Kentucky Basketball: Amazing John Calipari one-and-done streak in the NBA Draft ends

It’s no secret that John Calipari has thrived with the one-and-done brand of recruiting, and it’s paid off for the players who’ve been part of it.

Going into the 2018 NBA Draft, every player that Cal has ever coached that left after one year of college basketball has been drafted in the first round of an NBA Draft. That list dates back to Dajuan Wagner in 2002 and the streak has nearly ended on several occasions, but Cal was 25 for 25 entering Thursday night.

Kevin Knox and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander extended that streak, giving Calipari 27 consecutive first-round selections from his one-and-done army.

However, that streak ended when Jarred Vanderbilt was not drafted in the first round of this year’s draft. Vanderbilt entered the draft after an injury-plagued freshman year, and while his stock was never high, he didn’t want to risk suffering another injury and ruining his chances of ever being drafted.

You can’t fault Vanderbilt for having that mindset, and it hopefully ends up being the best decision for himself and his family, but he’ll go down as the first one-and-done player under Cal to not hear his name called in Round 1.

The streak nearly ended during Cal’s first year at Kentucky when Daniel Orton snuck into the 1st round at the 29th pick, as Marquis Teague and Archie Goodwin did a few years later. The most recent scare was Skal Labissiere, who was selected as the 28th overall pick in 2016.

The entire list of John Calipari’s one-and-done 1st rounders:

Memphis

• Dajuan Wagner
• Shawne Williams
• Derrick Rose
• Tyreke Evans

Kentucky

• John Wall
• DeMarcus Cousins
• Eric Bledsoe
• Daniel Orton
• Enes Kanter
• Brandon Knight
• Anthony Davis
• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
• Marquis Teague
• Nerlens Noel
• Archie Goodwin
• Julius Randle
• James Young
• Karl-Anthony Towns
• Trey Lyles
• Devin Booker
• Jamal Murray
• Skal Labissiere
• De’Aaron Fox
• Malik Monk
• Bam Adebayo
• Kevin Knox
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander