If Kentucky has had a lot of anything during the decade of the 2010's it's big-time basketball recruiting victories thanks to the unprecedented string of talent procurement orchestrated by John Calipari.
So what were the three biggest recruiting wins for Calipari and Kentucky from the Class of 2010 through the Class of 2019?
Jeff Drummond
1. Julius Randle
2. Terrence Jones
3. Malik Monk
Travis Graf
1. Julius Randle
2. Andrew/Aaron Harrison
3. Bam Adebayo
Justin Rowland
1. Anthony Davis
2. Harrison twins
3. Malik Monk
Julius Randle helped power Kentucky all the way to the national championship game during his only season in Lexington. As a high school prospect from the Class of 2013 he was ranked the No. 2 player in the country coming out of Texas and headlining one of the best classes in the sport's history. Randle's other finalists were Kansas, Florida, and Texas, and this commitment was huge not only because of the player's ability but also because of the nature of the recruiting win. It was far from a given he was going to pick UK.
The Terrence Jones recruiting saga will remain in Kentucky lore as one of the wildest situations of its kind. Just moments after committing to Washington, his home state program, Jones ended up on a phone call with Calipari. Immediately the rumor mill started churning and, sure enough, the five-star forward ended up flipping to the Wildcats.
Malik Monk is one of the several hometown heroes who spurned their most prominent in-state college basketball program to play in Lexington. The former five-star shooting guard from Arkansas left Razorback fans and at least one media figure livid.
The Harrison twins, Andrew and Aaron being listed together as a single recruiting entity here, were particularly valuable because they did come as two Top-10 prospects nationally instead of one. The Lone Star prospects had narrowed their choices to Kentucky and Maryland with both programs believing they had a shot right up until the end when those players picked UK.
Edrice "Bam" Adebayo was the second-most high profile prospect from North Carolina to pick the Wildcats during the Calipari era, following Class of 2019'er John Wall's lead. Adebayo was believed to be a heavy NC State lean for much of his recruitment.
Anthony Davis was ranked the No. 2 high school prospect in the Class of 2011 on Rivals.com and while his recruitment was not the huge mystery that some others here were, in his only season at Kentucky he accomplished just about everything an elite player could hope to.