It seems like we say this every year, but Kentucky’s 2013 class has the potential to be Coach Cal’s most impressive recruiting class ever. Back in ’09 I remember thinking to myself that there would never be a recruiting class with as much talent as Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe and Orton. I also thought there would never be a better team than all those guys paired with Liggins, Miller, Dodson and Patterson. I just thought that if we didn’t win a championship that year, then we could never do it.

Then in 2011, Coach Cal brought in another class with more stars than a constellation. Davis, MKG, Teague and Wiltjer dethroned Wall and the boys in my opinion. Depending on what recruiting site you looked at, Kentucky had two of the top three players in the nation and four in the top 26. The best center, the best small forward, and the second best point guard were all committed. There’s no way it can get any better than that…is there?

Not so fast. There’s a long way to go for the class of 2013, but the possibilities for Kentucky are almost frightening. According to Rivals, four of the top five players in the country have Kentucky very high on their lists. Five of the top nine players in the nation, and seven of the top 26 are all very high on UK.

Since the classes of ’09 and ’11 were pretty much best-case scenario, I’m going to do a little comparison of those classes with the best-case scenario for the class of ’13.

Class of ‘09

John Wall – #1 overall player, #1 PG, 5 stars

DeMarcus Cousins – #2 overall, # 1 PF, 5 stars

Daniel Orton – #22 overall, #4 C, 5 stars

Eric Bledsoe – #23 overall, #4 PG, 5 stars

Average: #12 overall, #2.5 best at position, 5 stars

Class of ‘11

Anthony Davis – #2 overall, #1 PF, 5 stars

Mike Kidd-Gilchrist – #3 overall, #1 SF, 5 stars

Marquis Teague – #4 overall, #2 PG, 5 stars

Kyle Wiltjer – #22 overall, #7 PF, 5 stars

Average : #7.75 overall, #2.75 position, 5 stars

Class of ‘13

Jabari Parker – #1 overall, #1 SF, 5 stars

Andrew Harrison – #2 overall, #1 PG, 5 stars

Julius Randle – #3 overall, #1 PF, 5 stars

Aaron Harrison – #5 overall, #1 SG, 5 stars

James Young – #9 overall, #3 SF, 5 stars  (I chose Young here instead of #19 overall SF Troy Williams, because, well, this is best-cast scenario)

Derrick Willis – #26 overall, #5 PF, 4 stars

Average: #7.6 overall, #2 position, 4.8 stars

If it played out like this, I’d probably have to go ahead and give the nod to the class of ’13. Like I said, there is obviously a lot that would have to go right for something like this to happen but if there is one NCAA coach you wouldn’t put it past, it would be Coach Cal. 

Go ‘Cats.

Twitter: @djackson_KSR