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So, as I am sure all of you know, James Wiseman decided to stay in his hometown and commit to the Memphis Tigers and new head coach Penny Hardaway.
Yes, it’s unfortunate that Kentucky missed on the best player in the country because Memphis hired his AAU coach, but this is not the end of world, and certainly not the end of the road for Coach Cal.
After Wiseman picked Memphis, numerous Kentucky Wildcats fans went to twitter to voice their displeasure with both Wiseman picking the Tigers and Calipari in his recruiting. I have read things such as:
- “Cal has been missing recruits since 2013”
Cal reeled in 5 top-10 players in the 2014 class, and has been either number one or number two recruiter in the country ever since he got to Kentucky.
- “We are in decline”
I didn’t know that decline meant having a national championship contending team every season, final fours, elite eights, and four straight SEC conference tournament titles.
- “We’re returning to the Tubby Smith era”
No, no, we’re not. We all know what the Tubby Smith era was.
- “We need players to stay more than one year”
See: 2011-12, 2014-15, 2016-17, this season.
- “Recruits have realized his inability to coach since the Wisconsin loss”
This statement is just plain absurd.
The fact is, Kentucky fans always overreact when a top recruit picks another school that isn’t Kentucky. Calling for Cal’s job? Preposterous. Kentucky will not get another coach that is like Cal and certainly won’t get one that can recruit and win like he can. Should some changes be made to the assistants on the staff? Perhaps, this season may tell.
Last week's signing of Tyrese Maxey ensures that John Calipari has inked at least one top-10 prospect in all 11 of his recruiting classes at Kentucky. Kahlil Whitney, who is committed but not yet signed, makes 9x in 11 years that Calipari has landed multiple top-10 prospects.
— Chris Fisher (@ChrisFisher247) November 20, 2018
Kentucky is still in good position with a lot of 2019 kids. Jaden McDaniels is still on the board, a top-5 kid similar to Wiseman and grew up a Kentucky fan. Matthew Hurt, who the Wildcats are in good position with, Isaiah Stewart who Kentucky seems to be in the mix for, and then there’s always a grad-transfer that could come just like Reid Travis. Most people probably didn’t know who Reid Travis was before he announced his decision to commit to Kentucky, and you probably won’t know of the next great grad-transfer of the season until that time comes around.
Kentucky will be fine when it comes to recruiting. I know plenty of you have doubted Calipari previously before in his tenure here, and guess what he did? He delivered. The man always answers the bell when his back is against the wall, and I expect him to do that once again this upcoming recruiting season.
So Kentucky fans, please, R-E-L-A-X, relax.