John Calipari takes aim at negative recruiting in swaggy Twitter statement

John Calipari’s been a busy man the past few days, visiting all of his top 2017 prospects in the opening days of the fall recruiting period. As he often does, Cal took to Twitter to rave about the trip, which spanned nine states and twelve cities. For anyone else, that would be exhausting, but for Calipari, it’s exhilarating.

“Nothing excites me more than what I’ve done the last few days,” Cal wrote on social media. “I’ve been in nine states and 12 cities to build relationships with young people and their families. I don’t take the opportunity to hear their stories and dreams lightly. We want to chase their dreams with them.”

Cal being Cal, he couldn’t help but take aim at his fellow college basketball coaches for the negative recruiting he’s encountered along the trail.

“It’s not about opinions. It’s about real numbers. They carry the day. You’ve done your homework. Trust yourself. You know what’s true and what’s not. #PlayersFirst”

Calipari visited Mohamed Bamba, Kevin Knox, John Petty, Trae Young, and PJ Washington this weekend, has a meeting lined up with Hamidou Diallo this afternoon, and a meeting with Quade Green later this week. Something tells me he’ll share some of these real numbers:

• 100%: The success rate of one-and-done players being drafted in the first round under John Calipari at Kentucky (18-18)
• 68.3%: The success rate of players who have finished their careers under John Calipari at Kentucky being drafted (28-41)
• 39: The number of players John Calipari has coached that have been drafted
• 28: The number of players John Calipari has coached at Kentucky that have been drafted
• 25: The number of players John Calipari has coached that have been drafted in the first round
• 20: The number of players John Calipari has coached at Kentucky that have been drafted in the first round
• 9: The number of consecutive NBA Drafts in which John Calipari had at least one player drafted in the Top 10. (For comparison’s sake, no other school has had even a first rounder in each of the past nine drafts)
• 4: The number of #1 overall draft picks in Calipari’s career (Derrick Rose, John Wall, Anthony Davis, Karl Towns)

The list goes on and on and on…