Kentucky’s 2013 recruiting class has already been touted as the best recruiting class in history. Looking at the rankings, there’s no denying this fact—at least on paper.

Yet, what does this really mean? Kentucky has had its fair share of No. 1 recruiting classes in the past—with some degree of mixed results. How much better can we really expect this year’s class to be?

In order to put this year’s class in perspective, I have compiled a list of similarly ranked recruits from each year since 2007. According to Rivals.com, Kentucky has the No.1 point guard, No. 1 shooting guard, No. 3 small forward, No. 1 power forward, No. 2 center and No. 8 PF in the 2013 class. To put this into perspective, I have gone back and listed all of the players with these same rankings since 2007. In order to at least somewhat account for hindsight bias, I have also included each player’s freshman year statistics.

Note: I did not include Derek Willis or Dominique Hawkins in this comparison. We will just consider them the icing on the recruiting cake.

2012:

2011:

2010:

2009:

2008:

2007:

Many people—including myself—consider this year’s recruiting class to be the strongest since 2007. If we pretend for an instant that this class will equal the talent of 2007. we get some pretty unbelievable comparisons. If Kentucky had pulled this year’s class in 2007, they would have landed Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, Donte Greene, Michael Beasley, DeAndre Jordan and Herb Pope. Not only have five of these players made names for themselves in the NBA, they also made immediate impacts as freshmen. Four of these guys averaged over 14 points as freshmen—not to mention Jordan who managed a respectable 7.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. And let’s not forget Pope, who averaged a double-double after being forced to redshirt his first year on campus.

Add in the likes of Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress and Kyle Wiltjer. If Kentucky’s recruiting class turns out to be anywhere near the level of this 2007 group, the Cats will steamroll college basketball on the way to the program’s ninth national title.

Now, is it really reasonable to expect Kentucky’s freshmen to come in and play at the level of Derrick Rose and company? Probably not.

In order to temper expectations a bit, let’s take a look at the 2012 class—which many recruiting experts have deemed to be the weakest of the past five to 10 years.

If Kentucky duplicated the rankings of this year’s class in 2012, it would have landed Kris Dunn, Shabazz Muhammad, Sam Dekker, Anthony Bennett, Isaiah Austin and Ricardo Gathers. While this group of recruits isn’t on quite the same level as 2007, it still makes for a fairly solid roster. The biggest weakness would be at point guard, but Andrew Harrison is, by all accounts, leagues ahead of Dunn.

Again, add in Kentucky’s returners from last year and you have another solid title contender.

Really, the worst case scenario would be the 2010 class, which doesn’t feature any double-digit scorers—though this admittedly would not have been the case if Enes Kanter had been eligible to play. This is really the only class that doesn’t appear to be a hands-down title contender when combined with Kentucky’s returning players. With that said, it would still be difficult to discount a roster that includes Kanter, Josh Selby, Reggie Bullock and Fab Melo under the tutelage of John Calipari.

One thing that should be noted when making these comparisons is the fact that Kentucky’s 2013 recruits will be expected to do a lot more as freshmen than some of the players I have listed. For instance, while guys like Ryan Kelly, Chris Singleton, Solomon Hill, Fab Melo and DeAndre Daniels all developed into fantastic players, they didn’t have to take on as much responsibility in their freshman seasons.

Kentucky’s 2013 class will be asked to grow up in a hurry. This is why fans may want to temper their expectations early. Such a young squad could easily drop a couple of games early in a brutal non-conference schedule. The good news, however, is that the Cats will have a few top-quality “veterans” to fall back on in Cauley-Stein, Poythress and Wiltjer.

Regardless of what happens early on, Kentucky should be considered one of the premier teams in the nation by season’s end. And while it may be unreasonable to expect the incoming freshmen to mirror the likes of Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon and Michael Beasley, history has shown that a class of this caliber will be overflowing with talent no matter what. Add in Kentucky’s returning players and you have all the necessary ingredients for another national title contender.

2015 Center Stephen Zimmerman out of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Quick Take: Stephen Zimmerman, Center from the 2015 class, has already established himself as one of the top prospects in the country.  The skilled big man can shoot, pass, dribble, and block shots.  He’s likely to be a top 5 prospect in the 2015 class when everything is said and done.

