A couple weeks ago I wrote an editorial on this site titled “Calipari and Kentucky will reload not rebuild.”

I predicted that the Wildcats would lose junior Patrick Patterson and their freshman trio of John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe to the NBA draft. All four of those players recently announced their intentions to leave early for the NBA, and in addition freshman Daniel Orton who only averaged 3.4 points per game last season announced that he would bolt for the league.

This mass defection had some Kentucky fans pushing the panic button, sure John Calipari is a top notch recruiter but can he really reload after losing all that talent.

Yesterday, John Calipari began to put to rest some of those fears to rest when he landed Brandon Knight the number one rated prospect in the class of 2010 (as rated by rivals.com). Knight is a point guard out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He will in all likelihood take over John Wall’s previous position as the floor general of Calipari’s fast-paced offense.

Here is a scouting report of Knight as told by rivals analyst Jerry Meyer.
“Knight might not be a freak athlete like the top point guards before him, but he possesses a complete game of an elite nature. His physical strength and tight ball handling get him wherever he needs to be on the court. And his shooting skill and court vision allow him to consistently finish plays. On the other side of the ball he is an elite defender who more than adequately rebounds his position. Top off all of this with high level competitiveness, and you have the top prospect in the country” said Jerry.

Three things stick out when reading Meyer’s description of Brandon Knight’s game. He says that he is a lockdown defender, has court vision that allows him to finish plays, and he has a high level of competiveness. These are all qualities Coach Cal loves his players to have. John Calipari’s teams get up in your face defensively with immense pressure. Derrick Rose and John Wall excelled so much in Calipari’s offense because of their court vision and the ability to get to the rim and finish plays, from what the scouting report says it looks like we should expect more of that from Brandon next year in Lexington. Finally, any coach loves to have kids that have top flight competitiveness.

While speaking with the media Knight made it clear why he chose to sign with Wildcats in the end.

"The things that's done with previous players ... I think that's what entices a lot of players with that situation," Knight said.

I imagine Coach Cal’s sales pitch to Knight as to why he should play for the Big Blue wasn’t that complicated. Derrick rose stayed one year and became a lottery pick, Tyreke Evans stayed one year and became a lottery pick, John Wall stayed one year and (barring all NBA general managers going crazy) will become a lottery pick. His past players earned those high draft selections with their excellent play on the court. The pattern has become simple though playing point guard for John Calipari= a one year college stay and a fast track to an extremely high draft selection.

Brandon Knight gives Kentucky three signees in the class of 2010. The Wildcats have also signed five star center Enes Kanter and forward Stacey Poole who is ranked 27 in the 2010 rivals top 150 players.

By the way on the day Calipari landed the number one recruit in the class of 2010, he also landed the number one recruit in the class of 2011 Michael Gilchrest. The revolving door of freshman phenoms keeps spinning in Lexington. In fact I hear they are thinking about renaming senior day freshman day.