Calipari Talks Recruiting And Kanter's Future

Calipari Talks Recruiting And Kanter's Future

By Brent Carney


Posted: Sep 1, 2010 9:56 AM
Updated: Sep 1, 2010 9:58 AM

With four five-star recruits already committed to Kentucky, John Calipari says he's not done recruiting for the class of 2011.

"We're still out there actively looking," Calipari said Tuesday evening at a book signing in Lexington. ""We've got good news all summer. We've got a lot of kids that want to be here, want to be a part of this program."

The latest good news for Calipari came on Saturday night when Kyle Wiltjer, a six-foot-nine power forward from Oregon, verbally committed to Kentucky during a national televised high school all-star game. Recruiting services Scout.com and Rivals.com both list Wiltjer as a top-25 player in the class of 2011.

Wiltjer's commitment was the latest coup for Calipari. The prevailing opinion in the recruiting community was the he was still considering several schools. A commitment was thought to be weeks or months away. Yet Wiltjer committed to Kentucky, despite never taking a visit to campus.

"One thing is I wanted to surround myself with the best players and they have a very skilled recruiting class coming in and I thought it would be a great fit," he said while announcing his decision.

NCAA rules prohibit Calipari from talking directly about any recruit until the school has received his letter of intent, but he seemed to have Wiltjer on his mind when discussing the past few weeks.

"When young men say they want to play with other great players, that's what you want to hear," he said.

Rounding out the 2012 recruiting class - one that True Blue Fans already are comparing to the all-time greats in program history - is something Calipari will do cautiously.

"If we offered 25 scholarships here, there's 25 takers. So we got to be careful and know who we are going after," he said. "It's important for me that a young man really wants us, too."

Simply being a five-star talent is not enough for Calipari. He's searching for players who aren't afraid of having to compete with equally talented teammates for minutes and who can accept the extra attention that comes with playing at Kentucky.

"Things that go on at other campuses, it's not that big a deal. If that goes on at this campus, it's on 60 Minutes," he said.

Calipari has signed back-to-back top ranked classes in his first two years on the recruiting trail for Kentucky. Yet he thinks his success so early with the 2011 class is a result of the five first round picks from Kentucky in June's NBA draft.

"Don't say that's one of the biggest things that's ever happened because you'll get in trouble," Calipari said, taking a jab at True Blue Fans who took offense to his claim that draft night was among the most historic in program history.

""I said, ‘the next five years you'll feel the effects of that night' and it's already started," he said.

Decision Coming Soon On Kanter: Calipari confirmed Tuesday that Eloy Vargas has joined the team on campus and gave an update on the status of freshman Enes Kanter.

"Still going through the process," Calipari said of Kanter, who has been cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse but did not travel with the team to Canada. "The process with the foreign student will take a little longer, but I think in the next couple of weeks we'll know," he said.

Still nervous. He may be the most important piece on this years team.