On the cusp on this year's Final Four, which again features Coach John Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats for the 2nd consecutive season, and which is also Calipari's third trip in five years, (he took Memphis there in 2008), it's only fitting to discuss his consistent ability to sign the top high school talent over the last decade.
When Calipari arrived at Memphis in 2000, after a brief NBA stint, he inherited a team that had gone 15-16 the year before in Conference USA. His first season, 2000-2001, they went 21-15. Following that season, however, despite Memphis not making the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive year, Coach Calipari was somehow able to lure the highly touted, McDonald's All-American, DeJuan Wagner to come and play for the Tigers. Coach Cal was also able to land the #76 recruit in the country, Anthony Rice. The following season, Memphis improved to 27-9, but again missed the NCAA's. Wagner left after that one season, a trend that continued among Calipari recruits, and became the 6th pick in the 2002 NBA Draft.
In the following recruiting class, perhaps not knowing Wagner's plans to leave early, Calipari was only able to sign two lower ranked recruits, #72 Jeremy Hunt and #84 Almamy Theiro. Memphis, however, finished 23-7 in 2002-2003 and earned a #7 seed in the NCAA Tournament (losing to Arizona State in the first round). The top recruit in 2003 was Sean Banks (ranked #33 overall) out of Bergen Catholic High School in New Jersey. The Tigers finished 22-8 in 2003-2004, again earning a #7 seed for the Big Dance and advancing to the second round before losing to Oklahoma State. In 2004, Coach Cal was able to sign another McDonald's All American, Darius Washington, Jr., along with the #38 recruit, Ronald Steele. The Tigers fell off a little the following year, finishing 22-16 in 2004-2005, missing the NCAA's.
This is where things start to get interesting. Despite a season finishing barely over .500, despite missing the NCAA Tournament and despite not earning anything higher than a #7 seed over the last nine years, Memphis and Coach Cal were able to land a phenomenal recruiting class, ranked #6 overall, in 2005. Coach Cal signed #27 Shawne Williams, #41 Chris Douglas-Roberts and #66 Antonio Anderson. With Washington and Steele returning, Memphis improved to 33-4 in 2005-2006, and earned a top seed for the tournament, losing to UCLA one game short of the Final Four. Calipari then added three more Top 100 recruits in 2006, with #41 Willie Kemp, #72 Pierre Niles and #84 Doneal Mack. The Tigers again finished 33-4 in 2006-2007, this time grabbing the #2 seed for the tourney and again losing in the Elite Eight, this time to Ohio State.
With back-to-back outstanding years, and with the core of his team returning, things looked bright for Calipari and Memphis going into the 2007-2008 season. And that was before Calipari signed Derrick Rose out of Chicago, one of the top five players in the country. Added to the mix, along with recruit #55 Jeff Robinson, Memphis reeled off its best season yet, finishing 38-2, earning a #1 seed in the NCAA's and falling one Mario Chalmers three-pointer short of winning a National Championship. Well, in theory actually. If you recall, that 2007-2008 season, with an NCAA record 38 victories, was subsequently vacated by the NCAA after it was discovered that Rose had a fraudulent SAT score and his brother Reggie received more than $2,000 in free travel. Rose Article. Vacation of a season was nothing new to Calipari, however. Back in 1996, his UMass team, featuring Marcus Camby, was also stripped of its season and its Final Four banner for NCAA violations, although Calipari was not personally implicated there (snicker). Camby Article.
Following the 2008 National Championship Game, and before the NCAA violations came to light, Rose left for the NBA, where he was the #1 overall draft pick and future winner of the Rookie of the Year Award. Calipari, not skipping a beat, brought in the #3 ranked recruiting class in 2008, which included #2 Tyreke Evans, #38 Wesley Witherspoon, #54 Angel Garcia, and #78 Matt Simpkins. Memphis again finished 33-4 in 2008-2009, earning a #2 seed in the NCAA, before losing to Mizzou in the Sweet Sixteen. Following the season, Calipari skipped town for Kentucky, cognizant of the Rose investigation. When the NCAA sanctions came down, Calipari was already living the high-life in Lexington, receiving no personal sanctions.
