Maybe Memphis won't miss John Calipari as much as we thought

Josh Pastner came into Memphis with the reputation of being a great recruiter, but this is starting to get absurd.

It started with Will Barton back in June, as Pastner went into Baltimore and snagged the talented 6'6" wing and his brother Antonio.

Next came point guard Joe Jackson, a Memphis native who was all but guaranteed to be a Tiger since the first time he picked up a basketball, who committed early in November.

Both Will Barton and Jackson are top 15 recruits nationally. Put them on the court with Elliot Williams, Will Coleman, and a healthy Angel Garcia, and you got yourself a top 25 team.

But Pastner was far from done.

No doubt Pastner is smiling after this past week.
(photo credit: The Hoops Report)

In October, another Memphis native, 6'4" swing man Chris Crawford who was an AAU teammate of Jackson, committed to the Tigers as well.

But the real fireworks started on signing day last Wednesday. The day kicked off with Pastner landing a commitment from 6'8" forward Hippolyte Tsafack before inking both Barton's and Jackson to their LOI's.

Then on Saturday, another top ten recruit, 6'6" wing Jelan Kendrick from Atlanta, called an impromptu press conference to announce that he had signed a letter of intent with Memphis. This was a big surprise to the recruiting world, as Kendrick had been emphatic that he was bypassing the fall signing period. But Kendrick played with Jackson and Crawford for the Memphis Magic AAU team that won the Adidas Super 64 tournament in Las Vegas, and was convinced by the success they had over the summer that he would have a shot at a national title.

Pastner still wasn't done. Just this afternoon, Tarik Black, a 6'7", 230 lb power forward out of Memphis that also happened to be a member of the Memphis Magic, announced his intentions to play for the Tigers.

All told, Pastner's recruiting class consists of three five-star, two four-star, and two three-star recruits. Assuming everyone returns to school, take a look at this line-up:

• PG - Joe Jackson
• SG - Elliot Williams
• SF - Will Barton
• PF - Tarik Black
• C - Will Coleman
• Bench - Angel Garcia, Hippolyte Tsafack, Jelan Kendrick, Antonio Barton, Roburt Sallie, Wesley Witherspoon, Chris Crawford
  

Pretty talented, huh?

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