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Kentucky Wildcats fall hard in final 247 Sports 2016 Rankings

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

John Calipari has been hyping his 2016 class as the best he's ever landed, but the guys at 247 Sports don't seem to agree.

They just put out their final rankings for the 2016 class, and several Wildcats saw their rating/ranking decrease. Perhaps the most surprising move is point guard De'Aaron Fox, who fell four spots and was passed by fellow 2016 point guard Lonzo Ball and Frank Jackson, not to mention combo guard Markelle Fultz.

I'm sorry, bot those three are not all better than Fox. I've seen enough of them all and it's pretty ridiculous that all three passed Fox in the final rankings, especially Jackson. All of those guys are going to be great players, but Fox more than earned the right to have a top-five ranking, if not higher.

Shooting guard Malik Monk also took a big dip, falling five spots to the No. 10 spot. He too had an outstanding senior season and is a much better prospect than No. 10 in his own class.

Forward Wenyen Gabriel fell six spots down to the No. 14 ranking. I can agree with this in the sense that Gabriel is still pretty raw and may not be a star right away, but he definitely has the potential to be a superstar by the time his college career is over.

Forward Sacha Killeya-Jones took the biggest hit of just about anyone in the final rankings. He fell 10 spots down to the No. 24 ranking, despite a great senior season in which he led his team to a state title, not to mention a spot in the McDonald's All-American Game. I'm pretty confident there aren't 23 players in this class better than him.

Forward Bam Adebayo did rise three spots...to the No. 12 ranking. So 247 just made a horrible ranking look less bad. Bam is closer to being the best player in this class than the 12th-best guy.

All said, I'll trust Cal's opinion of his guys more than whoever made these rankings.

The good news is UK isn't the only team getting slighted in these rankings. Louisville has a gripe with V.J. King at 33. There aren't 32 guys in this class better than King.

The same goes for Kansas and Udoka Azubuike. He may be a bit of a project who needs a lot of work with his conditioning, but I'm not taking anywhere close to 38 guys over him.

I'm starting to think the AP voters are who made these rankings. That's about the only way to explain these.

Here's the full top 40:

1. Josh Jackson

2. Lonzo Ball

3. Harry Giles

4. Markelle Fultz

5. Frank Jackson

6. De'Aaron Fox

7. Dennis Smith

8. Jayson Tatum

9. Jonathan Isaac

10. Malik Monk

11. Miles Bridges

12. Bam Adebayo

13. Thon Maker

14. Wenyen Gabriel

15. Terrance Ferguson

16. Lauri Markkanen

17. Jarrett Allen

18. Marques Bolden

19. T.J. Leaf

20. Zach Collins

21. Joshua Langford

22. Dewan Huell

23. Bruce Brown

24. Sacha Killeya-Jones

25. Omer Yurtseven

26. Omari Spellman

27. Mustapha Heron

28. Kobi Simmons

29. Rawle Alkins

30. Ty Jerome

31. Alterique Gilbert

32. Tony Bradley

33. V.J. King

34. Cassius Winston

35. Jay Huff

36. De'Riante Jenkins

37. Andrew Jones

38. Tyus Battle

39. Udoka Azubuike

40. Sam Cunliffe