I was able to catch up with Zimmerman recently, to see if I could get his thoughts on his recruitment and the University of Kentucky.  See what he had to say below.

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What schools are currently recruiting you?

“Kentucky, UNLV, UCLA, Kansas, UConn, Oregon, Oregon St., Arizona, Memphis, UTEP, Notre Dame, USC, Florida St., Baylor, Tennessee, and Auburn.”

Do you have any favorites sticking out to you?  What about a dream school?

“No favorites yet, I’m blessed to have such great programs recruiting me.”

“And, no I never had one specific dream school growing up.”

What has Kentucky expressed or said to you up to this point?

“They said they noticed me when they were recruiting Shabazz(Muhammad) and are impressed with how I’ve developed over the last year. They said I have gotten better and that they are looking forward to recruiting me.”

What kind of interest do you have in Kentucky at this point?

“Kentucky is an amazing school with a great coach and a history of winning and getting their players into the NBA.”

What do you think about Coach Calipari?

“He’s a great coach with great success. Any player would love to play for him.”

Does Kentucky plan to watch or visit you anytime soon?

“They plan on being at all of my tournaments in July and at my school when they are allowed to.”

Do you plan to take a visit to Kentucky?

“I have thought about visiting there, it’s not that far away.”

What NBA/college player would you compare yourself to and why?

“Multiple players because I try to be the best overall player I can be. I try to have Dirk’s shot, Blake Griffin’s explosiveness, Tim Duncan’s footwork…a little from everyone.”

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Additional Quotes:

Who have you been in contact with at UK?

“Coach Payne is the coach at UK that I have been in contact with.”

What are your strengths and weaknesses in your game?

“My strengths are my ability to shoot, my speed and footwork.”

“My weaknesses are my consistency and my ball handling.”

How is your AAU team doing?

“I play for Dream Vision and we are playing pretty well right now. We won the Gold Championship at adidasVIP and lost in the Championship game at the Atlanta Spring Classic.”

“I’ve played well. I’d like to work on starting tournaments strong and maintaining that rather than struggle early and have great games at the end.”

What do you expect to next high school season, personally and as a team?

“I hope to be named the Nevada player of the year and expect nothing less than winning a 3rd state championship with my teammates.

What was it like playing with Shabazz Muhammad?

“It was hard, he demands a lot at all times and he worked for everything he got on the court.”

 

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Player Profile w/ Highlights:  Stephen Zimmerman –  C | 7-0 | 215

Braylon Heard, 2014 feature back?

I”m not sure if you’ve noticed lately or not, but UK has been loading up at running back over the past few months.

And by loading up, I mean REALLY loading up.

Let’s think about this for a few moments.  Currently on the roster, UK has DyShawn Mobley, Josh Clemons, Raymond Sanders, Jonathan George and JoJo Kemp.  Of course, two of them will be graduated at the end of the year, leaving UK with Mobley, Clemons and Kemp.

Still, UK is adding in transfer Braylon Heard, a man who went he steps on campus, will be the highest rated player by Rivals to suit up at UK since Micah Johnson. Heard averaged over 6 yards per carry last season for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Then, on top of that, UK is adding Mikel Horton in this current draft class.  With Horton you are getting an every down back who can do it all.  He can be a bruising runner at 225 pounds, but has the quickness to allude defenders in the open field, can catch the ball out of the backfield, and has the speed to hit the edge.  Honestly, as far as running backs go, he’s the total package.

That means that on next year’s roster, UK will have 5 running backs who each can absolutely get it done.

Still, it gets better.

UK also is in the running to get Stanley “Boom” Williams, a running back out of Georgia.  Boom is one of the fastest running backs in the class, with blinding 4.39 speed.  Williams is an all-purpose back who can catch the ball out of the backfield and really adds a home-run dimension to your team.

Adding Boom would mean UK would have 6 different running backs that could all be big impact players for the Cats.

The best part is that UK has a plethora of guys who can be used in different situations.  Mobley is a guy you can count on in short yardage situations.  Clemons and Horton are guys who can be every down backs for your team.  Kemp, Boom, and Heard are game breakers who can change the course of a game with one screen or toss.  Trust me, there will be plenty of teams, even SEC teams, who wish they had as much to play with in the backfield as UK does.

