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John Calipari With Opportunity to Re-take the ‘One-and-Done’ Throne, Duke Says They Won’t Recruit as Many Freshmen

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Scheyer: © Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports, Calipari: © Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports

Since his time at Memphis, the “one-and-done” college basketball player has been John Calipari’s mantra. His most successful teams have been led by one-and-done star freshmen who have gone on to be lottery picks in the NBA draft.

For example, Derrick Rose, John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Julius Randle, Karl-Anthony Towns, De’Aaron Fox, etc. The list goes on and on.

For a long time, Calipari was alone at the top recruiting these one-year players. Many college coaches stayed away from recruiting these kinds of players in search of more “long-term” investments, a.k.a. guys who would stay with a program for 3-4 years. However, there was no denying the success that Coach Cal was having with his one-and-done type of players.

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In 2013, legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski stepped onto the one-and-done scene and began recruiting these kinds of players to Duke. After resisting the one-and-done trend for a while, he did a 180 and brought a ton of one-and-done talent to Duke until he retired after last season.

When Coach K embraced the one-and-done, he definitely gave Coach Cal a run for his money as they competed for many of the same highly touted recruits. In many cases, Coach K ended up with the upper hand in those battles.

Players that Kentucky missed out on that ended up at Duke include Zion Williamson (2018), RJ Barrett (2018), Paolo Banchero (2021), Harry Giles (2016), Vernon Carey Jr. (2019), Brandon Ingram (2015), etc.

For a while, it seemed like Coach K had stolen Coach Cal’s recruiting mojo.

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This year marks the first year that Mike Krzyzewski won’t be coaching the Duke Blue Devils since 1979. With Coach K out of the picture, it would be a prime opportunity for Coach Cal to resume his domination in recruiting.

The “Jon Scheyer Era” of Duke Basketball

In a recent interview with The Athletic, first-year Duke head basketball coach, Jon Scheyer, informed that a culture change was due for their program, starting with recruiting.

“I feel really good about what we’ve done, and what we’re doing, but going forward, to me, it’s important that we have continuity from season to season,’’ Scheyer told the Athletic. “From a culture perspective, it’s hard to do in college basketball, but we feel we can do it in a really good way, while still recruiting differently. I don’t think we’ll recruit as many freshmen in a class going forward.’’

“Unpack your bags,’’ he says. “It’s not a pit stop. You have to be all in.’’

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If this is the route that Duke decides to go with recruiting going forward, the opportunity for John Calipari to dominate recruiting one-and-done players once again is right there for the taking.

It does need to be noted that the article says, “Calipari, the mastermind of one-and-done winning, has hit the portal hard to get old.” However, this is primarily because of the increased competition in recruiting elite prospects.

Other programs have done well recruiting the one-and-done’s also, but Duke has by-and-far been Kentucky’s greatest competition. More teams are now also taking advantage of the revamped transfer portal, trying to cash in on talented players with division 1 experience.

With the revamped transfer portal and Kentucky’s largest recruiting competition intending to make a change with their recruiting, Coach Cal’s recruitment of the one-and-done stars may run unopposed.

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Kentucky fans may see John Calipari and the Wildcats rule college basketball once again, sooner rather than later.

BB Recruiting

2024 5-Star Wing Karter Knox Commits To Kentucky

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2024 five-star prospect, Karter Knox commits to the Kentucky Wildcats.
Adam Hagy | Overtime Elite

Over the weekend, Kentucky not only got a Top 5 road win against Tennessee, or be featured in Drake’s concert at Rupp Arena, but they also received a 2024 commitment from a five-star recruit.

Karter Knox, a top-20 player in the 2024 class, and brother of former Wildcat Kevin Knox, announced his commitment to Kentucky on Saturday. Karter committed to Kentucky over South Florida, Louisville, and a return to Overtime Elite, with the latter two being seen as the most likely destination until nearly the very end.

Why Kentucky? “Coach Calipari has sent a lot of people to the league and I want to be a pro,” Knox said after his commitment. “He told me he’s going to make me a pro. I’m ready to hoop and win a national championship.”

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Knox joins five-star prospects Jayden Quaintance, Boogie Fland, and Somto Cyril, and four-stars Travis Perry and Billy Richmond in Kentucky’s 2024 recruiting class. Together, Kentucky’s class now ranks 2nd in the nation, behind Duke.

Don’t think that Knox will be Kentucky’s last take in the class as there are murmurs of 2024 decomitmments and 2025 reclassifications including Darryn Peterson, Jasper Johnson, and most recently, Joson Sanon.

Scouting Report

Per 247Sports’ Adam Finkelstein.

