Rundown of Calipari's recent recruiting efforts
John Calipari's not wasting any time.
Days after UK's elimination from the tournament he's on the road looking for players from the 2017 class and beyond.
As Cats Illustrated's T.J. Walker mentioned in his Insider Notes (3/22) from earlier this week it's long been expected that Calipari would hit the road recruiting with the full force of his efforts after the tournament.
Calipari is proving those expectations to be well-founded.
The first target Calipari checked on was The Patrick School's five-star 2017 big man Nicholas Richards. He's been a Kentucky target for many months and has also been linked to a host of other top programs across the country.
While Richards hasn't tipped his hand in terms of where he might be leaning, in the past he has spoken highly of Kentucky's development of big men. Following Calipari's trip to The Patrick School this week Richards tweeted that he had a great visit with the Cats' coach.
LINK: House of Blue discusses Calipari visiting Nick Richards.
That was only the beginning of Calipari's whirlwind tour of top targets.
Shortly after visiting Richards, Calipari stopped by to see 2018's Nazreon Reid. He's a 6-foot-9, 201-pound four from Roselle Catholic, the same school that sent Isaiah Briscoe to Lexington out of the 2015 recruiting class.
Reid is a five-star player who will be numbered among the very best players in the 2018 class. He's already got offers from Kansas, Maryland, NC State and many others.
LINK: Join the discussion on Calipari's trip to see Naz Reid.
And that's not all.
Last night Rivals.com's Eric Bossi also reported that Calipari had also shown interest in another player from Roselle Catholic -- Andre Rafus, a 2017 four-star wing. The lanky 6-foot-7, 185-pound junior has length to go with offers from Arizona State, UCONN, Florida, Kansas, Tennessee, UCLA, West Virginia and many others.
Although Rafus is ranked the No. 69 player in the Class of 2017, lower than many typical Calipari targets, he may have the raw tools and skills to see a later rise in the rankings.
LINK: Talk about Calipari's interest in Rufus as a potential 2017 wing at the House of Blue.