in every aspect of the game: mentally, physically, and emotionally. He helps hone their athletic skill by putting through rigorous practices and in tough situations. He helps mold their minds to have a family oriented, team first mentality that always helps them achieve their personal goals. He treats everyone the same, from the Boogies to the Sam Malones. He elevates walk-ons who work their ass off to scholarship players, as they deserve and turn a big man who barely sniffed the court as a Junior into a Second Round draftee after his Senior Year.
THAT, my friends is what John Calipari brings to the institution that is Kentucky Wildcats Men’s Basketball.
He’s damn near a magician. Well he would be a magician IF he weren’t the hardest working coaching in the game. But he is so for the love of all that is holy, can we PLEASE table this “song that never ends” discussion of which recruiting classes are the best, because, Steve Fisher is no John Calipari so comparing the 2013 class to the 1991 class is pointless because Calipari is 1,000,000 million times the coach Fisher was back then and I am certain would have gotten a NC out of the Fab 5, if not their Frosh year, then certainly their second.
Are you getting this?
You can take the best recruiting class in history, couple them with a mediocre coach, and get ill-fated time out calls under the most pressure packed situations…ala Michigan.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please, PLEase, PLEASE…stop worrying about how good the 2013 class is because Calipari can take the second or third best recruiting class in any given season and win with them. Yes, even contend for a National Championship because he is that good, people.
John “the Magician” Calipari is what turns ANY recruiting class into a GREAT team. That is both a skill and an art.
There is no need to start comparing swords here, Nation, because what Calipari wields is bigger than any recruiting class. Ever.
On, On, U of K!