The House of Blue

One of the things that's critical to the way Calipari opts to recruit and reload is having guys who are willing to do more than score points. Guys who take pride in defending, passing, rebounding. That's what made last year's group so good. You simply can't reach your goal of winning a title without supremely talented, but unselfish kids. If Poythress is anything like MKG that will go a long way.

Also have to credit Cal's ability to evaluate talent on this one. Poythress was rated consensus 25-35 last July when he started in on him.

Cal saw his potential to get better and better and now by the time he's on campus he's a consensus top 5 recruit.

Another thing I've noticed is that Cal loves guys with a strong work ethic. Becoming a pro doesn't happen by accident and Poythress is always in the gym.

I said last year (with many others) that Alex was easily the most underated player in the country and im was top 5. I think he will emerge as the leader of this team.

As for the MKG comparisons, MKG may be a better ball handler, ik.not so sure but if so its not by much, but imo Alex is an all around better scorer. He def a better shooter.

Other than the fact he is 7 feet tall, how does Isaiah Austin continue to be in the top 3??

Got a chance to watch him play pick up game at father/son camp and Poythress is a BEAST! I am very excited to see him in action for the cats this upcoming season. He plays viceous and in attack mode 100% of the time. Also stroke the 3 consistently... He should def be ranked WAY above the #8 ranking that he has.

Chris,

I know you're right and this happens all the time, but it seems silly.

Think about this, many analyst said WCStein was raw, but had the potential to be one of the best players at his position in this class... so why is he rated 40+ and Austin top 5?

Don't get it. Austin shouldn't be rated that high, at least right now.

From the sounds of things, new 247Sports national recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer may have a final re-working of the 2012 rankings.

Based on Meyer's recent comments, you could see Poythress climb even higher.

Supposedly Poole and Knight were really close and we took the commitment from Poole very early. I've always kind of wondered if it was to help secure knights commitment.

No because Poole even though pretty athletic had no real upside. He wasn't super athletic nor did he have really good size. If we're gonna take someone ranked a little lower than usual it needs to be someone like WCS that has loads of upside.