John Calipari knows the game of recruiting better than anyone.
He also knows recruiting, like the sport of basketball itself, is always changing and adopting new methods while discarding others. That's why Cal has to change up his recruiting style to keep securing the commitments of some of the nation's top high school prospects.
Over at Grantland, Danny Chau did a nice breakdown of Cal's recruiting strategy to put UK in great position with some of the nation's top 2016 prospects, including Harry Giles, De'Aaron Fox, Markelle Fultz, Dennis Smith, Rawle Alkins, Kobi Simmons, Malik Monk and other talented guys. He's done so by touting them as possibly being the greatest recruiting class ever assembled if Cal can get four or five of those guys to be part of Kentucky's 2016 class.
Last week, Calipari mentioned on an ESPN podcast that his 2016 recruiting class has a chance to be one of the best ever. Word spread quickly on the Internet, as it does. This from a man who, according to ESPN, had college basketball’s top-ranked recruiting class in four out of his first five years at Kentucky, with 2009 and 2013 also having legitimate claim to being Cal’s best ever.
Was it just a harmless, offhand remark? I mean, sure, that’s a possibility, but you don’t reach Calipari’s level in college sports without being calculating. He knows we’re listening, and, more importantly, he knows his targets are listening. It doesn’t take a true detective to discover that, with Coach Cal, everything is recruiting.
Chris Fisher at 24/7 Sports also did a nice breakdown of how Cal has changed his recruiting strategy this year. Be sure to give both pieces a read.