Coach Calipari is on fire. He is the “It” Coach at the “It” Program, and he has enjoyed two straight #1 recruiting classes. How about a third straight, and potentially, the greatest recruiting class of all time?

2011 verbal commitments currently on board:

1) Michael Gilchrist (6’7, 210 lbs., SF-#1 Rivals; #1 ESPN ranked player)
Gilchrist is an athletic freak described as a “high energy slasher” with a nice outside touch. He is long, fast, strong and has an incredible game IQ. The consensus #1 recruited player in the Nation.

2) Marquis Teague (6’2, 175 lbs., PG – #5 Rivals; #3 ESPN)
With the quickest first step of any 2011 PG recruit, Teague is a lightning fast dribbler made for Coach Cal’s offense. He is also an excellent on the ball defender. He does need to work on the outside jumper.

3) Anthony Davis (6’10, 210 lbs, PF/C-#8 Rivals; #12 ESPN)
Davis is described as a wiry, athletic freak with great hands, a soft shooting touch, and a guy who can run the floor and finish with the best of them. A late bloomer, Davis’ stock is rising, and he may end up the #1 ranked 2011 player by next Summer. Davis does need to add some bulk but he will be an impact player day one.

2011 Players to watch that have expressed heavy interest in UK:

Quincy Miller (6’8, 200lbs, PF #2 Rivals; #2 ESPN) – Lean, athletic, finisher (See Terrence Jones).
Anthony Wroten (6’4, 180 lbs, #26 Rivals) – A physical slashing PG who can play off guard.
Andonis Thomas (6’6, 210 lbs, SF #18 Rivals) – A skilled slasher perfect for the DD offense.

Read further about recruiting ranks here:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/rankings/rank-2288

Shane Sidebottom, Big Blue Lowdown contributor

Jones, a smooth 6-9 power forward from Portland, Ore., was originally committed to Washington, but late Wednesday night news outlets were reporting that he would indeed sign with Kentucky.

Adding Jones to a backcourt of Enes Kanter and Eloy Vargas gives UK instant size, strength and athleticism on the interior. Judging by his highlight reel, Jones is a guy who can do a little bit of everything–handle the rock, rebound, block shots and intimidate opponents in the low post.

With Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb complementing DeAndre Liggins, Darius Miller and (hopefully) Darnell Dodson on the wing and in the backcourt, this Kentucky roster is completely loaded once again.

Yes, the Cats will be young and go through growing pains this season. But in today’s game, where talent is being lost to the pros at an incredible rate, UK can match up man for man with just about anyone. Should be interesting to see how the roster comes together (and whether everyone qualifies) over the summer.

It has been confirmed by several sources that consensus top five recruit Doron Lamb will officially commit to Kentucky tomorrow, choosing the Cats over the likes of Arizona, UConn, Kansas and West Virginia.

Things have brightened up considerably for fans in Lexington. After Kentucky lost five underclassmen to the NBA draft this week, Cal went out and hauled in the nation’s top high school player in Brandon Knight. Now he gets a bona fide scholastic all-star in Lamb, a 6-4 shooting guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., with ridiculous athleticism and quickness.

The chips haven’t finished falling yet, either. Kentucky is still high on the list of prep super studs Josh Selby, C.J. Leslie and Terrence Jones. At this point UK may be looking at another glut of talent so thick that playing time will be hard to find next season.

Our hope is that somehow Daniel Orton comes back to school and readies himself for another season, where his skill set could easily make him an overall No. 1 pick by the 2011 NBA draft. With Orton lining up next to the multi-skilled Enes Kanter in the post, and ideally Jones and/or Leslie right behind them on the depth chart, the Wildcats will see very little production drop-off next year.

As for the backcourt, we can see Knight-Lamb as the fill-ins for John Wall and Eric Bledsoe, while Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins could be huge contributors at the wing position.

The future is once again intensely bright, while Calipari peddles his wares on the recruiting circuit. We just have to hope and pray that the stink of corruption and deception are not following in tow. Let’s enjoy the run while we can, folks.

Knight, from the Pine Crest School in Boca Raton, Florida, chose the Wildcats over a marquee list of suitors that includes the likes of Kansas, Syracuse and Connecticut.

Expected to start and contribute heavily right away, Knight joins big man Enes Kanter and wing Stacey Poole as UK’s lone 2010-’11 recruits. Many in the Big Blue Nation expect this commitment to open the door for perhaps several other big name players, most notably C.J. Leslie, an athletic big man who played his high school ball at the same Raleigh, N.C. school as John Wall.

In related news, the Cats also picked up a huge commitment for 2011, when Michael Gilchrist, considered by many the most coveted player in this year’s junior class, also verbally committed to the Wildcats.

After a tough two weeks since UK’s disappointing loss to West Virginia in the Elite Eight, this was a big day for Kentucky.

Most reports have made it a foregone conclusion since January that John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson would leave UK for NBA riches when the season ended. But due to reports by draft guru Chad Ford and a range of others, it’s looking highly probable that Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton will also be on their way out of Lexington prematurely.

We have to be honest, the BBL thinks that all five of the above are first rounders. While Bledsoe has been up and down this season, his ridiculous ceiling and a weak PG crop make him a near lock to be taken in the top 15. As for Orton, how many 6-10 guys have the explosiveness, timing, strength and all-around raw ability that he possesses? We didn’t think so, either.