Evans left Memphis for the NBA, where he was the #4 pick overall by the Sacramento Kings, and earning his own Rookie of the Year Award in his first season.
And so the Calipari-Kentucky era began in 2009. Before Cal's arrival, the Wildcats already had commitments from some top notch recruits, including #19 Daniel Orton, #52 Eric Bledsoe and #64 Jon Hood. After his arrival, Calipari was able to sign #3 DeMarcus Cousins and #1 John Wall (both of whom were also considering Memphis before choosing the Wildcats - hmmm, they must have really liked Cal's coaching style). This was the first of three consecutive #1 ranked recruiting classes for Calipari at Kentucky. Kentucky went 35-3 in that first season, earning a #1 seed for the NCAA's before losing in the Elite Eight.
Once again, it was in with the new, and out with the old for Calipari. Wall, Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Bledsoe and Orton all left school early (four after just their freshman seasons), and were first round draft picks in the 2010 NBA Draft (Wall going #1 overall and Cousins #5 overall). Have no fear, however, as top ranked recruits #4 Brandon Knight, #7 Enes Kanter, #11 Terrance Jones, #26 Doron Lamb and #50 Stacey Poole were waiting in the wings for the annual mass exodus. Struggling a bit (lol), Kentucky went 29-9 in Calipari's second season, reaching the Final Four before losing to eventual champion UConn in the national semi-finals (Kanter missed the season after being ruled ineligible for his professional play in Turkey). After the Final Four, Knight, Kanter, DeAndre Liggins and senior Josh Harrellson all left for the NBA Draft (Kanter the #3 overall pick and Knight the #8 overall pick) (Poole also transferred to G Tech after the season).
In 2011, Calipari outdid even himself. With Lamb, T. Jones and Darius Miller already returning, the Wildcats signed four of the top twelve high school players in the country, including #1 Anthony Davis, #3 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, #8 Marquis Teague and #12 Kyle Wiltjer. So far in the 2011-2012 season, Kentucky is 36-2 and the odds-on favorite to win the whole thing. The question looms, however, then what? Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist are already projected to be the #1 and #2 picks in the NBA Draft. I don't think there is any question that Jones and Lamb, and probably Teague, are leaving too, and will be first round picks. Calipari has already signed shooting guard Archie Goodwin (#15 overall) and small forward Alex Poythress (#16 overall) out of the Class of 2012. What this author finds most interesting, however, is the fact that at this late date, five of the top twenty high school players in the country, including the two top ranked players, are uncommitted, but all of whom have Kentucky on their respective lists.
The #1 ranked player, Nerlens Noel, who just re-classified to the class of 2012 from the class of 2013, is a a 6'10" shot blocking machine. Check him out HERE. The #2 ranked player in the country, 6'6", lefty, Shabazz Muhammad out of Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas, is going to be the next great thing in basketball. Don't believe me? Check the video HERE. There's also #7 Anthony Bennett, #18 Amile Jefferson and #20 Tony Parker.
My thoughts are, all five, or at least three to four of these high school players, are waiting for Kentucky to finish their season and for Davis, Kidd-Gilchrist, Teague, Lamb and Jones to declare for the draft, so they can sign with Calipari and the Wildcats. Giving Cal his fourth consecutive #1 ranked recruiting class. But what is it with this guy? Why do all these top ranked players want to play for John Calipari? Is he that great a guy? I doubt it. Is it the prestige of Kentucky? Doubt it, UCLA, UNC, Duke, Kansas are pretty prestgious basketball schools and don't attract this consistent level of talent (and BTW, Memphis wasn't exactly a college bball powerhouse before Calipari starting luring top ranked talent). There must be something else. But what? I hope we don't find out the hard way, that being the ultimate trifecta of vacated seasons, therein shaming Kentucky even more than in the 1980's by taking down a National Championship banner from Rupp Arena.