Karter Knox is a true three-range scorer on the wing. He’s not quite as big as advertised, but he compensates with long arms, a naturally strong build, soft hands, good timing in a variety of different circumstances, and a versatile skill-set.

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While he’s a shooting threat from three with a soft natural ball and compact release, and even capable of making some threes on the move, he’s proven to be most efficient inside the arc to this point in his career.

He has very good perimeter footwork, can attack to either side off the dribble without wasting much motion, and plays through contact while doing so. He is a consistent pull-up threat in the mid-range area and showing an increased willingness to punish smaller defenders in the post. He’s shown flashes of passing ability and unselfishness, and is also a quality rebounder on the wing.

Defensively, he’s not the most laterally quick, but has enough size and length to be effective. The key is being consistently locked in though as he has times, particularly with his high school team, where he’s shown less sense of urgency on that end of the floor.

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2025 No. 1 Point Guard Darius Acuff Updates Recruitment, Talks About Kentucky Wanting Him to Be A Leader

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Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Darius Acuff, the No. 9 player and No. 1 point guard in the 2025 class, is one of Kentucky’s biggest recruiting targets in the class. While he has yet to drop a top list, Kentucky is believed to be in a really good position.

With his recruitment about to ramp up this spring, Acuff spoke with On3 to update his recruitment and discuss the two official visits he took last fall, one of which was to Kentucky for Big Blue Madness.

“It was lit down there,” he told On3. “I went down for Big Blue Madness. They’re a great school and have put a lot of players in the league. I’ve been doing my research on all the schools and I’ve seen all the guards they’ve had. They play my style of play and let their guards make plays. Their facilities were big and they definitely showed a lot of love when I was there. It was a great school.”

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During another interview with 247Sports, Acuff provided some insight into what the staff talked about during his visit.

“On the visit they told me to watch DJ Wagner and see how he talks and his leadership as the point guard of the team,” Acuff said. “They’d want to play my game if I were to go there, get to the next level and be a leader. Most of our conversations was about being a leader 24/7 because the team will go how you go.”

Kentucky recruiting Acuff as a leader suggests that the staff envisions him to be a key piece for the 2025 class, leading the team as the point guard.

Acuff’s lone other visit was to his home state school of Michigan, but he is looking to take more over the coming weeks and months, to Kansas (March 5th), Texas, Houston, Georgia Tech, and others.

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What is Acuff looking for in a school? “I’m going to be looking for a program and a coach that is going to let me do me and let me rock out,” he says. “I want to play with a coach who is going to teach me right from wrong and be there to support me. I’ve thought some about the pro stuff, I want to go to college though. Yeah, college for sure.”

John Calipari will let a player “rock out” if they prove themself to be good enough, just look at Rob Dillingham this season. That said, a proven three-level scorer, Acuff put up the fourth-highest point average in Nike’s EYBL last season.

For Kentucky, this is a positive update and certainly a recruitment to watch.

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Kentucky Expressing Interest In 2025 Kiyan Anthony, Son of Former NBA Star Carmelo Anthony

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Kentucky is showing interest in Kiyan Anthony, the son of former NBA star Carmelo Anthony.
Nike EYBL/Team Melo

Kentucky has been expressing interest in the son of former NBA star Carmelo Anthony, Kiyan Anthony. While he has the nation’s attention partly due to his father’s name, he is a top-40 player in the class of 2025.

Anthony played in the Marshall County Hoopfest in December, where the Kentucky staff was in attendance to check out 2024 Top-5 prospect VJ Edgecombe, who has since committed to Baylor. While there, they were impressed enough to reach out to Kiyan, who recently spoke with On3 to discuss his new Kentucky interests among other topics.

“I recently started to talk to Kentucky because they’ve been at our games and practices because of my teammate, VJ (Edgecombe). So I guess they were really impressed in practice and stuff,” Anthony said. He spoke with the Kentucky staff after his game in Marshall County, he said.

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He had some pretty good praise for Kentucky when he talked about his thoughts on the program. “I feel like Kentucky is top-tier when it comes to getting people to the league and just winning,” Anthony said. “Coach Cal, he’s not going to show any mercy. He really pushes his players to the max. Some people aren’t built for it, but I feel like the ones that are, they really take that next step and get to the league or get where they need to go.”

It needs to be noted that Kentucky has yet to extend an offer, but Anthony says, “The coaches over there are texting me, telling me to keep working. When they come to practice they say how I’m getting a lot better and they have their eyes on me.”

John Calipari has never been keen on the extra stuff that comes with having the son of a former NBA star (i.e. Bronny James) on his team, but could Kiyan be an exception? Time will tell, but at this moment it doesn’t seem likely.

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