Still no need to worry about John Calipari's 2012 recruiting class
By Paul Jordan
Despite zero commitments for the 2012 recruiting class, there is still no need to worry about the 2012 recruiting class. CBS’s Gary Parrish just became the umpteenth national columnist to relay the news that Calipari has things in control for next year. I tend to agree with a “whos who in 2012 recruiting” showing up at Rupp Arena for Big Blue Madness. Here is a bit of what Parrish had to say:
Which is why I joked last week during a podcast with my colleagues Matt Norlander and Jeff Goodman that worrying about when Calipari will land his next great prospect is akin to worrying about when George Clooney will land his next gorgeous woman. Just give it time. It’ll happen, because it always happens.
“The Wildcats are in best with Archie Goodwin [No. 6 in the CBSSports.com Class of 2012 rankings], Alex Poythress [No. 14], Devonta Pollard [No. 18] and Willie Cauley [No. 47], and all four will be on campus for Big Blue Madness [on Oct. 14] — along with Shabazz Muhammad [No. 1], DaJuan Coleman [No. 10] and T.J. Warren [No. 32],” Borzello answered. “They’re also heavily in the mix for guys like Mitch McGary [No. 3] and Perry Ellis [No. 27], and if Kentucky ends up with three or four of the aforementioned players, it’s another top-rated recruiting class for Calipari.”
Now that John Calipari is back in the United States, don’t expect him to be taking it easy now. Calipari released a statement on his website letting the BBN know what he was going to be up to:
Now, what will I be doing now that this over? For the next six or seven days, I will be in homes and in schools of the recruits we’re involved with. I’ll be in Lexington for one day this week but I’ll be back on the road recruiting that night.
Even though I’ve been in South America for the last few days during the contact period, I did three home visits from the speakerphone. Obviously, it’s not as effective as sitting face to face, but I wanted those young people to know that even though I was coaching a national team, they were on the forefront of my mind.
Despite listing Kentucky in his final four teams, Kaleb Tarczewski has not planned a visit to Kentucky and so far, is just planning on visiting Kansas and Arizona and will decide between those two. C’est la vie.
Mark Story has an interesting article about which coach needs the win more this weekend: Charlie Strong or Joker Phillips? Despite both second year coaches having identical records, it seems that Joker needs the game more and to be honest, its a good debate. Joker seems to be burdened with higher expectations due to the whole “Head coach in waiting thing” and the fact that Kentucky football was somewhat established when he took over. Strong seems to still be on a honeymoon with the Cardinal fanbase.
We will see how long that honeymoon continues Monday morning when Strong is 1-2 on the season, has a loss to a Sun Belt team and is 0-2 against his chief rival. Oh yea, and is just one NCAA phone call away from a full fledged NCAA investigation due to the presence of Clint Hurtt still on his coaching staff. Just saying.
Kentucky’s Josh Clemons was named Co-SEC Freshman of the week for his performance in the Central Michigan game. And for his part, he gets some valuable facetime in the WBN “Morning 5”.
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