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What is the first great recruiting class you remember?

bthaunert

All-American
Apr 4, 2007
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I am 38, and the first one I kind of remember was the 1984 class of:

Ed Davender - McDonalds All American
Richard Madison - McDonalds All American
Rob Lock - Parade All American
Cedric Jenkins - McDonalds All American
Todd Zeigler

But the first great recruiting class I really remember was the 1992 class of:

Rodrick Rhodes - McDonalds All American
Jared Prickett
Tony Delk - McDonalds All American
Walter McCarty - Parade All American
Rodney Dent - JUCO All American
 
The UK class with Bowie, Turpin, Minniefield, and Derrick Hord. There were a few others in there.
 
I'm 38 as well and am amazed that you remember that actual class. All I remember is my dad cussing Rob Lock through the radio.

The first class I got really excited about was Morris/Rondo/Crawford/Bradley simply because I thought it was the cusp of something. Then I saw Crawford in high school in the Michigan title game and got worried. Still convinced myself I hadn't seen enough.

I liked Joe, however. Once saw Billy Gillispie verbally abuse him for three solid hours and Joe was hellaciously injured. Crawford just limped through the practice and never uttered a word.
 
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I go way back, and I remember the 1971 Class of Kevin Grevey, Jimmy Dan Conner, Mike Flynn, Bob Guyette, Steve Lochmueller, Jerry Hale, and G.J. Smith. They were nicknamed the Super Kittens, and there were at least four Mr. Basketballs in that group. Freshmen were ineligible for varsity play, and they were undefeated against other Freshmen teams. Three years later we added Rick Robey, Mike Phillips, Jack Givens, James Lee, and Dan Hall.
 
Kevin Grevey, Jimmy Dan Connors, Bob Guyette, and Mike Flynn followed soon afer by Rick Robey, Mike Phillips, James Lee and Goose Givins
 
I was a kid and didn't pay attention when they signed but was aware that the class that included Kevin Grevey, Bob Guyette, Jimmy Dan Connors, and Mike Flynn were dubbed the "super kittens." Freshmen were ineligible at the time (I think it was 1972 freshmen class) and I had an uncle who had season tickets. The JV/freshmen games would be played before the varsity games and I recall watching some of the super kitten games as warm-up to the big game afterward. That class ended up as seniors losing to UCLA (John Wooden's last game) in the 1975 championship game. The 1975 team included another super freshmen group (which was the year - if I recall correctly - that freshmen eligibility was restored to NCAA basketball. The super frosh in that 1975 class were Jack Givens, James Lee, Rick Robey, Mike Phillips, and Dan Hall (another big man). Dan ended up transferring if I recall correctly as he didn't play as much.

By late 1970s was when I recall Street and Smith magazing giving recruiting information (i.e. recruiting became more of something fans could follow) and the next crop of UK super frosh was the 1979 class that included Sam Bowie, Derrick Hord, Dirk Minnifield, Charles Hurt, Tom Heitz, and Melvin Turpin if I recall correctly. Melvin Turpin but he had to go to a prep school for a year rather than enroll with that class but if I recall correctly he was signed with that class. That class came very close to also including Ralph Sampson. That was the most dazzling super group of signees that I recall. Was 1979.
 
The UK class with Bowie, Turpin, Minniefield, and Derrick Hord. There were a few others in there.

I remember the Robey, Phillips, Lee, Givens, and Dan Hall class. Most forget about Hall. He transferred after his sophmore season.

The first class I got really excited about was '79 with Bowie, Minniefield, Hord, Hurt, and Tom Heitz. Turpin came in the '80 class with Bearup, Master, and Beal. Turpin graduated in '79 but needed to go to a prep school for a year. He went to Fork Union and that's really where he blossomed as a prospect.
 
I'm 31 and the earliest incoming freshman class I remember being excited about was '95. Ron Mercer, Wayne Turner, Nazr Mohammad, and the transfer of Derek Anderson. Good lord, that team was stacked.
 
I'm 35 and vaguely remember Dad getting pumped about recruits like LeRon Ellis, Manual, Mills, etc. The first recruit I got excited about was Mashburn. The first class that really got me pumped was Rhodes/Delk/McCarty/Dent.

