John Calipari using Jay- Z and Drake to “outswag” Roy Williams in Julius Randle recruitment

Dec 03, 2011; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari and North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams (right) shake hands before the game at Rupp Arena. Kentucky defeated North Carolina 73-72. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE

It’s not often that John Calipari gets “one upped” on the recruiting trail but Roy Williams seemed to have done that earlier this month. John Calipari was on a in-home visit to Julius Randle, the top player in the 2013 class, when he broke out his 2012 National Championship ring. Randle was impressed with it and made mention of how shiny the ring was in an online recruiting blog. A few days later, Roy Williams comes to town with a box of about 30 various rings representing conference and national title rings he had accumulated in his career. Randle was even more impressed. Advantage Williams.

But this battle is not over.  Lest we forget, Julius Randle visited UK during the recent UK Alumni game and was impressed that he got to see one of his favorite rappers, Drake, who was a coach in the alumni game:

"We went to the Alumni Game after that and it was really live. I was sitting behind the bench and then Drake walked in and the whole place went just crazy. I mean they just went wild for Drake.Then throughout the game they started chanting my name. It was just crazy how loud they were. I’m a pretty laid back guy so I felt a little awkward at first. Drake and the players turned around smiling because it was just such a loud chant. I just kind of waved and they went crazy. That was definitely the loudest chant I’ve ever heard."

This weekend, Calipari upped the ante with his tweets from the Jay-Z concert in New Jersey:

photo courtesy of www.twitter.com/UKCoachCalipari

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/UKCoachCalipari/status/251893164955279360″]

A picture speaks a thousand words and the tweet that he and Jay-Z are “La Familia” puts a thousand exclaimation points at the end of those words.  Sure, it may seem like no big deal in the grand scheme of things but consider the fact that high school kids are highly impressionable and Drake and Jay-Z are two of Randle’s three favorite  rappers:

"After the game my mom wanted to get a picture with Drake so he came over and took a pic with us. He wished me luck with my decision and he said that he was looking forward to seeing me play too. That was really cool because he’s definitely in my top three as far as favorite rappers. Jay Z is on top for me."

Advantage back to Calipari.  Who do you have in your rolodex, Roy?  George Jones?  Dolly Parton?  Not going to help much when Cal has Jay-Z and Drake in his smartphone.

But your move, Roy.  Your move.