Warning: LONG
Part 1
I was thinking about how fun the Cal era has been for recruiting. Over the past 10+ years Kentucky’s name has been attached to probably well over 100 top 25 ranked players during their respective recruitments. Our fans go through a lot of hand-wringing, I feel like less so now that Cal has embraced the Grad transfer to fill holes, but all the same we talk recruiting more than any other program. I was thinking about how almost every class had a “lock” that went elsewhere, but also featured a surprise recruit that we weren’t really expecting. This got me interested in seeing how my memory was of the recruitment for all the players Cal signed. So here it is class by class, I would love for y’all to share what you remember about specific recruitments and where you agree and disagree.
‘09
John Wall: The conventional wisdom around Wall’s recruitment was that he would play for Coach Cal. There was tons of smoke and disinformation, and Wall was more than happy to feed into the speculation. Rumors flew like wild and he was a late commit, but the expected ended up happening.
Boogie Cousins: Was committed to Cal at Memphis and quickly switched his pledge over to UK.
Eric Bledsoe: Was a bit surprising as again, most were expecting Wall at PG. However, Bledsoe was seen as a multi-year guy who could play beside Wall and he clearly wanted to play for Cal.
Missed lock: Xavier Henry. Was committed to Cal at Memphis and many thought he’d make the switch like Cousins. There were some last minute rumors that he would de-commit from KU and play for Kentucky after all, but they didn’t come true.
2010
Brandon Knight: One of the biggest locks I can remember. I think some worried about in state Florida, but there never really seemed to be a question.
Doron Lamb: I want to say Kansas and maybe Syracuse?? we’re pretty major players in his recruitment. I’m a tad bit foggy on this one. I remember he committed at half time of one of the all star games. I remember tuning in for it and that the board felt good about Kentucky, but this one was far from a lock.
Stacey Poole: First commit of the class. No fanfare around this one. He got an offer and committed.
Terrence Jones: Easily the craziest recruitment of the Cal era. Everyone including the coaching staff felt this one was locked up. Then he committed to Washington...then craziness ensued. We all found out quickly that Jones contacted Cal after the commitment to apologize and say he didn’t know what happened. But then it was about a month of waiting to see what would actually happen.
Enes Kanter: As crazy and tumultuous as his eligibility battle was, his recruitment was much less so. We basically got the info on the boards that UK was recruiting an overseas guy who wasn’t in the class rankings and had played some pro ball in Turkey. Didn’t seem to be a ton of info out there, but he had previously been committed to Washington and next thing you knew he was a Wildcat. I honestly don’t remember the board being overly excited about the signing. But once he got on campus word got around quickly that he was a big ****ing deal. I think he also performed really well in the USA vs. World game.
Missed lock: CJ Leslie. Played at Word of God with Wall. It was super disappointing to see him pick NC State. It was honestly even more disappointing to see him not improve whatsoever there. Still feel bad for him that his circle pressured him so hard into that bad decision.
2011
Anthony Davis: One of the craziest “blew up over night” stories in recruiting. AD came out of absolutely nowhere. We heard about this unranked guy who had a crazy growth spurt and was tearing up AAU before his senior year. Things moved so quickly. He flew up the national rankings so fast, the scouts couldn’t even keep their cool. They were basically like “look we know it sounds crazy, we didn’t know who this guy was a month ago, but I’m telling you he’s the best player in the class”. Rivals scouts basically said exactly that and still ranked Austin Rivers over AD. The Kentucky buzz grew super quick and he was a Wildcat before we all even realized exactly what we had.
Marquis Teague: “Stole” him right out from under Pitino. Cards fans were PISSED. So many of their fans were convinced that he would still sign with the Cards. None of us were nervous about that at all. There were rumors that LeBron called him and helped work out that deal. Who really knows?
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist: Possibly a bigger lock than Knight. There was some not very believable talk about Villanova being a real possibility. Also, I want to say Knight and MKG committed back to back on ESPN. I think it was a Cal scheme to get two #1 ranked recruits (where they were ranked at the time) in the same hour.
Kyle Wiltjer: Basically came out of nowhere, apparently for the coaching staff too. Had an offer, never even visited, but committed all the sudden. I remember the news hitting the board. The reaction was like “what? Who? Cool, I ****ing love this guy!!”
