Kentucky basketball: John Calipari’s 5 best recruiting classes
By Drew Koch
Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari is putting together yet another top notch recruiting class. This begs the question, which recruiting classes have been among Cal’s best?
John Calipari hit the ground running when he arrived in Lexington as the Kentucky basketball coach. Coach Cal, in his first year, brought in the No. 1 recruiting class in the country and took that team to the Elite Eight.
Two years later, another elite recruiting class helped Calipari secure his first ever National Championship, and the eighth for the University of Kentucky. Three years after that, Cal had another bite at the apple, and took an undefeated team to the Final Four.
Two seasons ago, John Calipari took another top-rated recruiting class within a bucket of the Final Four. Cal’s critics often point to the fact that he’s a great recruiter, but a poor coach. I find that blasphemous, but that’s the narrative that some people try to write.
Since arriving at Kentucky, John Calipari has had at least the No. 2 ranked, if not the No. 1 ranked recruiting class in the nation. During that time, Cal has been to 6 Regional Finals, 4 Final Fours and won the National Championship in 2012.
Because critics love to compare, let’s look at Duke’s head coach, Mike Krzyzewski. During that same span, Duke has been to only 4 Regional Finals and 2 Final Fours. Coach K’s teams have also bowed out 3 times before the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Krzyzewski has one more National Title during that span, but you never hear anything remotely close to, “K can’t coach.”
So while we can have an endless debate about Coach Cal and Coach K, let’s save that for another day. Today let’s explore Calipari’s Top 5 recruiting classes from 2009-2017. Keep in mind, this is strictly based on talent, not results.