Our 2015 Class Has Changed a Ton in Three Months...

[rabidcatfan]

Man-o-man, it wasn't barely three months ago that we were sitting and starting to sweat. Ingram picked dook, Diallo went to Kansas, Newman to MSU, Brown to Cal, and Zimmerman to UNLV. It was looking like we might have the most short-handed team of the Cal era coming into the 2015-2016 season.

Now, three months later, we have the #1 class in the country again, and we have added 3 quality players to the class that have eased our concerns and now have National Championship aspirations. The most amazing thing is that Cal was able to pull these kids in when it looked as if there were no more quality players left to get. If this doesn't prove that Cal is the best recruiter in the game, then nothing will.

 

[BBNinSC]

Right on

 

[BigKari]

Cal didn't just squeeze a couple drops of blood from the proverbial rock, he bled the f***** dry.

 

[rdkalel]

Back in the Tubby era, I used to watch recruiting closely, with all the ups and downs one might imagine. (Cue jokes about the number of downs). And I used to watch the recruiting with Coach Cal. Now I don't even watch it that closely. He is the best recruiter of all time, he works his butt off to get kids here, and if he misses on a kid, or two, or ten, then I am content to say they could not have been brought here. Looking forward to another great season.

 

[TriangleUKCat]

Some of the "mystery" is gone nowadays with just the ridiculous amount of access to information. Not all but some.

I remember persuading myself that A.J Stewart was a good signing to complement Patrick Patterson and was excited that he could give UK 4 points/4 rebounds a game and maybe, MAYBE, develop as a good on-the-ball post defender.

Tough times.

 

[Blue Decade]

Man-o-man, it wasn't barely three months ago that we were sitting and starting to sweat. Ingram picked dook, Diallo went to Kansas, Newman to MSU, Brown to Cal, and Zimmerman to UNLV. It was looking like we might have the most short-handed team of the Cal era coming into the 2015-2016 season.

Now, three months later, we have the #1 class in the country again, and we have added 3 quality players to the class that have eased our concerns and now have National Championship aspirations. The most amazing thing is that Cal was able to pull these kids in when it looked as if there were no more quality players left to get. If this doesn't prove that Cal is the best recruiter in the game, then nothing will.

I don't care about Newman, Brown, Zimmerman, and it did not upset me when they announced. They are good players but not right for Calipari's system. Briscoe is better than Newman. Labissiere is better than Zimmerman. Ingram will be a great player at Duke, and could have been a great player for Calipari. Ingram was a significant miss, but no 1 ever seriously thought he was leaving the state of NC. Diallo is a very good early impact type of player, but his eligibility issues are at the very least a serious distraction for Kansas now. When Calipari snagged Jamal Murray, it was a decisive development that will impact the season and the postseason. I have said all along that Murray is by far the most underrated player in the whole class. Murray reclassified very late, and got basically no media coverage as a junior at a Canadian high school. Most people still have no clue how good he is. Everyone will be shocked by his ability to create shots and score, even Kentucky fans. As long as Murray was uncommitted, and as long as Kentucky seemed to be in his top 2 schools, I never worried about all the other players you mentioned. Seriously.

 

[StubbornPenny]

Really, the best thing we all could do is take a 4 month nap between seasons and let Cal do what Cal does. So many names and stars and crystal balls and premium info... It's all clutter, really. We get who we get, and Cal damn near always gets an incredible haul.

That's being said, I'm just as guilty as the rest of us!

 

[BoulderCat]

We had a rough spring didn't we with the L to the Badger's, and the recruiting misses, but Cal's made it a good summer. Hopefully fall and winter follow suit.

 

[GonzoCat90]

Cal clearly thrives off the challenge and adversity. He turns into this madman every time things dip a little bit.

2012-13 goes to the NIT, Cal loads up with the best recruiting class of all time.

2013-14 "loses too many games" in the regular season so we go to the title game and then he decides to just try and win them all next year.

Then it's 38-1, platoons are hurting recruiting, yada yada yada, but Cal wasn't done. At some point they'll learn to stop doubting or throwing dirt on the guy.

 

[Trouthound]

Yep. Cal is a machine. I don't like the "get you to the league as fast as possible" pitch for reasons stated in other posts, but there is simply no doubt that it works. Heck, the recruits say it when stating why the chose Kentucky.

K is on a hot streak, but Cal is clearly a top flight recruiter.

I'm a Kansas homer, and hope we land a big this class. We are gonna need one. I think we lost out on a couple of perimeter guys due to our depth there, but after this year, we are really going to need a couple of quality bigs.

 

[Blue Decade]

Yep. Cal is a machine. I don't like the "get you to the league as fast as possible" pitch for reasons stated in other posts, but there is simply no doubt that it works. Heck, the recruits say it when stating why the chose Kentucky.

K is on a hot streak, but Cal is clearly a top flight recruiter.

I'm a Kansas homer, and hope we land a big this class. We are gonna need one. I think we lost out on a couple of perimeter guys due to our depth there, but after this year, we are really going to need a couple of quality bigs.