Missed lock: Tony Wroten Jr. Seemed like strong early interest from UK, and Wroten was completely on board. Kentucky just never ended up offering, but Cal got his guy in Teague. Similar situation with Quincy Miller also. Really fell to the wayside when we got AD. But for awhile it was thought that Miller would be the prize of the class.
2012
Archie Goodwin: Reports came out of strong mutual interest and it wrapped up quickly. Kid seemed really excited to be coming to UK.
Alex Poythress: Pretty interesting recruitment. Vanderbilt was serious in state contender. Everyone felt good about Kentucky’s chances, but no one was sure and felt that Vandy was a very very real possibility.
Willie Cauley-Stein: Basically an unknown, but reports were that Kentucky was interested in a development player oozing with potential. It was clear that Cal couldn’t wait to get him I got the program and unlock his potential. You really have to wonder where WCS would be right now if he didn’t go to Kentucky...
Nerlens Noel: This one was kind of crazy. It was actually pretty similar to the Wall recruitment. Most in the know people insisted he was a Kentucky lock. But a ton of late rumors came flying in that he was headed to Georgetown or Syracuse. It was enough to make us nervous, but Nerlens came through in the end with a really cool announcement on ESPN.
Missed lock: I think we all wanted to believe Shabazz Muhammad was coming to UK. We basically got arguably the top 2 players in each of the first 3 classes with Cal, so I think we were expecting it to continue. This class was kind of crazy. Kentucky’s name was attached to basically every single player in the top 30. Still wild to me that Cal didn’t pull in a couple more pieces for this class that desperately needed it.
2013
Dakari Johnson: Another Goodwin/Stacey Poole kind of recruitment. I think Dakari was actually a reclass if I remember correctly. Info came in and it wrapped up quickly.
Harrison Twins: This one was exciting. The hype around these two was palpable, and the idea of getting the top ranked PG and SG in one package was just too much for the likes of Cal to miss out on. We had to have these guys. We just weren’t accepting that could go elsewhere. There was a lot of talk about Maryland, but that made most of us feel even better about Kentucky’s chances.
Julius Randle: Also interesting. Reports came out saying he didn’t want to play with the Harrison twins. But it always felt like Kentucky. Those in the know insisted it was Kentucky. However, many were saying “Kansas lock.” But Kentucky was forming a super class and Randle was destined to be the crown jewel.
James Young: It was no secret that Coach Cal loved James Young and the recruitment heated up quick. But what about our lock? (More on that later). Oh that’s ok, see this is a super class, EVERYONE is signing up for it. Michigan State was on the table, but everyone was saying UK.
Marcus Lee: 5 Star guy from Cali that we’ve never heard of??Super class. Sign him up. Everyone was saying Kentucky or California. But the other Cal won out, he was on a roll you see.
Hawkins/Willis: A couple in state guys who would sever a toe play for Kentucky. Willis de-committed from Purdue and some were saying he was a Louisville fan. We were like Louiswho?? Did you not hear about the super class??
Missed lock: Andrew god damn Wiggins. Idk if the James Young signing really had anything to do with it, but Wiggins should’ve just come. Cal would’ve made room. What might’ve been...
2014
Karl Anthony Towns: This dude was lock city. I don’t even remember hearing rumors about other schools.
Tyler Ulis: This one had us scratching our heads. Not your typical big Cal guard but the little dudes game was so intriguing, as was the possibility of landing a multi year guard. I think most thought he’d go to Michigan State but Cal loved this kid.
Trey Lyles: I think he was down to Louisville, IU and Kentucky. Did he de-commit from IU or am I misremembering? Anyway, UL fans said they had him locked. They uh...didn’t.
Devin Booker: Wait so we’re bringing in two 4 star guards? Is Cal slipping up? This kid looks like he’s 13. Wait, I just watched his mixtape, how the hell is he only a 4 star? Cal knew what this kid was. No one else was telling him “Come here and I’ll get you in the lotto. No, not in 3 years, right ****in now!”. Too easy.
Missed Lock: James Blackmon Jr. Seriously dude this one makes no sense. This should’ve happened, but whatever. Signing Booker probably did this one in, so no regrets there anyway.
Ok that was a lot of typing on my phone and my right thumb is sore. Hope this sparks some interest and discussion, and if so I’ll do a part 2 soon.
