Good articles from Kentucky Basketball and their 2009-2010 recruiting class
Not even a month into his tenure, John Calipari already has made astounding progress. No, not talking Kentucky recruiting here.
Talking Twitter.
Calipari already has 60,551 people following his Internet alerts, and he's hit the "update" button 195 times. He hasn't yet gotten a signed letter of intent from Raleigh, N.C., point guard John Wall, so he hasn't had to figure out a way to squeeze that particular exclamation into 140 characters, but it's coming.
So, OK, this really is about recruiting. And coaching. And remaking the Kentucky program so fast Twitter is the ideal device to signal the Wildcats' ascent. In some ways, it's also a representation of why Calipari was able to walk into his office at the Craft Center on April 1 and transform a team that did not reach the 2009 NCAA Tournament into an early No. 1 for 2010.
As much as any coach in college basketball, Calipari embraces what is current. The modern circumstances of recruiting made it possible for him to assemble the nation's top recruiting class -- Wall, point guard Eric Bledsoe, center DeMarcus Cousins and forward Darnell Dodson to go with early signees Daniel Orton and Jon Hood -- in such a short period of time.
A half-dozen years ago:
A signed letter of intent was not as easy to escape as colleges have allowed it to become. Now, a player who signs early and wants a release because of a coaching change can be allowed to compete immediately at another school. That's how Dodson, a top junior college shooter, followed Calipari to UK after signing early with Memphis.
Nobody would have asked for the sort of escape clause Cousins, rated No. 3 in the class by Scout.com, wanted after committing to UAB. Because his request wasn't granted, Cousins remained a "free agent" and eventually committed to Memphis, then opted for UK after Calipari changed schools.
A player with Wall's ability would not have been available to anyone in Division I. Wall is ranked No. 1 by Rivals.com. He'd have placed himself on the NBA's early entry list directly out of high school. Calipari might have gained a commitment -- like from Kendrick Perkins and Amare Stoudemire -- but never would have coached him.
"The last time I've seen this much collective excitement was when Kentucky was winning in '03," said Matt Jones, who runs a UK-centric website and hosts the nightly Louisville Sports Report on WBKI-TV. "But this is even more, because unlike that team the fans know this team will have NBA lottery picks, those kinds of players.
"I just had lunch with some UK types, and they're all ready to buy their Final Four tickets."
Lots of Kentucky fans are wondering not whether this is the best recruiting class of the year (it is) but where it ranks with the best ever assembled (pretty doggoned high).
It is not the Fab Five, which Michigan assembled in 1991: three top 10 prospects in Chris Webber, Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose plus two other exceptional talents, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson, who started as freshmen.
But anybody else in the argument -- North Carolina 1993, Duke 1997, Ohio State 2006 -- has some new company.
"When you look at the first three kids, it's as good as any threesome," said recruiting analyst Van Coleman of Hoopmasters.com. "They're all going to be pros. It's going to be the other kids who have the chance to lift it into one of the best ever."
The excitement regarding Wall's commitment comes with a catch, however. Success must be immediate. He will not play a second season with the Wildcats, so he has to make them substantially better in 2009-10. It worked for Calipari when he signed Derrick Rose at Memphis, and the similarities between Wall and Rose have many expecting those kinds of results. Their games and circumstances are not identical.
With star forward Patrick Patterson back from a short excursion into the NBA draft, this team will have stronger veteran leadership than those Tigers. If Jodie Meeks comes to his senses and returns, the Wildcats will have a much more dangerous 3-point attack.
But this team will be significantly younger. Cousins, Orton, Dodson and Bledsoe have not played in Division I, and they will be important rotation players. Neither has Wall, although the lack of experience in so many spots might mean he won't have to measure himself the way Rose did early on with the Tigers.
"I think John Wall is the most difficult guard in America to check," Scout.com recruiting analyst Dave Telep said. "I don't think that's going to change much from high school to college. He's a major problem for 99 percent of the defenders he's going to face."
Wall will need to adapt to being a part of something bigger than himself and being challenged by consistently high-level competition. That'll be new to him. He'll be the finest talent in college basketball next season, but becoming the most significant player will be a greater challenge.
Kentucky's loaded -- with expectations
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 8:42 PM
Filed Under: Recruiting, 2009-10 season previews
Kentucky’s recruiting class for the ages is in place. Now the real challenge begins.
Kentucky added John Wall, the nation’s top recruit, to a class that already featured three other five-star recruits. Throw in a new coach who’s won 137 games in the last four seasons and it’s enough to make Big Blue Nation throw up their hands and shout Hallelujah!
That salivating is from hoops pundits around the country who are proclaiming Kentucky the team to beat in 2009-10. They may not be wrong.
Incoming freshmen Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton, Eric Bledsoe and Jon Hood will team with junior forward Patrick Patterson and possibly senior guard Jodie Meeks (if he withdraws from the NBA draft) to form one of if not the most talented rosters in the country.
It’s a little scary to see just what John Calipari can do when it comes to recruiting at a premier program.
"I think right now everybody’s on notice," Scout.com reporter Dave Telep told the Raleigh News & Observer. "This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice. This is the real deal. These guys are coming after players, they're getting guys, and they have a powerful product to sell."
The only thing scarier than the loaded roster? The sky-high expectations heaped upon the ‘Cats.
You won’t hear Calipari or the players complain. Even some of the local writers aren’t worried about it. But those expectations are very real, and very daunting.
Kentucky missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in nearly 20 years last season. It hasn’t been to the Final Four since 1998 or won an SEC title since 2004. And North Carolina is just five wins shy of passing Kentucky on the all-time list (don’t scoff, that one matters to the Kentucky faithful).
All of that stuff piles up. Next year, if the Wildcats start to struggle, it’ll get hairy in Lexington. How will the young roster hold up to criticism? How much leeway will fans give the new coach if UK doesn’t win enough?
Don’t misunderstand – Kentucky’s going to be good next season. It could be the nation’s best team.
But if the ‘Cats do cut do reach the Final Four or even win it all, they’ll have earned it because winning under massive expectations isn’t easy.
An experienced, talented North Carolina team had similar expectations heaped upon it this season, and managed to live up to them. Other schools – UNLV in ’91, UNC in ’94, Arizona in ’98 or Duke in ’99 – were similarly talented, but fell short.
One thing’s for sure: I’m excited to see what Kentucky can do.
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