I agree with most of this. But Kryzewski is not on a hot streak. That's not right. Truth is, Krzyzewski has been the dominant coach in college basketball for more than 2 decades. If that is a hot streak, it's the longest hot streak in history. Krzyzewski won his 1st NCAA championship in 1991. Calipari is the most serious challenger yet to Krzyzewski as the most dominant college coach. But let's not forget that Krzyzewski has more than 1000 wins including 5 NCAA championships. A lot of fans think Krzyzewski is copying Calipari, but that isn't right either. Krzyzewski has been making adjustments and winning championships longer than anyone. Which doesn't change the fact that Kentucky is the #1 program in college basketball history, or the fact that Calipari is the most dangerous challenger Krzyzewski has faced. I am looking forward to November 17 because we will see 2 very good young teams and the 2 best coaches in the business. I think we will win that game because Duke won't have answers for the best player in the game, Jamal Murray.

 

[caneintally]

I don't care about Newman, Brown, Zimmerman, and it did not upset me when they announced. They are good players but not right for Calipari's system. Briscoe is better than Newman. Labissiere is better than Zimmerman. Ingram will be a great player at Duke, and could have been a great player for Calipari. Ingram was a significant miss, but no 1 ever seriously thought he was leaving the state of NC. Diallo is a very good early impact type of player, but his eligibility issues are at the very least a serious distraction for Kansas now. When Calipari snagged Jamal Murray, it was a decisive development that will impact the season and the postseason. I have said all along that Murray is by far the most underrated player in the whole class. Murray reclassified very late, and got basically no media coverage as a junior at a Canadian high school. Most people still have no clue how good he is. Everyone will be shocked by his ability to create shots and score, even Kentucky fans. As long as Murray was uncommitted, and as long as Kentucky seemed to be in his top 2 schools, I never worried about all the other players you mentioned. Seriously.

All this is true. Murray is the best guard Cal has had at UK sans Wall but Wall couldn't begin to shoot like Murray .

 

[caneintally]

I agree with most of this. But Kryzewski is not on a hot streak. That's not right. Truth is, Krzyzewski has been the dominant coach in college basketball for more than 2 decades. If that is a hot streak, it's the longest hot streak in history. Krzyzewski won his 1st NCAA championship in 1991. Calipari is the most serious challenger yet to Krzyzewski as the most dominant college coach. But let's not forget that Krzyzewski has more than 1000 wins including 5 NCAA championships. A lot of fans think Krzyzewski is copying Calipari, but that isn't right either. Krzyzewski has been making adjustments and winning championships longer than anyone. Which doesn't change the fact that Kentucky is the #1 program in college basketball history, or the fact that Calipari is the most dangerous challenger Krzyzewski has faced. I am looking forward to November 17 because we will see 2 very good young teams and the 2 best coaches in the business. I think we will win that game because Duke won't have answers for the best player in the game, Jamal Murray.

I never worried about Duke in recruiting before 2 years ago and K had fallen off for a while with all those early exit losses . So in that aspect they totally are on a hot streak and it is because K realized if he want to keep up he needed 1 and dones. But K is the best college coach of all time nonetheless but that doesn't mean he was falling off before that decision.

 

[bucsrule8872]

I really like this class. I think it could be special.

I really think Murray and Labissiere might be the best inside/outside tandem we have had under Cal. Loved Wall and Cousins, but Wall was not the shooter that Murray is and Labissiere is more versatile than Cousins.

Everyone seems to forget about Briscoe, but he is going to be very good.

And then there are a couple of guys in Matthews and Humphries that could be around for a few years.

An all around well-balanced class. A little bit of star power. Some role players. Some size, some skill. Lots of weapons on offense.

 

[BBUK]

The day after the Nike Classic game in early April, when I got my first good look at Murray, I made a post on here that I hoped Cal finished off recruiting by signing Murray as the starting wing land the Big Greek whose name was circulating as a back up center.

After the wild roller coaster ride, the Cats ended up with Murray, the Big Aussie, and Mulder as some scoring depth. I couldn't be happier.

Cal probably is listening to you. You've picked most of them for him.

 

[bucsrule8872]

The day after the Nike Classic game in early April, when I got my first good look at Murray, I made a post on here that I hoped Cal finished off recruiting by signing Murray as the starting wing land the Big Greek whose name was circulating as a back up center.

After the wild roller coaster ride, the Cats ended up with Murray, the Big Aussie, and Mulder as some scoring depth. I couldn't be happier.

Good call on Murray. I think just about everyone who watched that game felt the same way. I remember going into the game hoping we would get Newman and hoping he would have a great game, then after watching I was thinking, "man, this Murray kid is great. Whoever gets him is going to have a player."

Talk about coming out of nowhere, Murray has so far written a great story for himself. I hope it gets even better and has a storybook ending.

 

[westerncat]

I just hate the day when Cal will leave UK. We are truly being spoiled but we need to enjoy the ride while it last's and I hope it last's for many more years.

 

[jameslee32]

Maybe a Puke fan will chime-in about how the program is in shambles once Cal leaves and after only 110 years of winning. That would be funny.