John Calipari Calls out Former Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski for Copying One-and-Done Approach

The evidence is there too. From Calipari’s first year at Kentucky in 2009 to 2016, Duke only signed two top-ten recruits in the same class twice, of eight recruiting classes. In that same span, Kentucky signed two or more top-ten players six times. In contrast, starting with the 2017 class to Coach K’s final recruiting class in 2022, Duke signed three top ten players in the same class three times over those six recruiting classes.

Duke’s recruiting success in that span coincided with when Kentucky was negatively recruited against for using the platoon method in 2014-15 and when the assistant recruiting level dropped as well.

Kentucky looks to have regained momentum starting with the 2023 recruiting class, signing the No. 1 class, featuring three players in the top six and five players in the top 50. Looking forward, Calipari has expressed his optimism and confidence for Kentucky over the next three recruiting classes.

As far as the rest of the podcast, Coach K complimented this year’s Kentucky squad, telling Cal, “‘I really like your team. They’re unselfish, they pass to one another, they create shots.’ He says, ‘Your big guys coming back are gonna make you a little bit different.'”