How does he do it? It there any doubt that John Calipari at Kentucky is hands down, the best recruiter in college basketball? If anyone needs further evidence, exhibit A and B should be his recent commitment from the #1 rated point guard(#2 overall), Marquis Teague, and #1 overall player in the entire 2011 class, Michael Gilchrist, within a week of each-other.
In the highly publicized recruiting battle for Teague between in-state Kentucky powerhouse programs and coaches, pitting Kentucky’s Calipari and Louisville’s Rick Pitino, once again Big Blue won out. After giving a loose verbal commitment to Louisville prior to his junior year at Pike HS, in Indianapolis, and due to Calipari’s constant calls and visits, Teague ultimately decided that the University of Kentucky should be his destination because of Cal’s recent history of producing NBA ready point guards. The evidence is overwhelming, from Derrick Rose, to Tyreke Evans, John Wall, 2010’s Brandon Knight and now Marquis Teague.
What makes the story even more interesting is the lengths of which Pitino had gone to try and keep Teague with Louisville. After all, both the player, coach, and university had some pretty deep ties leading up to Teague’s announcement. Rick Pitino coached Marquis’s father years ago at Boston College and the school had even hired an assistant coach from Marquis’ high school squad to serve as a “special assistant” on the Louisville staff.
One question is, how will Teague fit in on a already loaded, Top 5 recruiting class for 2010 which will already be entrenched a year prior to his arrival in 2011, which features the #1 point guard in the class, in Brandon Knight? Unless Knight is a one-and-done player in the mold of Wall, Evans, and Rose before him, there could be a logjam in the Wildcats back-court over the next few seasons. I guess it’s a good problem to have, but could Kentucky see a few players transfer between now and then over playing time? On the other hand, Calipari has been the master of not only recruiting, but getting multiple players at the same position to not only co-exist, but thrive on the college hardwood. Look no farther than this past season when both John Wall and Eric Bledsoe, both of whom were regarded as Top 5 point guards in the class, helped carry the Wildcats to an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Calipari’s reloaded 2010 recruiting class features the aforementioned Knight, international superstar big man Enes Kantner, and recently committed sharpshooter Doron Lamb and Top 20 player Stacey Poole. But the class may not be a finished product yet, since Cal is reportedly heavily courting the highly athletic Terrence Jones and Kevin Garnett clone, CJ Leslie, who plays above the rim more than any other player in the class, both of which are still undecided.
Could next year’s Wildcats be even better than the Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe led team this year? With Gilchrist and now Teague in the fold for the following season, and early word of Calipari being close to getting commitments to a number of 2012’s Top 10 players, could we be looking at a Kentucky dynasty in college hoops?
Check out a great Marquis Teague Highlight mix from AAU league action:
Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.
