Last fall, shortly after P.J. Washington made it clear he had committed to UK, very few UK fans could have foreseen UK’s positive recruiting inroads during the winter and spring periods. Starting with Green’s surprise announcement in the late fall, UK and Calipari ended up beating out four schools for four elite recruits, all of which were considered heavy leans elsewhere.
Green was considered a heavy Syracuse lean.
Vanderbilt was considered a TCU lean.
Knox was all but locked up to the ACC.
Diallo was considered a UConn lean.
Bamba was seen as a Duke lean last fall (early on), and although UK didn’t land him, neither did Duke. This can be seen as a net win for UK in an indirect way as Bamba won’t sniff a real shot at a title now. His decision also keeps Duke from being one of the odds-on favorites to win the whole think next spring, taking what would have been a real potential foe out of serious contention.
Cal pulled it off and landed four/five guys who were questionable potential UK recruits at best. I think this class serves as a reminder that most of the time, the predictions and “reading the tea leaves” are not correct – at least not over the last three recruiting cycles.
Going back to the ’16 class, UK was not considered to be on Bam’s radar until about 2 hours before his announcement. Gabriel, likewise, shocked most UK fans when he made a surprise visit to ESPN and picked UK over Duke.
Going back to ’15, Murray, Briscoe, and Skal were not considered UK-leans until about a 5 to 7 days before their announcements (as was the case with Skal/Briscoe) and few had Murray picking UK the day of his announcement, as Oregon was seen as the favorite.
I think the big story here is that UK locked up nine five star recruits in the last three recruiting cycles who were not considered UK leans until about a week to less than a week before they announced. In a few cases (Knox, Bam, Gabriel, Vanderbilt, Murray), most were utterly surprised the day of their announcement.
That being said, take it as a lesson when people here or elsewhere say, “I don’t like UK’s chances with a certain recruit.” The bottom line is that UK has the best recruiter ever, and we don’t know what the hell we’re talking about in the majority of these scenarios.
Green was considered a heavy Syracuse lean.
Vanderbilt was considered a TCU lean.
Knox was all but locked up to the ACC.
Diallo was considered a UConn lean.
Bamba was seen as a Duke lean last fall (early on), and although UK didn’t land him, neither did Duke. This can be seen as a net win for UK in an indirect way as Bamba won’t sniff a real shot at a title now. His decision also keeps Duke from being one of the odds-on favorites to win the whole think next spring, taking what would have been a real potential foe out of serious contention.
Cal pulled it off and landed four/five guys who were questionable potential UK recruits at best. I think this class serves as a reminder that most of the time, the predictions and “reading the tea leaves” are not correct – at least not over the last three recruiting cycles.
Going back to the ’16 class, UK was not considered to be on Bam’s radar until about 2 hours before his announcement. Gabriel, likewise, shocked most UK fans when he made a surprise visit to ESPN and picked UK over Duke.
Going back to ’15, Murray, Briscoe, and Skal were not considered UK-leans until about a 5 to 7 days before their announcements (as was the case with Skal/Briscoe) and few had Murray picking UK the day of his announcement, as Oregon was seen as the favorite.
I think the big story here is that UK locked up nine five star recruits in the last three recruiting cycles who were not considered UK leans until about a week to less than a week before they announced. In a few cases (Knox, Bam, Gabriel, Vanderbilt, Murray), most were utterly surprised the day of their announcement.
That being said, take it as a lesson when people here or elsewhere say, “I don’t like UK’s chances with a certain recruit.” The bottom line is that UK has the best recruiter ever, and we don’t know what the hell we’re talking about in the majority of these scenarios.