Neal Brown has not historically been known as involving running backs heavily in his offense, but with the weapons at his disposal, and lack of weapons at wide receiver, he may need to rely on the backs more than he ever has before.

And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Go Big Blue!

It was reported this morning by Adam Zagoria, that UK was looking over the transcripts of unsigned 3* SF MiKyle McIntosh out of 22 Foot Academy in Jackson Kentucky.

This is kind of interesting on the heels of Andrew Wiggins deciding to go play elsewhere.  Though the timing is a bit surprising seeing as Jarrod Polson was announced as a scholarship player for 2013-14 yesterday by Coach Cal.

McIntosh is an explosive wing type player who holds offers from UConn, UCLA, and Miami (FL), however he did not sign in the signing period.  There may be some issues with his grades.

It is possible that UK is looking in to signing and placing the kid, bringing him in as a preferred walk-on, or keeping tabs on him if he goes to prep school.  Either way, quality depth is always a nice thing to have, especially with the lack of great wings in the upcoming few classes.

Take a look and judge for yourself:

EDIT: From MiKyle himself:

Contrary to reports, I have not been in contact with kentucky or have they reviewed my transcripts. The info given has been false.

— MiKyle McIntosh (@MervM_22) May 16, 2013

Welp, bummer.

Now that we can finally put the lid on the 2013 recruiting class, it’s time to take a sneak peak at the 2014 recruiting class, and what we can all expect from it.

Kentucky is already out to a head start on the 2014 recruiting class, with the addition of Karl Towns, who recently committed and re-classified to the 2014 class.  Towns is a versatile big who can really do just about anything.  He’s a consensus 5* talent, and will be working his way in to the top 10 of many rankings as the year progresses.

The rest of the class is more difficult to predict.  There will certainly be a lot of guard targets in the 2014 class, as currently it is expected that both Aaron and Andrew Harrison will not be around after this year, and it’s not expected that James Young will be, either.

The search for a point guard next year begins and ends with either Emmanuel Mudiay, or Tyus Jones.  Both are top 5 recruits, and depending on which service you look at, are 1 and 2 in point guard rankings, or vice versa.

There have been rumors though that Tyus Jones wants to play with top Center prospect, Jahlil Okafor.  UK is recruiting Okafor, but with the logjam that the Cats currently have in the front court, it certainly makes you wonder if there will be room here for Okafor.  If there is not, would Jones still possibly come to UK?

Shooting guard is another priority position that UK will look to fill in the 2014 class.  Early on, UK has been all over Devin Booker out of Massachusetts, and may even be pushing for him to make an early commitment.  Booker is not as talented as top target Rashad Vaughn, but with as much room as UK has at the shooting guard position for this class, taking Booker early should have no affect on Vaughn’s decision.

Small Forward is another position of priority for this class, as it is expected that both James Young and Alex Poythress should be leaving next season for the NBA.  Still, the class of 2014 is a little light on Small Forward talent, especially since Andrew Wiggins reclassified to 2013.  Look for Cal to go all-in with Stanley Johnson, a 6’6 SF out of Mater Dei in California.  He’s expressed a lot of interest in the Cats already.  Look for Cal to try and bring him on campus some time this year.

Big men are once again on full display in the class of 2014.  UK is heavily involved with the likes of Cliff Alexander, previously mentioned Jahlil Okafor, and former IU commit, Trey Lyles.  It’s hard to imagine Cal going 0-3 with each of those three, even with the Cats already having a loaded front court, and a commitment already from Karl Towns.

Some other names you may want to get to know for the 2014 recruiting season:

Theo Pinson
De’Angelo Russell
Leron Black
Josh Perkins
Goodluck Okonoboh
Jalen Lindsey

No matter how you look at it, UK is poised once again for another loaded recruiting class.

Go Big Blue!

What happened to “Keep Calm the Twins are Coming?”  Oh yeah, they’re still coming.

So, yeah?  Bummer.  Andrew Wiggins is heading to Kansas.

It does kind of sting a little, doesn’t it?  Honestly, I’ve been following the Andrew Wiggins recruitment every since I watched him own the 2012 seniors in the Nike Hoops Summit.  He was a guy I certainly wanted, probably more than any other recruit that I’ve followed.

