Kentucky

[Phantom Warrior]

I don't usually follow other programs' - especially those outside the BE - recruiting, but because Kentucky is in the mix for Grimes, I started checking out the Wildcats' roster more closely than I normally would. Here's what I discovered, which others may have already known, but I didn't.

Calipari signed eight players in the Class of 2017, all of whom will be freshmen this year. They include the following (with their RSCI ranking and 247 composite ranking in parentheses).

6'8" SF Kevin Knox (10/11)
6'8" PF Jared Vanderbilt (13/12)
6'7" PF P. J. Washington (14/15)
6'11" C Nick Richards (18/18)
6'0" PG Quade Green (23/26)
6'4" PG Shae Alexander (30/31)
6'5" SG Hamidou Diallo (46/10)*
6'4" SG Jamar Baker (72/72)

* Three of RSCI's individual ranking services had Diallo at #11, but two other rankings did not include him at all because he entered Kentucky second semester last season and practiced with the team.

On top of that Kentucky has two sophomores who entered in the Class of 2016.

6'9" PF Weneyn Gabriel (15/13)
6'10" PF Sacha Killeya-Jones (24/21)

My first reaction is that this is just crazy...insane. Eight Top 100 recruits in ONE recruiting class, with seven of the eight being Top 30 in one of the two composite rankings or both.