Could John Calipari be on the verge of an incredibly rare recruiting achievement?

LEXINGTON, Ky. — For all of John Calipari’s massive recruiting success in the past decade-plus at Kentucky, there’s something the UK coach has never been able to pull off.

In fact, it’s something that has been accomplished only once over a span of 25 recruiting cycles.

Calipari could make it happen over the next few months.

UK is positioning itself to possibly land the No. 1 and No. 2 recruits in the 2022 class, a feat that has never been achieved in the Calipari era.

With the recent reclassifications of Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren — long seen as the top two prospects in the 2022 class — to 2021, the door has been opened for new names at the top of those 2022 rankings.

Two of the prime candidates just happen to be major Kentucky targets.

Versatile center Dereck Lively II, who ascended to the No. 1 spot in the 247Sports rankings following the moves by Bates and Duren, is perhaps the leader to hold that position moving forward. Star shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe, currently No. 6 in the rankings, made a compelling case for the top spot with a stellar string of performances on the summer circuit.

Sharpe is widely expected to commit to Kentucky in the next few weeks. Lively is also at the top of UK’s recruiting board, and it could come down to a Kentucky and Duke for his commitment.

Asked if those two players would be in the discussion for the No. 1 spot whenever the rankings are updated, 247Sports analyst Travis Branham told the Herald-Leader that they would, throwing in fellow UK target Chris Livingston as another possibility.

“I would say those three have put themselves in good standing of having that top spot and being in that conversation,” Branham said.

There’s no clear leader in Livingston’s recruitment, though Memphis and the pro route have both been mentioned prominently in recent months.

Over at Rivals.com, the 2022 rankings are scheduled to be updated at the end of this month, and national analyst Rob Cassidy recently put up Lively, Sharpe, UCLA commitment Amari Bailey, Duke commitment Kyle Filipowski and Baylor commitment Keyonte George as five players who could land in the No. 1 spot.

There’s still a full season of high school ball — as well as the spring all-star game circuit — to go, but it’s fair to predict that Lively and Sharpe could very well be the top two prospects in this 2022 class by the time the cycle is finished.

In Calipari’s first recruiting cycle at Kentucky, the Wildcats received commitments from John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, who were No. 2 and No. 3 in the 2009 composite rankings (behind only Georgia Tech recruit Derrick Favors). Two years later, UK got No. 1 recruit Anthony Davis and No. 3 recruit Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (with No. 2 recruit Austin Rivers going to Duke).

Since the UK superclass of 2013 — led by Julius Randle at No. 2 and the Harrison twins at Nos. 5 and 6 — the Wildcats have not landed multiple top-five recruits in any single class. Perhaps that’s about to change.

The only instance in the 247Sports composite rankings of one school getting the nation’s top two recruits came in the 2018 class with RJ Barrett and Cameron Reddish going to Duke. That Blue Devils’ class also included top-five recruit Zion Williamson, who went on to become the No. 1 pick in the next year’s NBA draft.

The Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) predates the 247Sports composite rankings and stretches back to the 1998 class. The Duke duo of Barrett and Reddish is also the only instance in the history of the RSCI of the top two recruits in one class picking the same school.

Recruits to the pros

The upstart Overtime Elite professional league has made a splash in recent weeks with some high-profile signings from the 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes, and the G League still looms as a threat with some of the biggest prospects in the country.

How much should college basketball be worried about these pro leagues poaching the best young players?

Maybe not as much as you’d think.

Over the past three recruiting cycles, a total of five top-10 recruits opted for the professional route out of high school, and that trend seemed to be moving even more toward the pros. That was before name, image and likeness reforms came to the NCAA.

“I think you’re going to start seeing a trend back toward college,” said 247Sports analyst Travis Branham. “You saw it with Jalen Duren. You’re seeing it with Emoni Bates. Signs are pointing toward Memphis right now. So you’re starting to see these elite guys coming back to college. Especially with NIL — that’s going to be a huge player.”

Indeed, Bates and Duren were both expected to end up going pro out of high school as recently as a couple months ago. Instead, with NIL in place, Duren committed to Memphis earlier this month and Bates appears to be taking the college process seriously, too.

Branham noted that there will still be guys who take the Overtime money or jump to the G League in the coming years — “some kids have zero interest in going to school,” he said — but the latest NCAA reforms might keep those players the caliber of Duren and Bates in play for colleges.

“For the most part, I think you’re going to see more elite prospects end up in college, because of NIL,” Branham said.

Latest on Emoni Bates

Emoni Bates — long regarded as the top prospect in high school basketball, regardless of class — plans to visit Memphis and Oregon this week, and a decision on his future is expected soon.

For most of his recruitment — even when he was committed to Michigan State — the consensus was that Bates would skip college for a pro career. Now, it looks like college will be the move.

Several picks in favor of Memphis have come over the past week on Bates’ Crystal Ball page, which previously was dominated by “pro” predictions. It’s worth noting that, despite reclassifying to 2021, Bates won’t be eligible for the NBA draft until 2023 due to his age and the current league rules regarding draft eligibility. That means that he could spend two years in college. (Kentucky is not pursuing his commitment).

Bates’ standing in recruiting circles slipped some over the past year as scouts and analysts questioned the trajectory of his development, but the 6-foot-8 wing was still inserted into the No. 5 overall spot in the 247Sports rankings for 2021.

Next Kentucky commitment?

It’s been looking for weeks now that Shaedon Sharpe would be the next recruit to join Kentucky’s 2022 class. Might someone else beat him to the punch?

Five-star center Adem Bona landed a scholarship offer from UK on Tuesday night, and that might be all that was stopping him from a commitment to the Wildcats.

Bona — a 6-10 center from Nigeria, now living in California — is scheduled to take an official visit to Lexington next weekend. Previously, the UK offer was expected to come on that visit. Now that Bona has the offer, it’s possible he could go ahead and give a commitment before leaving town.

Though commitments during visits have been incredibly rare during the Calipari era, it has happened, and Bona has been trending heavily for Kentucky for weeks now, with seemingly no close competitor for his pledge. National analysts at 247Sports and Rivals.com put in predictions for UK both before and after this week’s offer.

Whoever goes first, it’s now expected that both Bona and Sharpe will ultimately commit to the Cats, joining five-star point guard Skyy Clark in UK’s 2022 class.

Along with Bona, the UK coaching staff will host five-star combo guard Cason Wallace for an official visit next weekend. Wallace will also visit Tennessee and Texas in September and is expected to pick one of those three schools in early November.