ESPN: Kentucky boasts 11 of the top 25 recruiting classes of one-and-done era

John Calipari has been a tenacious recruiter from the moment he set foot on Kentucky’s campus, raking in top-ranked recruiting classes year in and year out. Just yesterday, UK’s incoming recruiting class was officially ranked No. 1 by all of the major outlets, making it the fourth consensus No. 1 recruiting class of the John Calipari Era.

But how do his individual classes stack up against one another? And where does that fit in with the rest of college basketball?

Yesterday, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello published a breakdown of the top 25 recruiting classes since the beginning of the one-and-done era, and unsurprisingly, every one of Kentucky’s classes under Coach Cal made the list.

In the official ranking, two classes finished in the top three, four classes finished in the top ten, and eight finished in the top 15. The leader of the pack? Kentucky’s historic 2013 recruiting class that included five top-ten prospects, along with an additional top-25 signee.

Check out the entire breakdown:

• 1. Kentucky 2013: Julius Randle (No. 3), Andrew Harrison (No. 5), Dakari Johnson (No. 7), James Young (No. 8), Aaron Harrison (No. 9), Marcus Lee (No. 25)
• 3. Kentucky 2017: Kevin Knox (No. 10), PJ Washington (No. 12), Nick Richards (No. 17), Jarred Vanderbilt (No. 19), Quade Green (No. 24), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (No. 35), Jemarl Baker (No. 66)
• 6. Kentucky 2011: Anthony Davis (No. 1), Michael Gilchrist (No. 4), Marquis Teague (No. 8), Kyle Wiltjer (No. 19)
• 7. Kentucky 2016: Bam Adebayo (No. 5), De’Aaron Fox (No. 6), Malik Monk (No. 9), Wenyen Gabriel (No. 14), Sacha Killeya-Jones (No. 24)
• 11. Kentucky 2010: Brandon Knight (No. 4), Terrence Jones (No. 9), Enes Kanter (No. 25), Doron Lamb (No. 29), Stacey Poole (No. 51)
• 12. Kentucky 2009: DeMarcus Cousins (No. 4), John Wall (No. 5), Daniel Orton (No. 13), Jon Hood (No. 92), Eric Bledsoe, Darnell Dodson (JC)
• 13. Kentucky 2012: Nerlens Noel (No. 1), Alex Poythress (No. 13), Archie Goodwin (No. 15), Willie Cauley-Stein (No. 40)
• 15. Kentucky 2018: Keldon Johnson (No. 7), E.J. Montgomery (No. 14), Ashton Hagans (No. 20), Immanuel Quickley (No. 25), Tyler Herro (No. 30)
• 16. Kentucky 2015: Skal Labissiere (No. 2), Jamal Murray (five-star), Isaiah Briscoe (No. 13), Charles Matthews (No. 42), Isaac Humphries (No. 49), Mychal Mulder (JC)
• 19. Kentucky 2014: Trey Lyles (No. 6), Karl-Anthony Towns (No. 9), Devin Booker (No. 18), Tyler Ulis (No. 25)
• 24. Kentucky 2020: B.J. Boston (No. 6), Terrence Clarke (No. 9), Devin Askew (No. 24), Isaiah Jackson (No. 31), Lance Ware (No. 43), Cam’Ron Fletcher (No. 58)

Duke finished second on the list with six classes in the complete rankings, while North Carolina and UCLA were the only two other schools with multiple classes on the list. Ohio State, Memphis, and Kansas are among the other schools to make the list once.

For the full list and ESPN’s reasoning for each pick, check out the entire post here.