Ranking the 10 best Kentucky Wildcats of the John Calipari era

It will likely take basketball historians decades to fully grasp the complicated nature of John Calipari's tenure as the head coach at the University of Kentucky.

On the one hand, Coach Cal was one of the best recruiters in college basketball history, regularly bringing in the most talented freshmen in the country. He won a national title in 2012, nearly went undefeated in 2015, and turned Kentucky into a prolific NBA launching pad.

On the other hand, Cal suffered numerous upset losses in the NCAA Tournament, often while holding a superior talent edge. His teams won just one NCAA Tournament game in the last five years, an astonishing stat for one of college basketball's most blue-blooded programs, and this postseason trouble led to a growing enmity between Calipari and the Kentucky fanbase, which eventually crescendoed with his resignation in order to take the Arkansas job, where he's already done plenty to instigate his former fanbase.

The fact that Coach Cal is staying in the SEC opens the door to some must-see possibilities next season. Let's just say that when the Razorbacks visit Rupp Arena, it's going to be a hot ticket. Now that it's the offseason, though, and everyone has had almost two months to cool down (although who are we fooling, there are undoubtedly members of Big Blue Nation that are currently watching Kill Bill for educational purposes), it's as good a time as any to look back at some of the best Wildcat players that Calipari ever coached.

There are many ways to go about compiling a list like this, and while Calipari himself would probably be more inclined to list the players that were drafted the highest or have gone on to experience the most NBA success, we're choosing instead to only focus on what each player did in his time in Lexington, with extra weight given to postseason success, because that's what Kentucky fans rightly care about. So without further ado, here are the 10 best Kentucky Wildcats of the John Calipari era.

10. Julius Randle

Let's start with Julius Randle, who was the best player on the 2014 Kentucky team that made it all the way to the national championship game as an 8-seed. Randle was a rare college talent, a player who was bigger and stronger than nearly everyone he faced, but also someone who had a soft touch and could put the ball on the floor and drive to the basket. Once there, he had an array of post moves and the explosive leaping ability to finish with a soft bank, an up-and-under, or a rim-rocking dunk.

Randle averaged a double-double in his lone collegiate season, posting averages of 15.0 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, and he did most of his work down low. He actually made more shots from in the paint than any of his teammates even attempted, and his aggressiveness got him to the line more than seven times per game.

The lefty forward scored in double figures in all six of his NCAA Tournament games, and he supplemented his usual scoring and rebounding output with six assists in the Wildcats' thrilling upset of 1-seed Wichita State, giving fans a glimpse into his future as one of the NBA's best passing forwards. If it had been Randle and not Aaron Harrison who had hit the game-winner against the Shockers or against Wisconsin in the Final Four, he'd be even higher on this list.

Randle didn't have the same level of hype that Zion Williamson of Duke did six years later, but in a lot of ways, he was kind of the forerunner to the Duke prodigy at the college level. He only spent one year at Kentucky, but it was a memorable one for Wildcats fans.

9. Jamal Murray

Just as the old saying used to go that the only person that could hold Michael Jordan under 20 points was Dean Smith, John Calipari often had such a glut of talent that many of his best players saw far less playing time in college than they would once they reached the NBA. Devin Booker is the best example, but he's far from the only one during Calipari's tenure. The All-NBA guard has become one of the best scorers in the NBA, but at Kentucky, he played less than 22 minutes per game.

Jamal Murray had no such issue during his time playing for Coach Cal, as he averaged over 35 minutes per game. After the mass exodus of talent from the 2015 team, the 2016 Wildcats didn't have nearly the ceiling that some other Kentucky teams did, but along with backcourt mate Tyler Ulis, Murray kept them afloat. The Canadian import averaged 20 points per game on better than 40% shooting from three in leading Kentucky to a 27-9 record, an SEC Tournament championship, and a 5-seed in the tournament.

Murray got stronger as the year went on, scoring between 21 and 35 points in all 12 games between February 2nd and March 12th. If he had stayed beyond one season, there's no telling what he could have done, but when you consider that Kentucky has had more impact freshmen than any program in the country during Cal's run, the fact that Murray scored more points per game than any of them is more than enough to earn him the ninth spot.

8. Oscar Tshiebwe

I'm not sure that any other college basketball program has had the embarrassment of riches to have a Wooden Award winner as the number eight player on its list of top 10 players of the last 15 years, but Kentucky is not like the rest of the college basketball world.

In truth, Oscar Tshiebwe was by far the most difficult player to rank on this list. He transferred to Kentucky after two years as a role player at West Virginia, and instantly transformed into the most dominant post player in college basketball, but what hurts him is that unlike the players ahead of him on this list, he couldn't lead Kentucky to any kind of postseason success.

Tshiebwe won the Wooden Award in 2022 by being an unstoppable force down low. Per the Wooden Award website, he led the country in rebounding, grabbing at least 10 boards in all but two games that year, and he became the first college player to average at least 16 points and 15 rebounds since Bill Walton did it for UCLA in 1972. The season ended on a sour note, though, as the Wildcats were shocked by 15-seed St. Peter's in the first round of the tournament. Tshiebwe did his part with 30 points and 16 rebounds in a losing effort, but it wasn't enough.

