Let's make this clear from the get-go: Kentucky is doing just fine with its basketball recruiting.
The Wildcats added three Top 50 prospects in the early signing period last week _ five-star guards Immanuel Quickley and Keldon Johnson, and four-star guard Tyler Herro _ and another No. 1-ranked recruiting class for John Calipari isn't out of the question for this 2018 cycle.
That said, there has been a trend in recent recruiting classes that is impossible to ignore.
The Cats are striking out with top-five recruits a lot more than they used to.
In Calipari's first five recruiting cycles at Kentucky (2009-13), the Cats landed a total of eight players in the top five of the composite rankings for their respective classes: John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Brandon Knight, Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Nerlens Noel, Julius Randle and Andrew Harrison.
Over the five most recent classes (2014-2018), UK has landed just two such players: Karl-Anthony Towns and Skal Labissiere.
Kentucky has still finished with either the No. 1 or No. 2 recruiting class nationally in the past four cycles (and the Cats are currently ranked No. 4 for the class of 2018 with more additions likely), but there's no denying the drop-off with top-five talent.
The Cats' relative fall in that area has also coincided with Duke's rise.
The Blue Devils had three top-five signees during Calipari's first five cycles at Kentucky, but they've successfully recruited seven such players in the five most recent cycles. All seven of those players _ Jahlil Okafor, Brandon Ingram, Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, Marvin Bagley, Cameron Reddish and R.J. Barrett _ were heavily recruited by Kentucky.
So, what happened?
What has Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski done to, seemingly, snatch Calipari's title as the king of college basketball recruiting?