So what does it all mean for the 2010-11 Cats?
Thankfully, the buzz surrounding UK’s mass early exodus has been softened a bit by the news that 6-9, 240-pound power forward Enes Kanter has committed to play for Coach Calipari next season. Kanter, a Turkish national playing prep school ball in Switzerland, has a typical European face up game in a big body. He will help ease the loss of some serious low post firepower.

Still, Kanter represents only Kentucky’s second commit for next year—the other being SF Stacey Poole. Right now, the Cats are a lock to lose six players and could lose as many as eight. So, at minimum, UK will need to find four more bodies.

We’ve already reported here that Brandon Knight is a done deal to Kentucky. We’re staying with that. We also think there are a few big time names who have Lexington on their super short list, and we are going to assume that Orton returns. So as of today, here is our rough look at what type of roster the Cats will suit up next year:

• PG: Brandon Knight and Josh Selby or Doron Lamb
• SG: Deandre Liggins and Darius Miller
• SF: Darnell Dodson, Jon Hood and Stacey Poole
• PF: Enes Kanter and C.J. Leslie
• C: Daniel Orton and Josh Harrellson

The first thing you might say is, how can UK really expect to pull Knight and Lamb or Selby? To that we submit last year as exhibit A. If Cal could sign Bledsoe and Wall in the same class, win with them playing together in the same backcourt and then put them both in the first round of the NBA draft, why wouldn’t it happen again?

BBL’s Take
All in all, there are some other impact signees that UK could still make a run at. We also wouldn’t rule out a surprise return from Patterson, Bledsoe or Cousins. In fact, Calipari himself said earlier this week that “Wall wants to come back to Kentucky.”

There is still a ways to go, but we feel pretty good about going to battle with the rotation above. Would it win a national title? Probably not. But SEC title contender and top 25 staple would be almost a guarantee.

Rumors have been rampant that Knight was looking to confirm this news next week. But our sources say that it’s now a sure thing. The same sources also say C.J. Leslie is also pretty close to a certainty, as well.

We can’t give away our sources right now, but they include a member of the coaching staff at one of the school’s chasing Knight.

The biggest outstanding question now is what will Eric Bledsoe do when the season is over? It is our opinion that EB would be making a mistake to leave school early and that he should be the man at PG next year for UK. But the Knight signing certainly makes things interesting.

We’ll be back with more news as it comes available.

Ok, we’re only kidding. But it is true that with the runaway success of Calipari’s first Kentucky squad, there has been surprisingly little ink given to any speculation or discussion of what his second UK edition might look like. Moreover, given the hype and hoopla surrounding this year’s on-court Wildcats, the recruiting trail has been ominously devoid of major news and rumors.

And so we thought we’d take a moment to offer a ridiculously premature look at what Cat fans might be able to expect for next year.

What the Cats Lose
First, it must be said that the roster Kentucky is currently suiting up looks more and more like a once in a generation collection of talent. Regardless of how these Cats finish, it would not be fair to expect this level of overall ability every year, or even every 10.

Next year’s roster will probably play out a lot more like the bulk of Cal’s very solid Memphis teams. That is to say that it will feature good overall talent and depth, veteran leadership and a slew of long, rangy combo guard-forwards well-suited for the dribble drive motion.

At this point, the BBL is highly confident that Kentucky will see four players selected in the first round of the 2010 NBA draft. Add to that the loss of three seniors, and there is going to be some significant turnover.

Next Year’s Nucleus
The nucleus of the team will lie with three juniors, Darnell Dodson, Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins (we can already envision the “3D” label being applied as the season gets going), each of whom is a potential star when not sharing the ball with an NBA-laden roster. We expect these three to receive the bulk of the minutes at the 2 and 3 positions, with Liggins potentially logging some minutes at the 1, as well.

The Cats will also expect a huge step up from freshman Daniel Orton, who has the physical tools to be a future lottery pick in his own right. Josh Harrellson will add size and experience, and if Jon Hood gains strength and improves his long distance shooting touch, he could be a standout performer in the SEC.

Despite the heavy personnel losses and substantial drop in talent that Kentucky is likely to experience next season, these six players alone would constitute a legit top 25 worthy contender. But they’ll have help, too.

Another Huge Class?
One of the givens about Coach Cal is his ability to attract blue chip talent and next year should be no exception. Unfortunately, due to the uncertain nature of having multiple potential early entries, the Cats haven’t exactly loaded up on signees to this point, with only 6-5 wing Stacey Poole having committed thus far.

With that said, we expect the Cats to sign at least two more, and possibly three, immediate impact players for next year and probably another two or three project players. Pretty much all of Kentucky’s top targets fit the bill of the 6-4 to 6-8 long athlete who can defend and play more than one position.

The latest rumors seem to indicate that the nation’s top scholastic player, 6-3 Brandon Knight, will hold off on announcing his choice until March or April. If that’s the case, this will strongly favor Kentucky, as Bledsoe and Wall’s fates will have been decided by then, opening the door for another big time PG.

Our prediction is that UK will land at least one of Brandon Knight and PG stud Josh Selby, to go along with three forwards, led by C.J. Leslie, who was John Wall’s teammate in high school and is said to love it in Lexington.

BBL Take
All in all, we think the Cats will suit up another top 10 team with Final Four potential, but once again will have to depend on youth in key positions. A rotation of Liggins, Dodson, Hood and Knight/Selby in the backcourt, to go along with Miller, Poole, Hood, Orton, Harrellson and Leslie in the frontcourt would certainly contend for an SEC championship and high NCAA seed.