Speaking of which- how freaking awesome was Rhodes' first semester on campus? He was as impressive those first two months as any freshman ever at UK. Then, he lost it and it never came back.
 
I'm young so I would probably have to say that 2004 recruiting class. Rondo, Randolph Morris and Joe Crawford. Plus Ramel Bradley was also in that class. Too bad Tubby couldn't pull out the gelling job that Cal does every year. That was a great group of players.
 
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Eric Manual was an interesting player.

I can remember people talking about him as well. Before the meltdown, of course. I was led to believe that he was a big-time player, but years later he played in the NAIA national championship game for Oklahoma City, which for some reason was televised. That was a big game and loaded with implication in Kentucky for obvious reasons. I remember watching Manual and wondering why we'd gone to such lengths to get him.

Seems like I recall him being overweight and a tad portly.
 
I'm 38 as well and am amazed that you remember that actual class. All I remember is my dad cussing Rob Lock through the radio.

The first class I got really excited about was Morris/Rondo/Crawford/Bradley simply because I thought it was the cusp of something. Then I saw Crawford in high school in the Michigan title game and got worried. Still convinced myself I hadn't seen enough.

I liked Joe, however. Once saw Billy Gillispie verbally abuse him for three solid hours and Joe was hellaciously injured. Crawford just limped through the practice and never uttered a word.

Oops, hit Post before I did reply. Speaking of Rob Lock, what does he have in common with Billy Graham? They both can make thousands of people jump up and yell "Jesus Christ!"
 
I'm 31 and the earliest incoming freshman class I remember being excited about was '95. Ron Mercer, Wayne Turner, Nazr Mohammad, and the transfer of Derek Anderson. Good lord, that team was stacked.

Still remember being in the car on my way to my high school baseball game when I heard on the radio Mercer committed. I was pumped!
 
The UK class with Bowie, Turpin, Minniefield, and Derrick Hord. There were a few others in there.

Don't forget Charles Hurt! :)

That 1979 class was outrageous with depth and talent and numerous NBA players....Best class in history IMHO

Antoine Carr
Quintin Dailey
Terry Fair
Sidney Green
Clark Kellogg
Greg Kite
Sidney Lowe
John Paxson
Ralph Sampson
Byron Scott
Steve Stipanovich
Isiah Thomas
Dereck Whittenburg
Dominique Wilkins
James Worthy
 
First time I REALLY got into recruiting was 1995 when Pitino was fighting Vanderbilt for Ron Mercer who was ranked 1(b) with Kevin Garnett as 1(a). so I'd say the 1995-1996 class of Mercer, Turner, Lathrem, Simmons, Mohammed, and Anderson (after sitting out 1994-1995; transfer from Ohio State). Unfortunately, there weren't many ways to keep up with recruiting back then unless you subscribed to Hoop Scoop or something, so I had to get my recruiting news form the Catspause and the Courier Journal.

The first recruiting class I followed online was the 2004-2005 class of Rondo, Morris, Crawford, Bradley, Williams, and Sparks (after sitting out 2003-2004; transfer from Western Kentucky).
 
For me it would be the class of 2004 with Rondo, Crawford, Morris and Bradley. The classes before this that were great didn't happen in the message board era. The months long lead up to who we would get among the recruits was enjoyable.
 
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The biggest impact for me was Mashburn. Then it would have to be Patterson. Then recruiting Cal. Then John Wall. All those were huge impacts at the time.
 
no doubt in my mind it was Dan Issel, Mike Pratt, and Mike Casey
Me too. Recruiting news back in the 50's/60's was pretty much non-existent. But we all knew when Coach Rupp had landed those 3 big fish. One car wreck from a title, no doubt.
 
Eric Manual was an interesting player.

I can remember people talking about him as well. Before the meltdown, of course. I was led to believe that he was a big-time player, but years later he played in the NAIA national championship game for Oklahoma City, which for some reason was televised. That was a big game and loaded with implication in Kentucky for obvious reasons. I remember watching Manual and wondering why we'd gone to such lengths to get him.

