Kentucky absent from new team rankings
MORE: Past Team Rankings | 2013 Rivals150
Ever since John Calipari took over the Kentucky basketball program in the spring of 2009, the Wildcats have finished with the top recruiting class in the country. With Kentucky coming off of a national title and four-straight top-ranked recruiting classes, the casual recruiting observer might be surprised to see Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators topping Rivals.com's early list of the top class of 2013 recruiting classes.
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Kentucky and other traditional powers such as Duke, UCLA and Ohio State are entirely absent from the top 20.
But there's a long way to go - eight more months - before the 2013 is signed and complete.
Currently, only two of the top 10 players in the recently updated Rivals150 for the class of 2013 have made verbal commitments. As it turns out, both five-star power forward Chris Walker (No. 6 nationally) and five-star point guard Kasey Hill (No. 7 nationally) have committed to play for Donovan in their home state. In addition to the two highly rated players, the Gators also landed another solid Florida native in three-star big man Schuyler Rimmer. Give a two-time national champion and ace recruiter such as Donovan a chance at local talent like that and it should be no surprise to see him lapping the field early.
With 82 of the nation's top 150 prospects - including 23 of the top 30 and every member of the national top five - still open in their recruitments, much is going to change. Florida isn't going away - it is still in the running for more elite prospects. And while Calipari and the Wildcats are off the radar right now, they still could land a fifth No. 1 class in a row. They are heavily in the mix for No. 1 prospect Julius Randle, twins Aaron Harrison (No. 3) and Andrew Harrison (No. 4), James Young (No.8) and considered the favorite to land the class of 2014's top player Andrew Wiggins, who is expected to move into the class of 2013.
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