The five-player class John Calipari signed in November is probably good enough on its own to give him his fifth top-ranked recruiting class in as many seasons at Kentucky. With possible spring additions, UK’s 2013 class is being talked about as potentially the best of all time before its members even set foot on campus.Coach Cal wants to slow down with that talk.In a post on CoachCal.com on Sunday, Calipari asked the Big Blue Nation to wait and judge his next class on its on-court merits, not to burden them with the pressure and expectations of being called historically good based on potential alone. Here’s some of what he had to say:

Ultimately, next year’s class will be judged on results. I may have a different viewpoint on that, but that’s just the way it is. They can’t be deemed anything until they get here and play. If you look at the best classes of all-time, it’s about what they accomplished. Yeah, they came in with high standards, but there have been a lot of classes that have been labeled No. 1 that didn’t pan out.We don’t know how good this class will be until we see what it accomplishes. That’s going to take time, hard work and coming together. They’re also going to need next year’s returners to show them the way. We won’t achieve our goals if we put it all on a bunch of 17- and 18-year-old kids. We will need everybody, just like we do this year.In the end, what I’m saying is to preordain a group of players isn’t fair to them. Let them pave their own way like every other group I’ve recruited over the years. It’s doesn’t mean I’m not excited to coach next year’s class or that they’re not going to be any good, but to say they are the best ever, that’s not fair to them or anyone else.

Link: The best ever? Only time, hard work and togetherness will tell