What do you do if you are University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari and just finished a disastrous 20-12 season, ending in a 1st Round NIT loss to Robert Morris?
This is uncharted territory for Calipari as he has made it to the NCAA Tournament 7 straight seasons with both Memphis and Kentucky and has assembled the top recruiting class in 3 of the last 4 seasons.
Coach Cal has sent numerous future stars to the NBA like Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall, and Anthony Davis in recent years, with the pinnacle of his coaching career being winning the 2011 NCAA National Championship.
To make matters worse, he just whiffed on signing perhaps the best HS prospect since Lebron James, namely athletic small forward Andrew Wiggins, to the rival Kansas Jayhawks. So what is next for Calipari? Maybe a return to the NBA or maybe he should just turn in his letter of resignation?
Not a chance, as Calipari has once again outdone himself, assembling arguably the greatest recruiting class in NCAA history consisting of 6 McDonald’s All Americans plus the top 2 players hailing from the state of Kentucky.
The jewel of the class has to be top ranked PF, and #2 overall rated prospect by ESPN, Julius Randle. He is a program changing talent that many have already compared to Lebron James.
He also reeled in an entirely new backcourt led by twins Andrew and Aaron Harrison, the top rated PG and SG in the 2013 recruiting class. Elite scoring SF James Young, top ranked center Dakari Johnson, and athletic forward Marcus Lee should also be difference makers from day one as the Wildcats seem primed to once again make a run at a National title.
The only question remaining concerning Kentucky’s marvelous 2013 class is if they are better than Michigan’s prized class in the early 1990’s touted as the “Fab Five.” They were the first collegiate team to start 5 freshmen, with many players developing into NBA stars like Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, and Juwan Howard.
Kentucky’s 2013 Recruiting Class Vs Michigan’s Fab 5:
Michigan Fab 5 Highlights:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