Part 1
I was thinking about how fun the Cal era has been for recruiting. Over the past 10+ years Kentucky’s name has been attached to probably well over 100 top 25 ranked players during their respective recruitments. Our fans go through a lot of hand-wringing, I feel like less so now that Cal has embraced the Grad transfer to fill holes, but all the same we talk recruiting more than any other program. I was thinking about how almost every class had a “lock” that went elsewhere, but also featured a surprise recruit that we weren’t really expecting. This got me interested in seeing how my memory was of the recruitment for all the players Cal signed. So here it is class by class, I would love for y’all to share what you remember about specific recruitments and where you agree and disagree.
‘09
John Wall: The conventional wisdom around Wall’s recruitment was that he would play for Coach Cal. There was tons of smoke and disinformation, and Wall was more than happy to feed into the speculation. Rumors flew like wild and he was a late commit, but the expected ended up happening.
Boogie Cousins: Was committed to Cal at Memphis and quickly switched his pledge over to UK.
Eric Bledsoe: Was a bit surprising as again, most were expecting Wall at PG. However, Bledsoe was seen as a multi-year guy who could play beside Wall and he clearly wanted to play for Cal.
Missed lock: Xavier Henry. Was committed to Cal at Memphis and many thought he’d make the switch like Cousins. There were some last minute rumors that he would de-commit from KU and play for Kentucky after all, but they didn’t come true.
2010
Brandon Knight: One of the biggest locks I can remember. I think some worried about in state Florida, but there never really seemed to be a question.
Doron Lamb: I want to say Kansas and maybe Syracuse?? we’re pretty major players in his recruitment. I’m a tad bit foggy on this one. I remember he committed at half time of one of the all star games. I remember tuning in for it and that the board felt good about Kentucky, but this one was far from a lock.
Stacey Poole: First commit of the class. No fanfare around this one. He got an offer and committed.
Terrence Jones: Easily the craziest recruitment of the Cal era. Everyone including the coaching staff felt this one was locked up. Then he committed to Washington...then craziness ensued. We all found out quickly that Jones contacted Cal after the commitment to apologize and say he didn’t know what happened. But then it was about a month of waiting to see what would actually happen.
Enes Kanter: As crazy and tumultuous as his eligibility battle was, his recruitment was much less so. We basically got the info on the boards that UK was recruiting an overseas guy who wasn’t in the class rankings and had played some pro ball in Turkey. Didn’t seem to be a ton of info out there, but he had previously been committed to Washington and next thing you knew he was a Wildcat. I honestly don’t remember the board being overly excited about the signing. But once he got on campus word got around quickly that he was a big ****ing deal. I think he also performed really well in the USA vs. World game.
Missed lock: CJ Leslie. Played at Word of God with Wall. It was super disappointing to see him pick NC State. It was honestly even more disappointing to see him not improve whatsoever there. Still feel bad for him that his circle pressured him so hard into that bad decision.
2011
Anthony Davis: One of the craziest “blew up over night” stories in recruiting. AD came out of absolutely nowhere. We heard about this unranked guy who had a crazy growth spurt and was tearing up AAU before his senior year. Things moved so quickly. He flew up the national rankings so fast, the scouts couldn’t even keep their cool. They were basically like “look we know it sounds crazy, we didn’t know who this guy was a month ago, but I’m telling you he’s the best player in the class”. Rivals scouts basically said exactly that and still ranked Austin Rivers over AD. The Kentucky buzz grew super quick and he was a Wildcat before we all even realized exactly what we had.
Marquis Teague: “Stole” him right out from under Pitino. Cards fans were PISSED. So many of their fans were convinced that he would still sign with the Cards. None of us were nervous about that at all. There were rumors that LeBron called him and helped work out that deal. Who really knows?
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist: Possibly a bigger lock than Knight. There was some not very believable talk about Villanova being a real possibility. Also, I want to say Knight and MKG committed back to back on ESPN. I think it was a Cal scheme to get two #1 ranked recruits (where they were ranked at the time) in the same hour.
Kyle Wiltjer: Basically came out of nowhere, apparently for the coaching staff too. Had an offer, never even visited, but committed all the sudden. I remember the news hitting the board. The reaction was like “what? Who? Cool, I ****ing love this guy!!”