Realistically though, if Cal weren’t the coach here, it would have never even been considered that he would come here.  It doesn’t fit his personality, and it certainly would have been hard to imagine him coming here with all the stock-piled talent that is currently here.  The media scrutiny here is more than most kids will deal with even at the professional level.

Kansas actually makes sense for a few reasons.  Not as much media speculation as you would have at UK or UNC.  Talented players coming in with a spot open at the 3.  A team good enough to not allow opponents to double team you.  The best in-game atmosphere in the country.  Etc.  There’s certainly no reason that Kansas wasn’t a great landing spot for Andrew Wiggins.

He’s a great talent, and it certainly sucks knowing that he won’t be playing here.

With that said, UK will be fine without Andrew Wiggins.  UK still boasts 6 of the top 25 recruits in the country, as well as two more top 150 guys.  Those guys go in combination with 2 former McDonald’s All-Americans who are already here, and Willie Cauley-Stein who would have been a top 20 draft pick had he left for the draft this year.  To say that Kentucky would be pretty good without Wiggins would most likely be an understatement.

Now, UK turns to Alex Poythress and James Young to be the starting 3 man.  Trust me when I say this folks, every other team in the country wishes they were so lucky.  Young was rated by some as the #3 Small Forward in the country, behind the top 2, Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker, who are both top 5 recruits.  Young himself is a top 10 guy, and is more than capable of playing the position.  Alex Poythress showed flashes last season of being an absolute beast, and the competition with Julius Randle and James Young this year is only going to push Alex to be even better.  It certainly helps that UK has drastically upgraded the point guard position this year as well.

At any point this season, Kentucky will still be able to claim the most talented player at 4 out of 5 positions on the floor.  And to add to that, there will be few teams who can claim to have a player more talented than someone that UK puts out there.  Kansas obviously will be better at the 3 than Kentucky, though Kentucky will likely boast the best player at all other 4 positions, as well as bench play.  The same goes for Duke.  And really any other team you want to compare to UK next year.

The term “luxury recruit” certainly seems like a losing team’s term when it comes to these kind of deals, but Andrew Wiggins was certainly not someone that UK needed to have a successful season.  Did we want him?  Absolutely.  Could we have used him?  Absolutely.  If I could take him now would I still take him?  Absolutely.  Is he still the best high school player on planet earth?  Yes.

Still, UK will be fine.  James Young and Alex Poythress will soon combine their talents to form an unstoppable man-child to go up against Andrew Wiggins.  You can call him Alex Young or James Poythress, either way, he’ll be great.

Just sucks now that I have to lock my “Wiggins to UK” article in the KYCS vault.  It was a doosy, let me tell you.

Go Big Blue!

Andrew Wiggins visiting Chapel Hill for the last time in this pic?

Today is the day that the Lord hath decided that Andrew Wiggins will make his announcement to the public.

Will it be FSU like many are saying?  Does Kansas sneak in and get him?  What about UK?  Why is UNC even being considered?

Don’t forget to vote in our poll on the top right, voting will close at 12:15 PM because, well, that’s when he commits.  So….yeah.

No matter what, just remember that after today, it’s over, and we can move on with our daily lives finally.

Tonight via his Twitter account, Kobie Walker (@BeyyondBelief) has become the 7th commitment of the 2013 class for the University of Kentucky.

Walker is a 6’4 198 pound Safety out of Olney, Maryland, and is rated by Rivals.com as the #38 Safety in the class of 2014.  Some think that Walker projects as a linebacker at the college level, a position of need for Kentucky considering they did not sign a linebacker in the 2013 class.

Walker chose the Cats over offers from Miami, NC State, Oklahoma State, and Wisconsin.

According to Rivals.com, Walker’s commitment moves the Cats up to #15 in the nation in the 2014 recruiting class.  Walker is apparently one of the guys also that Drew Barker has been recruiting to come to UK.

Walker’s commitment is a big one, for sure.  Watch him work:

Yes, yes we do.

Tomorrow at 12:15 pm EST, the end of one of the biggest recruiting sagas that I have ever seen will come to an end. Andrew Wiggins will announce his decision to attend either UK, North Carolina, Kansas, or Florida State.

Most of us have been following his recruitment for a year, but it really has been going on extensively for about 3 years now. For three years, coaches have been battling and jockeying for a chance at landing what many believe to be the best prospect the world has seen seen Lebron James graced a high school floor.  That includes some pretty talented prospects like Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, and of course, Kevin Durant.  Most High School analysts think he’s better than that.

