On Tuesday night, John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats rolled past the Mike Krzyzewski 74-63 and kept players like Brandon Ingram and Grayson Allen in check. Even though Kentucky is winning on the court as they support a 3-0 record. The program is also winning off the court in terms of recruiting.
Last week during the early signing period, Kentucky picked up five-star point guard De’Aaron Fox who is the No. 7 best player in the 2016 class. This week Kentucky continued to get commitments from top tier talent as forward Edrice “Bam” Adebayo and guard Malik Monk announced they will be playing for the Wildcats in 2016-17. With the two of them committing, Kentucky has three players ranked in the top 10 in their respective class. Adebayo is ranked No. 6 while Malik Monk sits at No. 5.
Then you can’t forget the two other five-star players Kentucky has landed that are not in the top 10. Senior Wenyen Gabriel is a five-star power forward who committed on October 1. Then there was five-star forward Sacha-Killeya Jones who pledged to Kentucky in August.
Since Duke landed Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, and Frank Jackson, they had the top recruiting class. Grant it, the Blue Devils do have the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the 2016 class but Kentucky has five players with five-star talent and three of them on potential lottery picks in the 2017 NBA Draft. Adebayo from High Point Christian Academy has the potential to make a big impact once he steps on the court. Malik Monk who’s projected to be the 7th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft according to Draft Express, also can make a great impact to Kentucky with his aggressive scoring ability.
This year’s freshman class has already shown they are something special. Guard Jamal Murray, who was one of the top guards in the 2015 class had 16 points 5 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals in the victory against Duke. Then you can’t forget Isaiah Briscoe and Skal Labissiere who made their presence known in Big Blue Nation.
After the win against Duke, Kentucky is starting to make a case for the best team in the country. Now by picking up three top ten recruits, they made a case for having the best recruiting class in the nation.
Ryan McFadden is the freshman at Iona College and alumni from DeMatha Catholic High School. He is the founder of Inside The Locker Room and plans to major in Mass Communications. Follow him on Twitter @RMcFadden15
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