Missed lock: Tony Wroten Jr. Seemed like strong early interest from UK, and Wroten was completely on board. Kentucky just never ended up offering, but Cal got his guy in Teague. Similar situation with Quincy Miller also. Really fell to the wayside when we got AD. But for awhile it was thought that Miller would be the prize of the class.
2012
Archie Goodwin: Reports came out of strong mutual interest and it wrapped up quickly. Kid seemed really excited to be coming to UK.
Alex Poythress: Pretty interesting recruitment. Vanderbilt was serious in state contender. Everyone felt good about Kentucky’s chances, but no one was sure and felt that Vandy was a very very real possibility.
Willie Cauley-Stein: Basically an unknown, but reports were that Kentucky was interested in a development player oozing with potential. It was clear that Cal couldn’t wait to get him I got the program and unlock his potential. You really have to wonder where WCS would be right now if he didn’t go to Kentucky...
Nerlens Noel: This one was kind of crazy. It was actually pretty similar to the Wall recruitment. Most in the know people insisted he was a Kentucky lock. But a ton of late rumors came flying in that he was headed to Georgetown or Syracuse. It was enough to make us nervous, but Nerlens came through in the end with a really cool announcement on ESPN.
Missed lock: I think we all wanted to believe Shabazz Muhammad was coming to UK. We basically got arguably the top 2 players in each of the first 3 classes with Cal, so I think we were expecting it to continue. This class was kind of crazy. Kentucky’s name was attached to basically every single player in the top 30. Still wild to me that Cal didn’t pull in a couple more pieces for this class that desperately needed it.
2013
Dakari Johnson: Another Goodwin/Stacey Poole kind of recruitment. I think Dakari was actually a reclass if I remember correctly. Info came in and it wrapped up quickly.
Harrison Twins: This one was exciting. The hype around these two was palpable, and the idea of getting the top ranked PG and SG in one package was just too much for the likes of Cal to miss out on. We had to have these guys. We just weren’t accepting that could go elsewhere. There was a lot of talk about Maryland, but that made most of us feel even better about Kentucky’s chances.
Julius Randle: Also interesting. Reports came out saying he didn’t want to play with the Harrison twins. But it always felt like Kentucky. Those in the know insisted it was Kentucky. However, many were saying “Kansas lock.” But Kentucky was forming a super class and Randle was destined to be the crown jewel.
James Young: It was no secret that Coach Cal loved James Young and the recruitment heated up quick. But what about our lock? (More on that later). Oh that’s ok, see this is a super class, EVERYONE is signing up for it. Michigan State was on the table, but everyone was saying UK.
Marcus Lee: 5 Star guy from Cali that we’ve never heard of??Super class. Sign him up. Everyone was saying Kentucky or California. But the other Cal won out, he was on a roll you see.
Hawkins/Willis: A couple in state guys who would sever a toe play for Kentucky. Willis de-committed from Purdue and some were saying he was a Louisville fan. We were like Louiswho?? Did you not hear about the super class??
Missed lock: Andrew god damn Wiggins. Idk if the James Young signing really had anything to do with it, but Wiggins should’ve just come. Cal would’ve made room. What might’ve been...
2014
Karl Anthony Towns: This dude was lock city. I don’t even remember hearing rumors about other schools.
Tyler Ulis: This one had us scratching our heads. Not your typical big Cal guard but the little dudes game was so intriguing, as was the possibility of landing a multi year guard. I think most thought he’d go to Michigan State but Cal loved this kid.
Trey Lyles: I think he was down to Louisville, IU and Kentucky. Did he de-commit from IU or am I misremembering? Anyway, UL fans said they had him locked. They uh...didn’t.
Devin Booker: Wait so we’re bringing in two 4 star guards? Is Cal slipping up? This kid looks like he’s 13. Wait, I just watched his mixtape, how the hell is he only a 4 star? Cal knew what this kid was. No one else was telling him “Come here and I’ll get you in the lotto. No, not in 3 years, right ****in now!”. Too easy.
Missed Lock: James Blackmon Jr. Seriously dude this one makes no sense. This should’ve happened, but whatever. Signing Booker probably did this one in, so no regrets there anyway.
Ok that was a lot of typing on my phone and my right thumb is sore. Hope this sparks some interest and discussion, and if so I’ll do a part 2 soon.
