Heat Check: John Calipari's Best Recruiting Heaters

John Calipari is on a heater right now. Since bowing out of the NCAA tournament, Calipari has received commitments from three elite prospects: E.J. Montgomery (2018), Ashton Hagans (2019) and Tyrese Maxey (2019). Throw in DJ Jeffries (2019), who committed before the first weekend of the tournament, and Kentucky has a fourth commitment in a two-month span, all of whom are five-star prospects in their respective classes. He's also made up a ton of ground with several other targets in the 2019 class. But is this Calipari's best run in recruiting? Not quite. He's had some pretty hot stretches on the recruiting trail over the years:   2009: First Class In his first season at Kentucky, Cal locked up John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Darnell Dodson in a 41-day span. He had only been on the job a couple of months and he completely revamped the program with his first recruiting class, which also included leftovers Jon Hood and Daniel Orton from Billy Gillispie's efforts.

DeMarcus Cousins – 4/8/2009 Eric Bledsoe – 4/24/2009 Darnell Dodson – 4/24/2009 John Wall – 5/19/2009

Spring of 2010 After his first full year of recruiting in Lexington, Cal brought in six newcomers (although one, Enes Kanter, never played) that would eventually lead him to his first Final Four on the job. He earned commitments from four of them -- Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb, Eloy Vargas and Terrence Jones -- in only 41 days after the 2010 season ended. He also added two players to the following class with early commitments from Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague in that same 41-day span. Kanter was only a month earlier.

Enes Kanter – 3/23/2010 Brandon Knight- 4/14/2010 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – 4/15/2010 Doron Lamb – 4/17/2010 Marquis Teague - 4/22/2010 Eloy Vargas – 5/15/2010 Terrence Jones – 5/19/2010

October 2013 Calipari's next great heater came in the fall of 2012 when he added four commitments in only two weeks. He got the top two guards in the country in Andrew and Aaron Harrison, and two top-20 five-star forwards in James Young and Marcus Lee.

Aaron Harrison – 10/4/2012 Andrew Harrison – 10/4/2012 James Young – 10/11/2012 Marcus Lee – 10/17/2012

He would later add the No. 1 power forward and the No. 1 center, plus two Kentuckians, for what is his best class on paper. Fox, Monk and Bam in one week Cal filled out his entire 2016 class in the early signing period, and landed the three biggest commits of the bunch within days of each other. De'Aaron Fox, Bam Adebayo and Malik Monk all committed in a one-week span to join Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones, who had already committed earlier that fall.

De’Aaron Fox – 11/12/2015 Bam Adebayo – 11/17/2015 Malik Monk – 11/18/2015

Class of 2017 The freshmen we just watched in the 2017-18 season had a group commit together in the fall period. PJ Washington and Nick Richards committed on the same day to get the ball rolling, and were followed by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Quade Green the following week.

PJ Washington – 11/10/2016 Nick Richards – 11/10/2016 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – 11/14/2016 Quade Green – 11/19/2016

Jarred Vanderbilt wasn't too far behind with a late-December commitment. Spring 2018 Cal's current heater is among his best, too.

DJ Jeffries – 3/12/2018 EJ Montgomery - 4/9/2018 Ashton Hagans – 4/10/2018 Tyrese Maxey – 5/10/2018

[mobile_ad] For a trip down memory lane, see the commitment date of every player in the Calipari era. 2009 Jon Hood* – 5/8/2008 Daniel Orton* – 10/12/2008 DeMarcus Cousins – 4/8/2009 Eric Bledsoe – 4/24/2009 Darnell Dodson – 4/24/2009 John Wall – 5/19/2009 2010 Stacey Poole – 9/24/2009 Enes Kanter – 3/23/2010 Brandon Knight- 4/14/2010 Doron Lamb – 4/17/2010 Eloy Vargas – 5/15/2010 Terrence Jones – 5/19/2010 2011 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – 4/15/2010 Marquis Teague – 4/22/2010 Anthony Davis – 8/14/2010 Kyle Wiltjer – 8/29/2010 2012 Archie Goodwin – 9/21/2011 Willie Cauley-Stein – 10/31/2011 Alex Poythress – 11/10/2011 Nerlens Noel – 4/11/2012 2013 Derek Willis – 1/20/2012 Aaron Harrison – 10/4/2012 Andrew Harrison – 10/4/2012 James Young – 10/11/2012 Marcus Lee – 10/17/2012 Dakari Johnson – 1/5/2013 Julius Randle – 3/20/2013 Dominique Hawkins – 4/10/2013 2014 Karl-Anthony Towns – 12/4/2012 Tyler Ulis – 9/13/2013 Devin Booker – 10/31/2013 Trey Lyles – 11/5/2013 2015 Charles Matthews – 2/26/2014 Skal Labissiere – 11/13/2014 Isaiah Briscoe – 11/13/2014 Mychal Mulder – 4/28/2015 Jamal Murray – 6/24/2015 Isaac Humphries – 8/1/2015 2016 Sacha Killeya-Jones – 8/19/2015 Wenyen Gabriel – 10/1/2015 De’Aaron Fox – 11/12/2015 Bam Adebayo – 11/17/2015 Malik Monk – 11/18/2015 2017 PJ Washington – 11/10/2016 Nick Richards – 11/10/2016 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – 11/14/2016 Quade Green – 11/19/2016 Jarred Vanderbilt – 12/23/2016 Hamidou Diallo – 1/7/2017 Jemarl Baker – 4/11/2017 Kevin Knox – 5/6/2017 2018 Immanuel Quickley – 9/22/2017 Keldon Johnson – 11/11/2017 Tyler Herro – 11/14/2017 EJ Montgomery – 4/9/2018 2019 DJ Jeffries – 3/12/2018 Ashton Hagans – 4/10/2018 Tyrese Maxey – 5/10/2018