Calipari Continues to Bring in Top Recruits
The machine that is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting never stops. There are simply no head coaches in college basketball that can recruit to the level of Kentucky head coach John Calipari.
The 2023 recruiting cycle for Calipari and the Wildcats was no different. The Wildcats signed five prospects in the class, with four of them being five-star recruits, according to Rivals. In fact, according to Rivals, out of the top 10 players in the country, the Wildcats ended up signing three of them center Aaron Bradshaw out of Camden, New Jersey, strong forward Justin Edwards out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and point guard Dajuan Wagner who like Bradshaw also hails from Camden, New Jersey.
The Wildcats signed Rivals’ No. 15 overall prospect point guard Robert Dillingham out of Atlanta, Georgia. The program’s lowest-ranked signee in the class was shooting guard Reed Sheppard, a four-star prospect. That being said, Reed Sheppard was still highly ranked, being touted as a top-30 prospect in the country overall.
Thanks in part to Kentucky’s strong recruiting class this past recruiting cycle, the Wildcats are one of the favorites to win the NCAA Men’s National Championship next spring. Across the sports betting industry, the Wildcats’ odds sit between +1,800 and +2,000. Kentucky fans can bet on the Wildcats and more using DraftKings Kentucky sportsbook promos.
For Calipari and Kentucky fans, this is nothing new to them. In fact, over the last 15 years, the Wildcats have signed the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class in the eyes of at least one of the three major recruiting publications a staggering nine times. No other team even comes close to touching those numbers set by Calipari and the Wildcats. In those 15 years, the Wildcats have signed 72 top-50 prospects, 57 top-25 prospects, and 33 top-10 prospects.
The Wildcats already have their 2024 recruiting class started as well as Atlanta center Somtochukwu Cyril, the No. 40 player in the country according to Rivals and the fourth-best center prospect in the country, committed to the Wildcats in June. The Wildcats are also among the leaders for several other top prospects in the 2024 recruiting cycle and appear to be en route to the very least a top-five recruiting class, if not the country’s top recruiting class in the cycle.
Of course, with great recruiting classes also come great expectations. Unfortunately for Calipari at Kentucky, the recruiting classes have not ended in great success. Just once in his time with Kentucky, the Wildcats won a national championship; they’ve only made the national championship game one other time and made the Final Four three times. The program hasn’t made it to the Final Four either since 2014-15.
This past season, the Wildcats went 22-12 overall, including 12-6 in SEC play. The Wildcats would end up as a No. 6 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament, where they defeated No. 11 Providence in the first round 61-53 before falling to No.3 Kansas State 75-69 in the Round of 32.
That being said, while the team’s success may not be matching expectations, there is little doubt that Calipari is anything short of a great player developer. Since taking over at Kentucky in 2009, the Wildcats have sent 47 players to the NBA, an average of just over three per season. Out of those 47 players, 34 have been first-round picks, including centers Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns, who were the first overall selections in the 2012 and 2015 NBA Drafts, respectively, as well as point guard John Wall, who was the first overall selection in the 2010 NBA Draft.
If you’re a prospect who commits to Kentucky, there is a strong chance that John Calipari and the Wildcats staff will ultimately develop you into an NBA draft pick by the time you leave Lexington, whether that’s afer one year or multiple years.
While it remains to be seen what happens on the court for Kentucky this upcoming season, the one thing that is surely known is that the Wildcats will be ready to go on the recruiting trail. No head coach in the country wants to find themselves going up against Calipari for a prized recruit, it’s a battle that the other side will rarely win. John Calipari also knows that as college basketball analyst Gary Parrish once told a story in which Calipari told another coach, “I am the type of guy who can come in at the last minute and take any player I want from you,” the 64-year-old head coach said. “You can spend your whole life recruiting a kid, and at the end of the day, if I want him, I’l get him.”
It doesn’t get much more clearer or straightforward than that. John Calipari runs college basketball recruiting. The Wildcats, in a way, have what one could call “right of first refusal” because, as Calipari said, if the Wildcats want a player, they’ll end up doing whatever it takes to get that player, even if it is, at the last moment.