Seems like I recall him being overweight and a tad portly.


He had to transfer to an NAIA school because he was ineligible to play Division I due to the sanctions. NAIA will take almost anyone. There are lot of players playing at that level who were ineligible for the NCAA due to academic fraud, cheating on SAT, etc.
 
Don't forget Charles Hurt! :)

That 1979 class was outrageous with depth and talent and numerous NBA players....Best class in history IMHO

Antoine Carr
Quintin Dailey
Terry Fair
Sidney Green
Clark Kellogg
Greg Kite
Sidney Lowe
John Paxson
Ralph Sampson
Byron Scott
Steve Stipanovich
Isiah Thomas
Dereck Whittenburg
Dominique Wilkins
James Worthy
I thought Bowie was in this class and was ranked #1 overall
 
The UK class with Bowie, Turpin, Minniefield, and Derrick Hord. There were a few others in there.

This was also mine. Born in 68, I remember Kevin Grevey as the first player being my favorite. Jack Givens and Ole Strugis, KY boy, Fred Cowan where next. Derrick Hord, and James Lee, all around the same era. Actually sold Fred Cowan a town car around 1996. As well as Derek Anderson a Lincoln Navigator, he got the phone call when he was being traded to LA. when I sold it to him (around 99). I will never forget his response "**cking Clippers ??"
 
I'm 25 so for me its Rondo, Crawford, Morris, and Bradley. We had some good classes before but this one is when I really started getting into recruiting, Before that I just seen the new guys when the season started.
 
I go way back, and I remember the 1971 Class of Kevin Grevey, Jimmy Dan Conner, Mike Flynn, Bob Guyette, Steve Lochmueller, Jerry Hale, and G.J. Smith. They were nicknamed the Super Kittens, and there were at least four Mr. Basketballs in that group. Freshmen were ineligible for varsity play, and they were undefeated against other Freshmen teams. Three years later we added Rick Robey, Mike Phillips, Jack Givens, James Lee, and Dan Hall.
Yep, the Super Kittens was the first "super" class I remember.
 
I am 38, and the first one I kind of remember was the 1984 class of:

Ed Davender - McDonalds All American
Richard Madison - McDonalds All American
Rob Lock - Parade All American
Cedric Jenkins - McDonalds All American
Todd Zeigler

But the first great recruiting class I really remember was the 1992 class of:

Rodrick Rhodes - McDonalds All American
Jared Prickett
Tony Delk - McDonalds All American
Walter McCarty - Parade All American
Rodney Dent - JUCO All American


Larry Conley
Tommy Kron
Larry Lentz and possibly the best of all Mickey Gibson.
I think it was 62-63 and went on to become part of the Rupps runts team
Mickey had all the talent in the world but had some issues.
 
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I'm old enough to remember that latter half of Joe B's career, which means I learned to be very, very, very skeptical about "great recruiting" at a pretty young age. Scouting in that era was far less precise, as there wasn't some huge national network of AAU tournaments where the best talent faced off, but Joe B seemed to develop a real gift for finding overrated players. For every Sam Bowie, there were 2 guys like Chuck Verderber and Cedric Jenkins.

That made me focus more on individual players, looking for impact guys. To me, a class that had a real, live, potential All-American, was more exciting than some lump sum class of guys who were supposed to be good. Then, when Pitino came, and seemed to nail talent evaluation (nearly every guy he signed from 92-96 turned out well), I came to realize that talent evaluation depended a lot on the individual coach. In essence, you either trust that the coach sees how a guy will fit, sees who is really a notch above (Pitino in his prime, Cal), or is just kind of flinging darts (Joe B, Tubby, and let's not even mention Clyde).

People rag on Dean Smith because he had tons of talent, and only won 2 titles (with 11 FF's), but those people don't give Smith any credit for being a superb scout. Joe B Hall and Digger Phelps, in their primes, were getting just as many HS AA's as Dean Smith was, but they never seemed to be getting the same level of player that Smith did. That's not a coincidence. Just like it's not a coincidence that Cal is signing so many guys who seem able to come in and play right away. Not just the obvious ones, like Wall or AD, but guys a little lower, where there were other possible options (Lamb and Booker would be 2 great examples).
 
