As only he can, John Calipari sent shockwaves through the college basketball world late on Sunday night. While all the focus was on Monday night’s epic battle between UConn and Purdue in the National Championship game, Calipari made himself the biggest story in men’s hoops when news leaked that he is likely leaving Kentucky to take the vacancy created at Arkansas when Eric Musselman left for USC.
A Hall of Famer who has won a National Championship and been named the Naismith Coach of the Year three times, Calipari’s legacy as a titan of the game has long been established. More than anything, Calipari has been known for his unprecedented recruiting prowess and there’s no reason to think he won’t take recruiting in Fayetteville to unprecedented heights.
Calipari should do big things at Arkansas, but what can be expected with him taking over the first chair in Bud Walton Arena?
CALIPARI’S RECRUITING PROWESS IS LEGENDARY
To understand what Calipari could mean for Arkansas, it is important to take a look at what he’s done during his time at Kentucky. If you followed college basketball recruiting over the last 20 years, you know all about Calipari’s prowess on the recruiting trail and his ability to consistently land elite talent. The raw numbers are incredible and worth taking another look at.
Counting the class of 2024, Calipari has recruited 16 classes to Kentucky. According to 247Sports industry-generated Composite Team Rankings, he has landed the nation’s top class eight times and seven times he’s finished No. 2 overall. Only once during his reign in Lexington did Calipari land a class that ranked outside of the top two. It was in 2022 and that class still ranked No. 5 nationally.
The overall team recruiting rankings are impressive, but the raw numbers that produced them are even more incredible. During his time at Kentucky, Calipari landed a mind-boggling 53 five-star prospects and 28 four-stars out of the high school ranks. For those scoring at home, that’s 3.3 five-star and 1.75 four-star prospects per recruiting class.
Of those prospects who have been draft-eligible, 35 (!) of them have been selected in the first round of the NBA Draft.
WHO FROM 2024 COULD BE IN PLAY?
So, what might Calipari and whatever staff he puts in place be looking to bring to Arkansas from the class of 2024?
Sorry Kentucky, but it’s safe to assume that your current No. 2 class is going to be raided and that there’s a good chance that most of them will end up following Calipari.