Make no mistake, while his recruitment has caused some angst among the fanbases, Andrew Wiggins is absolutely worth the wait.  His talent transcends just his collegiate impact for the next year.  For years people will tie him to the college he chooses.  When he’s in the NBA, graphics will display “Andrew Wiggins from _______.”  Recruits will see Wiggins went to that school and that program will be able to get their foot in the door with top recruits just because of that.

Don’t be fooled by what some will say tomorrow either, everyone wants Andrew Wiggins.  He’s the consensus #1 recruit for a reason.  When he announces tomorrow there will be a lot of rationalizing from the opposing fan bases, trying to figure out why he didn’t come to their school.  Some will say they didn’t need him.  Some will say their programs will be fine without him.  Others will say he’s just over-hyped.

But he’s not.

All of the hype that is directed toward Andrew Wiggins is deserved.  He’s worked hard for it, and he’s certainly good enough.  Take a look for yourself:

Are there holes in his game?  Sure, but again, don’t be mistaken, this is the best player in the 2013 class.  He will be regardless of what school he chooses.  He’ll be the #1 pick in the NBA Draft.  He’ll sign a massive endorsement deal somewhere the day he decides to go pro.  Those things don’t happen if a guy can’t play.

So tomorrow afternoon, he’ll make a decision, and break the hearts of 75% of the fanbases still following him.  Regardless of where he goes, appreciate the fact you’ll get to watch him play.

And whatever fan base gets him, he will most certainly have been worth the wait.

1. An Andrew Wiggins decision is coming Tuesday. Huntington Prep coach Rob Fulford told the Herald Leader’s Ben Roberts that Wiggins will announce his decision Tuesday at 12:15 pm at his school. Wiggins postponed the decision until now because he wanted his mother, who just left Toronto this morning, to be there. Wiggins does not want a press conference signing, so the ceremony will just be open to family, friends and classmates. The saga is finally coming to a close.
2. Rod Strickland may take his talents back to Memphis. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweeted today that Rod Strickland is under consideration for a spot on Josh Pastner’s staff at Memphis. Strickland was originally a member of the Memphis staff before making the jump to Kentucky with John Calipari. Voluntarily going from Kentucky to Memphis may seem a bit unusual, especially with Kentucky being poised to make another title run, but it would present Strickland the opportunity to get back into the coaching. He would be an assistant coach on Pastner’s staff versus a more administrative role as assistant to the head coach on Calipari’s staff. Best of luck to Strickland either way.
3. Kentucky Basketball alumni were the fourth highest-paid group in the NBA this season. A College Spun article says that the 20 former Cats made a total of $61,882,315 this season, ranking them behind just Duke, Connecticut and Florida. This number should only go up in future years as many of UK’s marquee players, including John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe, are still playing under their rookie contracts.
4. Kentucky’s AAU team is turning heads in the Nike EYBL. The Kentucky Travelers are now 7-6 with five games remaining in the Nike EYBL, which ties them for second in their 10-team division. Perhaps most impressive, they were able to beat Mac Irvin Fire, one of the most talented AAU teams in the country, 72-61 on Saturday. Mac Irvin Fire features two top five players in 2014: Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander. Not too shabby. There is a lot of young and up-and-coming talent in Kentucky. That’s something to be excited about.
5. Kentucky football is off to a great start for 2014. It’s early, but Kentucky currently has the No. 19 recruiting class in 2014, according to Rivals. Not counting Nebraska transfer Braylon Heard, the Cats already have six commitments for 2014 and this number is sure to grow within the next few weeks. Drew Barker’s commitment on Friday was huge for Kentucky as it will likely begin a domino effect that could lead to commitments from a bevy of other highly-rated recruits. It’s truly remarkable what Stoops and company have been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time.
6. Kentucky did miss on one recruit Sunday. 4-star athlete Lonnie Johnson picked Ohio State today over Kentucky and a host of others. Johnson, a Gary, Indiana native, measures in at 6’3″ and projects to be a wide receiver at the next level, though he is also an outstanding safety. Johnson would have been a nice grab for Kentucky, but the Cats still have a great chance of landing two of the top wide receivers in 2014: Derek Kief and Braxton Berrios.