John Calipari has secured commitments from three top-10 recruits in each the last three years.
Mark Cornelison/Herald-Leader
With the addition of James Young, Kentucky will now have three top-10 recruits for the third year in a row.
In the era of modern recruiting rankings, that’s an unprecedented achievement. And no other school has even come close to matching it.
Since John Calipari arrived in Lexington in 2009, he has landed multiple top-10 prospects in every one of his five recruiting classes. In the same span, only two other schools have done that once: UCLA (Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson in 2012) and Florida (Chris Walker and Kasey Hill in 2013). No other team has had three top-10 recruits in one class since North Carolina in 2006.
And the UK coach might not be finished in 2013. Calipari is still actively recruiting top-5 prospects Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon, as well as Andrew Wiggins, who would likely be the No. 1 overall recruit if he reclassifies to 2013. Add any one of those players, and UK would have four top-10 recruits in the same class, something that has never been done according to the RSCI composite rankings, which date back to 1998.
Here’s a year-by-year look at schools that have landed multiple top-10 recruits in the same class:
| 2013 | Kentucky | Andrew Harrison (2), Aaron Harrison (4), James Young (7) |
| Florida | Kasey Hill (6), Chris Walker (7) | |
| 2012 | Kentucky | Nerlens Noel (1), Alex Poythress (8), Archie Goodwin (10) |
| UCLA | Shabazz Muhammad (1), Kyle Anderson (3) | |
| 2011 | Kentucky | Anthony Davis (1), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (3), Marquis Teague (7) |
| 2010 | Kentucky | Brandon Knight (4), Enes Kanter (7) |
| 2009 | Kentucky | John Wall (2), DeMarcus Cousins (3) |
| 2008 | None | |
| 2007 | None | |
| 2006 | North Carolina | Brandan Wright (3), Ty Lawson (5), Wayne Ellington (8) |
| 2005 | Kansas | Julian Wright (6), Mario Chalmers (8) |
| 2004 | None | |
| 2003 | None | |
| 2002 | North Carolina | Raymond Felton (3), Rashad McCants (4), Sean May (9) |
| 2001 | None | |
| 2000 | Michigan State | Zach Randolph (1), Marcus Taylor (5) |
| 1999 | Kentucky | Keith Bogans (2), Marvin Stone (5) |
| Florida | Donnell Harvey (1), Brett Nelson (7) | |
| Duke | Jason Williams (3), Carlos Boozer (8) | |
| 1998 | North Carolina | Ronald Curry (6), Jason Capel (10) |
*-Until 2006, high school players were allowed to go straight to the NBA.
That’s because they can add. In the last 3 seasons that Coach Cal has been at Kentucky, they have gotten a total of 10 of the top 25 High School players. During those same 3 years Duke and North Carolina between them have also gotten 10 of the top 25.(As ranked by ESPN) Duke and NC were able to produce 2 one and done players. Kentucky was abel to produce 8 one and done players from their top 25 players. See the difference? High School players can. Kentucky was also able to produce one and dones from players that weren’t ranked in the top 25. Eric Bledsoe wasn’t even ranked in ESPN’s top 100
Steve, you are exactly right in my way of thinking..This is a no-brainer business decision for these kids..If you have the skill to go to UK, you will play in the NBA..Sometimes 1 year at UK, sometimes more…During whatever time it takes you to prepare you will have the best legal benefits money can buy…Playing for UK is the closest guarantee you can get for an opportunity to play in the NBA…And that includes more than the most obvious players…Ask Liggins and Harrelson about the “Kentucky Effect”