John Calipari has a reputation for landing the best players in the nation. Unfortunately, some of them have come with controversy as well. Coach Cal’s system is simple: recruit the best players in the nation, (even if they are planning on being one and dones; players who only play their Freshman year then leave for the NBA) develop these talented players into a team, and win championships.

Using this system Coach Cal has been to four final fours and won a national title in 2012. From 2009-2013, Kentucky came away with the best recruiting classes in the nation.

But in the last two seasons, legendary Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University has taken the taken the reigns as the leading recruiter.

When Coach K won his first championship in 1991, his team consisted of five freshman who averaged nine minutes per game, but when Coach Cal won his first championship in 2012, his team had six freshman who averaged 20 minutes per game, including the National Player of the Year, Anthony Davis.

Recently, Coach K lead the Blue Devils to their latest National Championship with a roster similar to John Calipari’s in 2012. The 2015 Blue Devils had three starting freshman, including Jahlil Okafor who won freshman of the year.

I asked Duke fan Ryne Poli why he believes Coach K went to a new style of recruiting.

“Many players are leaving after one season for millions of dollars in the N.B.A, which I don’t really blame, so instead Duke had to adjust and start going after the more talented one year guys as oppose to the 4 your year guys he would develop over four years. After two short years K has already produced with another national championship.”

Coach K’s first big one and done recruit came in 2013 in Jabari Parker, who (according to sports illustrated) was the best high school basketball player since LeBron James. Getting Jabari to come to Duke was the very beginning of Mike Krzyzewski recruiting one and dones, and he hasn’t stopped since. Unfortunately, Duke didn’t get enough other recruits for the season to amount to one of Duke’s legendary teams in the past 30 years. They ended up with 9 loses, they fell short in the A.C.C conference championship game losing to Virginia, and they were upset in the first round of the N.C.A.A. tournament to #14 Mercer University.

Jabari Parker on the cover of Sports Illustrated

John Calipari got (arguably) his best one and done when he was coaching for the Memphis Tigers. In 2007, John Calipari recruited Chicago’s own Derrick Rose. That year’s team went all the way to the championship game with a 38-2 record losing to the Kansas Jayhawks in overtime. Memphis eventually had to vacate its final four season because one of its players was academically ineligible. Allegedly it was Derrick Rose.

“I think John Calipari is good coach because it isn’t easy to bring in the best players in the country and have them all work together instead of focusing on themselves like it was for them in high school,” says Junior Matt Dugan. “But he is definitely a cheater. He has cheated in his past with Derrick Rose at Memphis, he is a cheater right now, and I think he will still be a cheater in the future.”

Basketball powerhouses like Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, etc. will always get the players they need. Which to some may seem a bit unfair to smaller schools with not as good of a resume as some of the other schools mentioned above.

“It may seem unfair,” says Senior Ryan Heckmueller. “But smaller schools (like my Xavier Muskies) have to develop players because they simply just can’t get the best like Kentucky and Duke can. Every once and a while a small school will land a top recruit, but it takes time to build a team.”

For the 2016-2017 season, the wildcats have the top spot and have landed the six players out of the ESPN 100. Duke right now is in second place, but the Blue Devils have snatched power forward Harry Giles and small forward Jayson Tatum, the top two high school players in the nation.

As long as John Calipari stays out of trouble and Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t leave until he is forced out, then I think these two schools will be waging a recruiting war for the ages.