Tshiebwe then became the first Wooden Award winner to return to school since Jalen Brunson did it at Villanova in 2018, and he was nearly as dominant, this time being selected as a Second Team All-American. Again, though, the Wildcats failed to reach the second weekend of the tournament, this time falling in the second round to Kansas State.

Tshiebwe scored just eight points but grabbed a ridiculous 25 rebounds in Kentucky's first-round win over Providence, and he put up a 25-18 in the loss to Markquis Nowell and the Wildcats. Calipari himself deserves the blame for not surrounding Tshiebwe with a better supporting cast, and for continually failing to make effective in-game adjustments that could have resulted in a deeper run. If someone wanted to argue that Tshiebwe deserves to be higher than eighth, I'd be all ears, but it didn't feel right to place him above others who brought more March glory to Big Blue Nation, even if the early exits weren't his fault.

7. DeMarcus Cousins

It's wild to think that DeMarcus Cousins last played in college 15 years ago, because it seems like just yesterday. Perhaps that's because his pairing with John Wall was so dynamic that it heralded the Wildcats as a force to once again be reckoned with in Calipari's debut season.

Cousins was a man amongst boys in college, with a toolbox full of moves with the ball in his hands and the ability to start a fast break with one of his signature swats on the defensive end. He could face up and shoot over a defender, post up and spin towards the basket in either direction and score off of the large number of offensive rebounds he corralled. Boogie was also great in transition, and was a frequent finisher on the business end of a Wall alley-oop. For most teams, the only way to stop him was to foul him, which is why he shot more than seven free throws per game.

Calipari's first Kentucky squad was a ton of fun, with an athletic, high-flying style that Cousins helped bring to life. That team also featured Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe, and Darius Miller, but for most Kentucky fans, I'll bet that they remember it as the Wall and Cousins team, which is why he's on this list.

Cousins only spent one year in Lexington before declaring for the draft, but the Elite Eight appearance he helped bring about, combined with the way that he helped make Kentucky both a national power and an in-demand destination after the abysmal Billy Gillispie years is why he deserves this spot.

6. Tyler Ulis

Kentucky became so indelibly tied to the one-and-done model that it became exceedingly rare when any of their impact players stayed into their sophomore seasons. Tyler Ulis was one of those rare players, and while he didn't experience the NBA success that many of his fellow alumni did, his contributions while wearing Kentucky blue place him high on the list of Calipari's best players.

Ulis played an important role as a reserve guard on the 2015 team that came within two games of becoming college basketball's first undefeated champion since Indiana in 1976. He shot over 40% from three and was tied for first on the team with 3.6 assists per game. He played under 24 minutes per game, but this was the team that Calipari infamously used to "line shift" because of how insanely deep it was. Ulis averaged more minutes than Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker, for comparison.

Ulis was the only major piece of that team to return after the devastating Final Four loss to Wisconsin, and he took his game to a new level in his sophomore year. Ulis was a First Team All-American in 2016, and though he didn't match Jamal Murray's scoring (he wasn't far off either, with 17.3 points per game), it was his passing that set him apart, as he led the SEC and finished seventh in the country with seven assists per game. He was also one of the best defensive guards in the country, which is why he won SEC Defensive Player of the Year and SEC Player of the Year.

5. De'Aaron Fox

The last Kentucky team that truly felt like it could win a national championship was the 2017 iteration. Though the 2019 team matched 2017's Elite Eight finish, the 2017 team is the more revered of the two. De'Aaron Fox is a huge contributor to this, for a couple of reasons.

For one, the 2017 squad played at a breakneck pace, and Fox was the pilot that kept the rocketship from flying off course. The 2019 team was similar in terms of on-court results, but when it came to watchability, there was no comparison, as the 2019 team played just a hair faster than notoriously stodgy Virginia, while Fox's 2017 team was in the top 6% of all teams in the country in terms of pace.

Fox didn't really add a three-point shot to his arsenal until he got to the NBA, but he didn't need it at Kentucky due to his superior athleticism and willingness to share the ball. His lob connection with Bam Adebayo was unmatched, and he filled the stat sheet in a variety of ways, with 16.7 points, 4.6 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game.

Kentucky was the 2-seed in a loaded regional in the NCAA Tournament, and Fox outdueled Lonzo Ball of UCLA in a Sweet 16 battle between the most heralded point guards in the country, avenging a loss to the Bruins earlier in the season. Many experts pegged the winner of Kentucky and North Carolina in the Elite Eight to be the team to win the national title, and sure enough, the Tar Heels cut down the nets after escaping the Wildcats on Luke Maye's buzzer-beater to cap an all-time classic. I have little doubt that if the Wildcats had pulled that game out, there'd be another national championship banner in Rupp Arena.

