Kentucky Basketball Recruiting: UK actually ahead of Duke in final 2017 class rankings

Not too long ago, we posted an article about Duke’s 2017 recruiting class surpassing Kentucky’s as the top class in the country with the addition of Marvin Bagley III.

Now, according to the Lexington Herald Leader’s Ben Roberts, one recruiting analyst says that may not be the case.

Roberts spoke with Jeff Crume, manager of the Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) which puts together composite recruiting rankings based off Rivals, Scout, ESPN, 247 Sports, and longtime recruiting analyst Van Coleman.

Based on the scoring system, which provides each recruit with a certain amount of points based on their ranking, Kentucky’s class still comes out on top despite Duke having more star power at the top of their class.

Kentucky came away with 582 total points, compared to Duke’s 451 points.

You can read the rest of Roberts’ piece here, which delves a little bit deeper into the system. Here’s what RSCI had to offer on the class that Kentucky and Duke assembled:

1) Kentucky (582 pts)

We have a new record! This class beats out the previous record of 557 by the UK 2013 class by a decent margin. If all five of the RSCI sources had counted Hamidou Diallo with the 2017 class (2 deemed him to be a 2016 recruit even though he joined the team midyear and didn't play), the Wildcats' score would have been more like a mind blowing 630.

2) Duke (451 pts)

Duke had a huge late addition in #1 Marvin Bagley but it still was well short of Kentucky's total. Duke had the higher number of elite players but UK had more overall so a great debate over quality vs. quantity can now commence.

As mentioned, Duke has more star power at the top with Bagley, Wendell Carter, and Gary Trent Jr. headlining the class, but Kentucky’s class is larger and deeper, in my opinion, which helped them hold onto the top spot.

Both schools will heavily rely on freshmen this season to carry much of the load, and both Calipari and Coach K have shown the ability to succeed with freshmen having major roles.

Expect the Wildcats and the Blue Devils to be among the favorites when March rolls around.

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