Maybe days like Wednesday are still big news to Kentucky basketball fans — which honestly it shouldn’t be considering the rich history of the program — but signing days like Wednesday’s and like last year’s signing class is nothing new to head coach John Calipari.
The man has been doing it for years.
While he’s quickly gained a nationally renowned reputation as the mastermind of the Dribble Drive Motion Offense, he was known as a recruiting guru long before this year. Calipari’s knack for hauling in the nation’s top recruits — most notably the nation’s top point guards in Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans and John Wall — is uncanny.
Over the last six seasons, Calipari has signed some of the nation’s best recruiting classes. No class over the last six years has ranked worse than 23rd in the Rivals.com team rankings, and one — last year’s star-studded class of John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins — ranked No. 1 in the nation. Overall, Calipari’s last six classes have averaged a team rank of ninth.
Rivals.com has yet to unveil its 2010 rankings since its early in the spring signing period, but expect another top-15 recruiting class to come together.
Class | School | National rank |
---|---|---|
2009 | Kentucky | 1st |
2008 | Memphis | 4th |
2007 | Memphis | 10th |
2006 | Memphis | 23rd |
2005 | Memphis | 7th |
2004 | Memphis | 9th |