Fox was named a Third Team All-American on the year, but as great as he was on the court, he solidified his place in the hearts of Big Blue Nation in a tearful postgame interview with Adebayo. For all the cynics that viewed one-and-dones as emotionless mercenaries that simply used the collegiate game as a stepping stone to fame and fortune, Fox and Adebayo showed in that moment just how much playing for Kentucky meant to them.

4. Malik Monk

Let's stick with the 2017 team for the next entry on our list, because people may not remember what a terrifying scorer Malik Monk was for that Kentucky team. Monk actually holds the Kentucky freshman record for points scored by a slim margin over Jamal Murray, though he did it in two more games, which gives Murray a slightly higher average.

Still, with Monk, Kentucky was never out of a game. He scored 37 in an overtime win over Georgia in January and later scored 33 to bury Florida less than a month later. His masterpiece, though, was a 47-point explosion against North Carolina in a December matchup in Las Vegas. Monk's heroics pushed the Wildcats to a thrilling 103-100 victory, and it's still to this day, alongside the 46-point effort from Oklahoma's Buddy Hield in a losing, triple-overtime effort against Kansas in 2016, the best game I've seen a collegiate player play.

Monk didn't come close to matching that scoring output in the Elite Eight rematch against the Tar Heels, but his pair of threes in the game's final 40 seconds to help erase a seven-point UNC lead (with the second one to tie the game ranking absurdly high on the degree-of-difficulty scale) ensures his place on the Calipari-era Mt. Rushmore.

3. Karl-Anthony Towns

Karl-Anthony Towns was the best player on one of the most loaded college basketball teams of all time. That alone is enough for his lofty ranking here, but it's also an indictment of Calipari that he wasn't unleashed more often.

On a team with Devin Booker, Tyler Ulis, the Harrison twins, Willie Caulie-Stein, and Trey Lyles, it was Towns that most propelled Kentucky to a 38-0 record and a Final Four appearance, even as Calipari nonsensically limited his minutes all season. Towns' and Caulie-Stein's presence in the paint anchored the nation's best defense, but unlike his fellow seven-footer, Towns had a polished offensive game that consisted of more than just dunks and putbacks.

Towns showed off that offensive skill by pulling the Wildcats' season out of the fire against an unafraid Notre Dame team in the Elite Eight, scoring a highly efficient 25 points in just 25 minutes to anchor the comeback victory.

It's a testament to Towns' ability that he won SEC Freshman of the Year and was named a Second Team All-American while playing so few minutes. If we're being fair about Calipari's time at Kentucky, it has to be noted that he didn't always maximize the talent he had on his roster (just look at the fact that Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard came off the bench this year), and there's no better example of that than Karl-Anthony Towns.

2. John Wall

We've already gone over how important the 2010 team was in establishing Calipari's bona fides with Big Blue Nation, and it all started with John Wall. Wall was the No. 1 recruit in the country, and he was from Raleigh, North Carolina. At nearly any other point in history, this would have made him a lock to play for UNC, Duke, or NC State, but Calipari was able to woo Wall away after the young phenom saw what Coach Cal did with Derrick Rose at Memphis.

The rest is history, as Wall lived up to his billing in guiding Kentucky to a sweep of the SEC regular season and Tournament titles, a 1-seed in the tournament, an Elite Eight appearance, and a 35-3 final record. More than that, though, Wall made it cool to be a Wildcat again, and when he was drafted No. 1 overall by the Washington Wizards after his freshman year, he opened the floodgates for more than a decades-worth of top-level talent to follow in his footsteps.

With Wall as the floor general, Kentucky was arguably the most entertaining team in the country, and by scoring 16.6 points and dishing out 6.5 assists per game (good for third in the country), he would go on to win SEC Player of the Year and be named a First Team All-American.

It's not an exaggeration to say that John Wall is the most important recruit of the John Calipari era. His presence and success set the stage for the next 15 years, and changed the balance of power in college basketball.

1. Anthony Davis

There can be plenty of debate about the rest of this list, but No. 1 is inarguable. As the far-and-away best player on John Calipari's only national championship-winning team, Anthony Davis is the only player with any claim to the top spot.

Davis averaged a double-double in the 2012 season, with 14.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. It was his defense that was such a game-changer, though, and his 186 blocks still rank as the fourth-most in NCAA single-season history. Led by "The Brow," Kentucky as a team blocked more than 20% of its opponents' shots, a truly mind-blowing percentage.

Like Wall, Davis was the top recruit in the country when he chose Kentucky, but unlike Wall, Davis proved that a one-and-done could lead a team to a national championship, something that only Carmelo Anthony of Syracuse had ever done.

Davis won just about every award possible during his one memorable season in Lexington, including becoming, unbelievably, the first Kentucky player to win the Wooden Award. He also won the Pete Newell Big Man Award, the Defensive Player of the Year Award, the Freshman of the Year Award, the SEC Player of the Year Award, and he was named a First Team All-American.

No player in college basketball history has had as big an impact as a freshman as Anthony Davis, so as the dust settles on Kentucky's John Calipari era, he's the clear pick as the best Wildcat to play for Cal.