It was just about a year ago that Kentucky coach John Calipari came to the Marshall County Hoopfest only a few hours after his team had played in Lexington because he wanted to watch James Wiseman play.
The 6-11 Memphis East High School junior was then ranked as the top player in the 2019 recruiting class and was the first player in that class to get a scholarship offer from Kentucky. Assistant coach Joel Justus had been to Argentina to watch him play.
Kentucky fans made it clear to Wiseman during Hoopfest that they would love to have him join the Wildcats and Wiseman certainly did nothing to discourage speculation that UK was his leader. However, that was a year ago and Tuesday Wiseman signed with Memphis — where his former high school coach, Penny Hardaway, is now the first-year head coach.
That leaves Calipari with two signees — Texas guard Tyrese Maxey and Pendleton County’s Dontaie Allen — in his 2019 recruiting class and a firm commitment from guard Kahlil Whitney. However, he does not have a pledge from a big and today Kentucky is not considered the leader for any of the nation’s top inside players who have not yet made college choices.
While Kentucky fans might be ready to panic, Calipari didn’t seem that way Tuesday.
“We still have some guys there. It’s funny how it always plays out. The staff’s working at it. There are things that happen. Things where all of sudden something changes. What happened there? It’s how recruiting is,” Calipari said.
“I’ll say it again: Me personally –- I don’t know about my staff; I think I’ve got a great recruiting staff –- I’m overrated as a recruiter. I’m just trying to tell them how it is, and it’s hard. I want to undersell and overdeliver, and then I want kids to come in here like Hami (Diallo) and Isaiah Briscoe that have a basis to be able to go in that league when everybody says well there’s no way and they make it.
“Obviously, the stars, the Anthony’s (Davis) and others is fine, but it’s about the bigger picture of all of these kids being prepared.”
NCAA rules prohibit Calipari from talking about Wiseman or any other player UK might be recruiting. He can’t even comment on Whitney until he signs his scholarship — and that might not happen until spring. However, he likes having Maxey and Allen.
“They’re going to be terrific here, both of them. I think Maxey gives you the size at guard and the play-making ability and shot-making ability. He defends. He rebounds. He’s one of those. This was a guy that I really felt, we really had to get that guy,” Calipari said.
“And Dontaie, being in state, you always want to get that guy. You want to get a guy that, you know, this guy can make it, and he can make it here. A guy that wants to be here. You always want guys that want to be here. Those two guys I think are built for this. I’m happy about them.”
Remember rosters can change at the last minute, too. Current NBA standout Jamal Murray was a summer addition to Kentucky when he decided to reclassify. Current freshman EJ Montgomery was a one-time Georgia commit who switched to Kentucky in April. Center Reid Travis is a transfer from Stanford. A year ago no one was anticipating Montgomery or Travis either one being on the roster.
Speculation has UK losing P.J. Washington, Nick Richards and Montgomery to the NBA draft and Travis to graduation. Sure, that could happen. Then again, maybe one or two players returns to UK for another season. Maybe another grad transfer pops up like Travis did.
“You never count John Calipari out in recruiting,” Sporting News columnist Mike DeCourcy said.
True, but Calipari has not had a top-five recruit in his last four recruiting classes after getting 10 in his first seven classes at Kentucky. Duke has seemed to become the “cool” school for the elite, top-rated recruits. Kentucky is still getting plenty of good players, just none like John Wall, Anthony Davis or Karl-Anthony Towns.
“It astonishes me when a big guy Kentucky wants does not go to Kentucky given Kentucky’s success over the last decade with bigs,” said DeCourcy.
He believes Wiseman is “rolling the dice” going to play for his former AAU/high school coach who has been coaching college basketball for only a few months where Calipari has sent Davis, Towns, DeMarcus Cousins, Nerlens Noel, Willie Cauley-Stein and Bam Adebayo to the NBA as first-round draft picks.
“I think he Wiseman) is taking a chance. He will probably be fine because he’s a terrific talent, but he’s still taking a chance I don’t quite understand,” DeCourcy said. “But I have known John a long time and don’t worry about his recruiting. He knows what he’s doing. He’s still getting good players. He’ll continue to be successful and figure out what it takes. He always has and always will.”