When Jeff Brassow signed with Kentucky in 1989, he was only the second player from Texas to ever join the Wildcats' basketball program and the first in almost four decades since Bob Burrow was a two-time All-American for Adolph Rupp.
Things have changed dramatically in the 2000s with a steady parade of Lone Star State prospects making their way to Lexington, including future NBA stars like Julius Randle, De'Aaron Fox, P.J. Washington, and Tyrese Maxey, as well as current Cats like Sahvir Wheeler, Cason Wallace, and Damion Collins.
Faced with a vacancy on his UK coaching staff following the departure of Jai Lucas -- coincidentally, another native Texan -- John Calipari seemed to make it clear that he wants to keep that pipeline flowing.
"The reputation is that kids in Texas really love Kenutcky," said K.T. Turner during his introductory press conference with the local media on Wednesday at Memorial Coliseum. "The Tyrese Maxeys, the Julius Randles, they love those guys, De'Aaron Fox. I mean, it's a big thing in Texas.
"And Texas is such a big state. There are so many players there. It's become a hotbed for college basketball recruiting."
Enter Turner, a 43-year-old son of a coach who has spent time working under another Hall of Famer in Larry Brown during his time on the SMU staff. That's when he began popping up on Calipari's radar, although previous attempts to bring him to UK did not pan out.
"It was a position that was off the road, not recruiting," Turner said. "That was just something at the time that I didn't want to do, so I talked to Coach Cal, and we agreed that it wasn't the right time."
Asked why he preferred to wait until he could land a position recruiting the nation's top talent, Turner said, "The relationship piece."
"I love building relationships with guys, with families," he continued. "I'm huge into that. Especially when they (sign with that school), it's a lifetime relationship. Even sometimes guys that I don't get, we stay in contact when they're done playing, and I'll still try to help them out any way I can."
One such player was five-star UK freshman guard Cason Wallace, whom Turner tried to recruit to Oklahoma. Turner joked that he got a call from Wallace's father upon taking the UK job that he's going to hold the coach to all the recruiting promises he made on behalf of another school.
It didn't take Turner long to learn what having the power of the UK brand behind him could mean.
"One thing I can tell you, I can use every contact in my phone now," he said. "At other schools, with the No. 1 or No. 2 player in the country, you might be, 'I'm not getting him,' but I feel like I can use every contact in my phone now, and I have plenty of them."
The Cincinnati native also learned that the recruiting game has helped keep him relatively young, even though the skills that once made him a prospect as well have long declined.
"Recruiting is a youthful thing," he said. "You have to be able to relate to them... to carry on a conversation and try to know things they're into. My son, now he's 12, and he helps me out some." (Laughs)
