Kentucky's John Calipari: 2016 recruiting class 'could be one of our best ever'
Kentucky head men's basketball coach John Calipari thinks the program's 2016 recruiting class could end up being the best he's ever assembled.
Kentucky is pursuing six of the top seven recruits in the 2016 class, as ranked by ESPN. That list includes 6-foot-10 power forward Harry Giles (No. 1), small forward Josh Jackson (No. 3), point guard Dennis Smith Jr. (No. 4), shooting guard Malik Monk (No. 5), point guard Kobi Simmons (No. 6), and small forward Miles Bridges (No. 7).
Calipari was on the road this past weekend, visiting recruits and hoping to secure commitments.
"This year's recruiting class, where we're in the middle of right now, could be one of our best ever,'' Calipari said Tuesday in an appearance on the ESPNU college basketball podcast, according to Andy Katz of ESPN.
"The kids that I'm seeing that we're involved with that I feel really good about. This could be our best class ever. And that's a pretty scary statement coming from who we've been able to recruit over the last 25 years."
Kentucky's 2016 recruiting class could have been even better had Jamal Murray not reclassified to 2015. Murray averaged 16 points for the silver medal-winning Team Canada at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, including 22 points in an overtime victory over the United States in the semifinals.
Calipari believes Murray can replicate the success of Karl-Anthony Towns, who came to Lexington a year ahead of schedule and went on to become the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
"I think he'll come in and be able to score for us,'' Calipari said. "You watch that game (against the USA), you've gotta put the ball in his hands We knew he was good, we had recruited him so we knew, we just weren't sure he'd reclassify. ... If you're a smart kid and you can leave that year early, like Karl Towns and he ended up being the No. 1 pick. He should've gone back to high school? When you're of the right age and you have the academics you should do it. That's what we didn't know about Jamal."