



John Calipari stood outside the Kentucky locker room in April, maybe an hour after capturing the national championship and told a group of reporters that while winning it all was the fulfillment of a career-long dream, he had bigger, grander goals still.





“Before I leave coaching,” Cal said that night, “I want to coach a team that goes 40-0. Before I’m out of here. Before I’m done. And the reason is, they say it can’t be done. So let’s go try to do it. Let’s try to win them all.”

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On Wednesday, like seemingly every recent week before it, Calipari landed another highly touted recruit and moved closer to challenging for that perfection. Not this season, mind you, but next.

The 2012-13 Wildcats are ranked third in the preseason coaches’ poll, so they could certainly win a national title. Calipari, however, is already warning the group may not be as good, at least from day one, as the Anthony Davis-led team from last year that finished 38-2.

It’s 2013-14 that’s actually shaping up as something historic and before we go any further, is it absurd, unfair, ridiculous and completely speculative to talk about next year when this year hasn’t even started?

Of course it is. But it’s recruiting season too and Calipari started it last April by bringing up the 40-0 stuff in the first place.

On Wednesday, UK secured another top recruit for the current high school senior class, this time 6-foot-9 Marcus Lee of Antioch, Calif. (Deer Valley). Lee, who is ranked No. 15 overall in the class of 2013 by rivals.com.

Last week, Calipari landed 6-8 James Young of Rochester Hills, Mich. (Rochester), the No. 8-rated player. The prior week delivered commitments from twins Andrew and Aaron Harrison, both 6-5 guards, out of Fort Bend, Texas (Travis). They ranked third and fourth, respectively, in the country.

That’s four top 15 recruits in one class, and signing day is not until next month. The vaunted Fab Five of the University of Michigan [high school class of 1991] only had three recruits rated as high – Chris Weber, Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose. The others, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson, were top 100 prospects.

Kentucky also boasts a commitment from 6-8 Derek Willis of Mt. Washington, Kent. (Bullitt East), the nation’s 126th-rated prospect.

[From Rivals.com: Wildcats return to top of 2013 team rankings]

The big thing is that Calipari isn’t done. Not even close. There are still two possible major pick-ups. The first would be the nation’s No. 1-rated senior, 6-foot-9 Julius Randle of Plano, Texas (Prestonwood Christian Academy).

That alone would give Kentucky the greatest recruiting class of all-time.

Then there is the possibility that the nation’s top-rated junior, Andrew Wiggins of Thornhill, Canada (via West Virginia, Huntington Prep) would reclassify as a senior and join the absurd collection of talent. Wiggins hasn’t decided whether to do it – he’s old for his grade and doing so would get him to the NBA a year sooner.

If he does, he’ll supplant Randle as No. 1 overall in the Class of 2014 and could give UK five top 10 recruits and six of the top 15.

That isn’t recruiting, that’s drafting.

It’s also the kind of talent that can get you dreaming of 40-0. Such an accomplishment would also take chemistry, luck, health, coaching, karma and a million other variables, not the least of which is beating SEC rival Florida two or three times when the Gators are putting together their own strong recruiting class.

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