ESPN college basketball Insider Jeff Borzello is a master when it comes to evaluating high school talent and he watches a lot of college basketball to see how right or wrong he was about a recruit. He went through and listed his top five underachieving programs according to their recruiting classes over the past four years.
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The bottom of the list includes UCLA, N.C. State, UNLV, LSU and finishes with Kentucky at the very top. So now you're wondering how the Wildcats could possibly be underachievers after getting to two Final Fours including a title game loss and a season that started 38-0. Well, Borzello explains it like this:
"Two Final Four appearances, a title-game loss and a 38-0 start to a season — and that's underachieving? One has to remember, this is all relative to recruiting class rankings. In the past four years, Kentucky has had three No. 2-ranked recruiting classes and the No. 1 class (in 2013). However, the Wildcats missed the NCAA tournament once in that span and then received a No. 8 seed the following year. Injuries have played a factor (Nerlens Noel in 2013), but there's also been underperforming among the elite recruits. What the last two seasons have shown, though, is that John Calipari is getting more and more accustomed to mixing freshmen and veterans. NCAA tournament absences likely won't be on the docket moving forward."
That's an interesting take on it. Would going 39-1 have made a difference or a higher seeding one season? It seems like the Kentucky Wildcats can't win in the eyes of the analysts even though they do it more often than not season in and season out.
You can find the full ESPN story here.
