Calipari didn’t like dealing with the state kids in ways because he only likes using a certain number of scholarships and he wants to recruit what he wants to recruit. There were state kids who he’d get of course, I don’t believe they were anything much more than to keep people happy. One of the things Barnhart and the brass were wanting him to do was retain more in state kids there’s a reason it was ever an issue in the first place.
Darius Miller really doesn’t fit the mold of what Calipari wants. He’s not overly athletic, he’s not a 5 star player, he wasn’t viewed as a future pro at that time. At least not a quick path track one. There’s a chance he might have recruited him but if I had to put money on it, I’d definitely without hesitation say he would have gone all in on Scotty Hopson who was seen as a future pro, who was very athletic and higher rated, to check the “I’ve got a Kentucky kid” box. It’s not as simple as “well he recruited Hawkins so he definitely would have recruited Miller”. These are different situations and I’d bet he never truly wanted a kid like Hawkins anyway. Hood was almost assuredly to appease the fans of the blue blood early on. He eased into changing our culture to an extent.
Some of you are going to have to accept Calipari is what he is and a lot of that is going to be negative from the perceptions of Kentucky fans. Yes he might have recruited Darius but I definitely would not put money on it if I had the chance. Also notice he was at Memphis, not too far from Darius, and never picked the phone up. You have zero evidence what so ever that Calipari would have recruited Miller. The guy never started him either.