James Crisp/Special to Courier Journal
LEXINGTON - John Calipari is not used to recruiting failures at Kentucky.
But it would be difficult to look at the Wildcats’ efforts to land a big man in the 2020 cycle and describe them any other way.
James Wiseman, the No. 1 prospect in the class, was long considered a Kentucky lean but signed with Memphis when the Tigers hired Penny Hardaway, his high school and AAU coach. Fellow five-star big men Isaiah Stewart (Washington), Vernon Carey (Duke), Jaden McDaniels (Washington), N’Faly Dante (Oregon), Matthew Hurt (Duke) and Oscar Tshiebwe (West Virginia) all considered Kentucky before picking other schools.