If there was any remaining doubt about whether John Calipari relocated his recruiting mojo, DJ Wagner erased it Monday, when the five-star Camden (N.J.) High School guard and No. 1 player in the class of 2023 announced his commitment to Kentucky.
- Wagner’s decision gives Calipari the top-ranked class in college basketball for the eighth time since he arrived in Lexington in 2009.
- Per the 247Sports Composite, the Wildcats have No. 1 Wagner (combo guard), No. 2 Justin Edwards (small forward), No. 6 Aaron Bradshaw (center), No. 9 Robert Dillingham (point guard) and No. 29 Reed Sheppard (combo guard) coming to campus next summer.
- It’s a major recruiting win for Kentucky against rival Louisville. Both sides had familial connections: Calipari coached DJ’s father, Dajuan, at Memphis, while first-year Cardinals coach Kenny Payne played with DJ’s grandfather, Milt, at Louisville and then hired Milt into a support staff member role.
Scouting report
This is as talented of a recruiting class as Calipari has had in a few years.
Wagner is a proven three-level scorer and competitor that can put up big numbers in a hurry. The fit for the 6-foot-3, 165-pound combo guard makes a lot of sense. Calipari puts the ball in his guard’s hands and lets them go. Wagner is similar to Tyrese Maxey as he can score and facilitate at a high level.
Pairing Wagner alongside five-star Justin Edwards will be must-see TV and will be hard to stop for opposing SEC teams. The Wildcats’ 2023 class potentially has three future NBA Draft lottery picks. — Bass
Why is this big for Kentucky?
While Calipari has never stopped signing five-star players, his ability to land the very best of the best waned a bit in recent years. This class is a resounding statement that he can still dominate on the recruiting trail. On paper, it’s his best haul in a decade.
With Wagner on board, Kentucky has four of the top 10 players in 2023 after not signing more than two top-10 prospects in a class since the talent binge of 2013, when Calipari gobbled up eight high school standouts, six McDonald’s All-Americans and five top-10 players, led by Julius Randle and the Harrison twins. That class was the catalyst for two Final Four runs.
GO DEEPER
Kentucky lands DJ Wagner: 10 thoughts on John Calipari’s top-ranked recruiting class
Ultimately, that’s how the quality of this 2023 group will be judged. While Kentucky is adding the No. 1 or No. 2-ranked point guard, combo guard, small forward and center in the country, it remains to be seen how good this class actually is in the context of history.
Calipari signed the No. 1-ranked class in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2020. Some of those groups lived up to the billing. John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe were pretty good, right? Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague led the Wildcats to a national title as freshmen. De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Bam Adebayo weren’t even the top-rated class in 2016, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many trios better than that over the last decade.
On the other end of the spectrum: Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel-led 2012 class, Skal Labissière-led 2015 class and BJ Boston-led 2020 class were all ranked No. 1 too. Those groups delivered the three most disappointing seasons of the Calipari era. — Tucker
Where does the 2023 class rank in UK history?
Only time will tell that, but the message delivered by this class is a significant one regardless of how the players pan out.
Calipari fended off his longtime former assistant, Payne, to land Wagner. That was a major flex for the 63-year-old coach. So was prying Edwards away from Rick Barnes and Tennessee after the Volunteers were clear favorites to land him just a few months ago. And convincing Bradshaw to pick college over the NBA G League Ignite, then convincing him to pick UK over its rival.
These are old-school, classic Calipari power moves. Swaggy Cal stuff. There is a debate to be had about the quality of the 2023 high school class nationwide. It might be a down year for talent, generally speaking. But you can only recruit what’s out there, and we know this much for certain: Kentucky just got a ridiculous share of the very best available.
Cats fans used to count on that until they couldn’t anymore. Last year, UK’s class ranked — gasp! — only sixth nationally. So in that way, Calipari is back. — Tucker
Required Reading
(Photo: Courier-Post / USA Today Network)
