Why would a recruit choose any school other than Kentucky?

An elite eight, a final four, and of course a national championship. In John Calipari's time in Lexington he has brought immediate success to the basketball program. He has restored order in the bluegrass and brought Kentucky back to its rightful place at the top of the college basketball world. But he has brought success to many others besides the fans. As Cal has always said he runs a players first program and it shows. In just three years Calipari has put a total of fifteen of his players in the NBA. That is an astounding number and after this year he is likely to add five more to that list. All of this begs the question, why would a recruit pick any school other than Kentucky?

The one knock on John Calipari was that he could not win a title with his one and done phenoms. He put to rest all doubt in 2012 by dominating the college basketball landscape all year long, and bringing an eighth title to the big blue nation. Kentucky now has it all. A recruit can spend one year in Lexington, get a huge amount of national exposure, have a legitimate shot at a title, and then go to the NBA draft and fulfill their dreams. You may argue that highly ranked recruits could go pro anywhere but Cal has proven that his philosophy works and he puts his players first no matter what.

Ask DeAndre Liggins or Josh Harrelson if Calipari helped them get into the NBA. Harrelson was a junior college transfer who became a starter, received national recognition, and became a legitimate NBA player. There's absolutely no way he would be where he is without Cal. Kentucky is a factory for NBA lottery picks and has everything a recruit could ever want. So if you're a recruit and the highly persuasive, charming Coach Cal shows up at your door flashing his shiny new championship ring how could you say no?

Well Calipari is set to bring in his best recruiting class yet in 2013, possibly getting six of the top seven players. So it looks like the answer to the question is that these recruits can't say no. In fact, they can't say yes fast enough.

Kentucky now sits on it's throne and awaits the next round of top recruits to enter Rupp Arena. As long as they have John Calipari, Kentucky can have anything, and any player that they want.