I go way back, and I remember the 1971 Class of Kevin Grevey, Jimmy Dan Conner, Mike Flynn, Bob Guyette, Steve Lochmueller, Jerry Hale, and G.J. Smith. They were nicknamed the Super Kittens, and there were at least four Mr. Basketballs in that group. Freshmen were ineligible for varsity play, and they were undefeated against other Freshmen teams. Three years later we added Rick Robey, Mike Phillips, Jack Givens, James Lee, and Dan Hall.
This was the first i remember classes talked about alot.No internet back then just word of mouth and a few magazines
 
I remember the Robey, Phillips, Lee, Givens, and Dan Hall class. Most forget about Hall. He transferred after his sophmore season.

The first class I got really excited about was '79 with Bowie, Minniefield, Hord, Hurt, and Tom Heitz. Turpin came in the '80 class with Bearup, Master, and Beal. Turpin graduated in '79 but needed to go to a prep school for a year. He went to Fork Union and that's really where he blossomed as a prospect.
roby,phillps,givens,lee,and hall. hall didn't stay long,but he helped get us to the championship game. a game we should have won,but wooden wasn't going to be allowed to loose his last.
 
I'm 68 years old. I went to my first U.K. game in 1954. I don't remember ever having heard mention of a "great recruiting class" at U.K. until after the fact, when the seniors on the 1975 NCAA Runners-up certainly turned out to have been a "great recruiting class." But I do not remember the class being acclaimed as such. I remember Kevin Grevey and Jimmy Dan Conner being individually heralded as nationally significant recruits, but I do not remember mention of Bob Guytette and/or Mike Flynn as highly-sought-after recruits. The first nationally acclaimed recruiting class that I recall being aware of at the time of their recruitment was the 1979-80 freshman class of Charles Hurt, Derrick Hord, Dirk Minniefield, and Sam Bowie. Tom Heitz was also a member of that recruiting class. That was truly a great recruiting class - utterly mishandled by Joe B. Hall during their playing days at U.K., but it was a great recruiting class nonetheless. And ... btw ... Melvin Turpin was not a part of the Hurt, Hord, Minniefield, Bowie class. Turpin went to prep school and joined that class at U.K. when the rest were sophomores.
 
Eric Manual was an interesting player.

I can remember people talking about him as well. Before the meltdown, of course. I was led to believe that he was a big-time player, but years later he played in the NAIA national championship game for Oklahoma City, which for some reason was televised. That was a big game and loaded with implication in Kentucky for obvious reasons. I remember watching Manual and wondering why we'd gone to such lengths to get him.

Seems like I recall him being overweight and a tad portly.

He looked like he was going to be something his freshman yr at UK, but he did gain some weight after he left.
 
no doubt in my mind it was Dan Issel, Mike Pratt, and Mike Casey

Ditto that.

IIRC however, Troll cat was down on that class. Issel was our third choice at center (that was true) Pratt was too short and he thought Casey might break his leg.
 
I somewhat remember the 1971 class of Grevey, Connor, Flynn, Guyette etc. The first class I remember after I started to follow recruiting was the 79 class of Bowie, Hord, Hurt, Minniefield, & Tom Heitz.
For the younger board members out there the 1979 recruiting class nation wide is to this day the greatest class ever.
 
I somewhat remember the 1971 class of Grevey, Connor, Flynn, Guyette etc. The first class I remember after I started to follow recruiting was the 79 class of Bowie, Hord, Hurt, Minniefield, & Tom Heitz.
For the younger board members out there the 1979 recruiting class nation wide is to this day the greatest class ever.
With one guy who was a significant NBA player?

No, not a chance. Even if you count Mel Turpin as part of that class (he was basically stored for a year at a prep school), not even close. That was the era when recruiting started to get a lot of hype, and Bowie, Minniefield, and Hord were considered very big recruits, but realistically, that class doesn't measure up to what's happened recently at UK, or to a lot of classes at other schools between then and now.
 
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