Kentucky Coach John Calipari Once Again Ahead of the Curve

Whether it's working a new recruiting angle or lining up the next honorary former UK player, it won't be too long before people think that Derrick Rose and LeBron James both went to Kentucky.

John Calipari is nothing if not creative in the lengths he will go to in making his teams hip to recruits. However, it's not just his work on the recruiting trail that makes Calipari a master in today's game. Calipari is also the best coach in the country at getting his fans excited over stuff that doesn't have anything to do with his current teams.

And he's doing it again.

By now, you have surely heard about Calipari's plan to invite his former players to Lexington during the NBA lockout. His initial goal was to have these guys enroll in school and then serve as student coaches, but he has backed off of that somewhat likely due to the NCAA eye that it would possibly bring. 

Still, not one to waste an opportunity, Calipari has jumped all over the chance to get his former players now in the NBA back on campus this summer in a move that has Kentucky fans foaming at the mouth with excitement. And if it happens to land a recruit or two, then I'm sure Calipari would take that as well.

This August, as a prelude to the college basketball season, Calipari has lined up a game between the Dominican Republic team that he will coach in this summer's Olympic qualifying and former players at UK and possibly other schools. 

John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins and Jodie Meeks have already committed to the game, and the best guess from me is that we will likely see other stars such as Patrick Patterson, Chuck Hayes and Derrick Rose in the game as well.

The benefits of this game are obvious. By coaching the Dominican National team, Calipari is trying to dominate that growing market for basketball recruiting. And with all of these former players coming back to Lexington for this game, and likely for practices and scrimmages leading up to the game, any recruits that happen to be on campus for visits this summer will very likely be be inundated with great players filling the place. 

Lexington will be the spot to be this summer to see great basketball action.

And for the fans, well, trust me, they are already going wild for this game. Tickets are going on sale at the end of this week and if I know Kentucky fans, this game will be sold out by Sunday.  They are eating this up. 

Calipari could literally wear a Louisville shirt around Lexington for the next week and I'm not sure that many people would care as long as he had any sort of excuse.

Love him or hate him, you can't deny that John Calipari is a unique and clever guy. And this upcoming game of stars just adds more proof to the notion that when it comes to the marketing of a program, Calipari is always ahead of the curve.

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