Ranking all the John Calipari Era players at Kentucky (Part 1/5)

After this season, John Calipari has now coached 104 players total at the University of Kentucky, whose impact on this program has been truly immeasurable. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to measure it, right? So I went through and ranked each and every player of the Calipari era and split them into six categories:

• Walk-Ons (revealed Monday)
• Barely/Never Played (revealed Monday)
• Flops (revealed Tuesday)
• Impactful (revealed Wednesday)
• All-Stars (revealed Thursday)
• Legends (revealed Friday)

Today’s group will be somewhat unique to the other four days because I really am not “ranking” those bottom two tiers. The reality is these 26 players made no significant on-the-court impact in Lexington because they simply did not see the court very often. So it’s basically impossible to order these players because there is nothing to really compare them about. Starting tomorrow, I actually begin ranking the players.

My only parameter for placing guys in the “Never/Barely Played” tier was they had to have played under 250 minutes in any season at UK. Anybody who played more than 250 minutes in a season qualified for the upper four tiers. So if you are wondering why certain guys might not be here today, that is the reason. Additionally, Calipari has had a couple of walk-ons who ended up making a great impact in the program, so they earned their way into higher tiers. So you will see a couple of prominent names missing.

So, here are today’s bottom two tiers of players under John Calipari, Walk-Ons and Barely/Never Played:

WALK-ONS

T-104: Mark Krebs (2010)
T-104: Twanny Beckham (2011-12)
T-104: Brian Long (2012-15)
T-104: Sam Malone (2012-15)
T-104: Tod Lanter (2013-15)
T-104: EJ Floreal (2014-16)
T-104: Jonny David (2016-19)
T-104: Dillon Pulliam (2016-18)
T-104: Brad Calipari (2017-19)
T-104: Zan Payne (2019-22)
T-104: Brennan Canada (2020-22)
T-104: Riley Welch (2020-21)
T-104: Ben Jordan (2020)
T-104: Kareem Watkins (2021-2022)

I’m not sure any of these guys separated themselves from any other. But, just for information’s sake, two of these guys did score double-digit points in their careers: Mark Krebs (12) and Brad Calipari (11). So if you were to actually rank these guys, I guess you could put those two at the “top.”

Now moving on to the Never/Barely Played Tiered. This tier was interesting to look over because the reasons for these guys not seeing the floor varied. Some were hamstrung by the NCAA, some were injured, some were disgruntled, and some just weren’t good enough. But no matter the reason, these guys found their way to Lexington but just weren’t able to put their mark on the history of the program.

NEVER/BARELY PLAYED

90. CJ Frederick (2022)
Obviously, Frederick hasn’t had the chance to play for the Cats after getting injured in the preseason before this year. But I would think he will leap up the list pretty quickly after the 2023 season as his role appears set for a team lacking shooters currently.

89. Shaedon Sharpe (2022)
Maybe Sharpe comes back and he leaps into one of the top 2 tiers. But at this moment he made a roster and played 0 minutes. So time will tell what his legacy will be.

88. Enes Kanter (2011)
OK, don’t freak out. Enes is almost certainly the best player on this list. His pro career proves it. But he never played a second at Kentucky and thus I can not, in good faith, put him ahead of guys who did.

87. Tai Wynyard (2016-18)
I forgot that Wynyard actually was a part of 3 rosters, redshirting in 2016. But in the 2 seasons he was eligible to play, he only saw the floor in 23 games and scored 19 points. But he sure could cut down trees. Or his dad could. I forget.

86. Stacey Poole (2011)
The first real miss of the John Calipari era. Saw 45 glorious minutes in a UK uniform. That’s about it.

85. Cam’Ron Fletcher (2021)
9 games, 60 minutes total. Not a memory made.

84. Kahlil Whitney (2020)
Whitney never meshed in his 1 season in Lexington. Despite seeing action in 18 games, he scored just 60 points and left the team before the season was even over. A guy who many will struggle to remember in 10 years.

83. Bryce Hopkins (2022)
You wanna find truly obsessed fans? Fast forward 10 years and ask fans about Bryce Hopkins. Those who are passionate will remember that 13 point performance against LSU as one of the most unexpected performances ever. But the reality is Hopkins made little impact on his team. He was given early opportunities to prove himself and never proved to have a role.

82. Jon Hood (2010-14)
Hood is the only guy in this tier to play his full career at Kentucky. He came in highly regarded and had those “Kentucky” player vibes. But he just wasn’t good enough, plain and simple. A knee injury before his junior year basically ended all hopes of having a significant impact. He did get to watch A LOT of really great UK wins though.

81. Jarred Vanderbilt (2018)
Almost cracked the 250-minute barrier despite being injured most of the season. Will we ever know the full Vanderbilt story? I don’t know. But he still remains in the NBA and was a rebounding machine when he played. That was just so rare.

80. Damion Collins (2022)
Another guy whose place on this list is nowhere near set. While he showed occasional flashes in 2022 he never really got a significant role with Oscar, Keion, and Toppin dominating the frontcourt. That changes in 2023. The super-athlete could become a key figure for the next couple of years in Lexington.

79. Terrence Clarke (2021)
Such a hard guy to know where to put him. Only played 228 minutes total after getting injured early in the season. But had an impact in the few games he played and then tragically passes away shortly after the season. An all-around “what if” guy on so many levels.

78. Sacha Killeya-Jones (2017-18)
I made one exception only to my 250-minute barrier and it was SKJ. I couldn’t believe that he got 467 minutes in the 2018 season because I feel like he never did anything. One of those guys that just never worked at Kentucky, even though he got some good floor time to try and change that.

That’s it. Tomorrow we go through the guys who have flopped at Kentucky. Not an easy post to write but just the reality of trying to rank all 104 John Calipari players at Kentucky. Some of the KSR staff have seen my full rankings and I am told they think in some places they suck. Go figure. We all can’t have the big brains of Nick Roush.