When people talk about the Southeastern Conference in football, powerhouse names like Nick Saban, Urban Meyer and Les Miles are thrown around. With the hire of John Calipari as the new head coach of men’s basketball at UK, the same can be said about SEC basketball as well.

Think of it — Calipari, Billy Donovan, Bruce Pearl and Trent Johnson (maybe Anthony Grant soon) — are some of the biggest names and up-and-coming names in college basketball. But more importantly, UK got the slam dunk hire it wanted two years ago, and never got.

This time there were not the multiple public rejections (just Donovan, again) and UK never got past their seemingly No. 1 target. After Calipari declined interest last Friday, it was easy to move on and think of the next target on the list.

But UK never did that. And now, they have the perfect storm brewing over Lexington.

“He’s the best hire Kentucky could have,” former player Tony Delk said. “He’s definitely enthusiastic about the game, loves the game and loves to win. He puts the best product on the court, which is something we haven’t had the last four or five years.”

Delk should know, having played against Calipari’s University of Massachusetts team on the way to the 1996 National Championship. He also attended one of Calipari’s coaching camps last year.

Calipari has a chance to hold onto two All-SEC players, in addition to two star recruits (Jon Hood and Daniel Orton) that have signed letters of intent with UK and have not publicly stated they wanted a release from their letters. In the meantime, star Memphis recruit Xavier Henry will decommit from the Tigers, his father, Carl, told the Kernel.

That doesn’t mean Henry is destined for UK, but maybe John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, both top 10 recruits, could be.

“Right now it’s an exciting brand to watch teams get up and down the court, but you have to get the players to do that,” Delk said. “We have some, but you need 1 through 10 guys to do it. You need guys to come in fresh, you can’t have guys logging 30 minutes a game or you’ll be tired come tournament time.”

Since Rick Pitino left in 1997, fans have longed for a coach that pushes the ball, preferring up-tempo instead of half-court sets. Calipari’s dribble drive motion offense accomplishes just that. Calipari is also a recruiting machine, another plus in the eyes of the fan base. The only blemish that comes with Calipari is his possible links to both the Marcus Camby scandal at UMass and possible problems with players at Memphis.

Then again, Calipari has never been implicated in anything, so scratch it out. There’s a slight doubt that Calipari can be the ambassador that UK Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart and UK President Lee Todd have asked for, but if the reports about how hard Memphis boosters pushed to keep Calipari are true, then obviously UK’s new coach knows how to work that angle of the job as well.

Finally there’s a basketball coach that isn’t going to be the next big thing (like Billy Gillispie was hailed as), because he already is a big deal. Two Final Four appearances with two different schools, including coming really close to a national title two years ago, recruiting classes that are consistently ranked in the top five and a savvy approach that hasn’t been seen since Pitino left town.

Speaking of which, the UK-Louisville rivalry just got even bigger, because Calipari brings star power to both sides of the scorer’s table. Maybe UK won’t win the game next year, but you better believe it just got a lot more interesting. What was once a fiery match-up between two Conference USA rivals just lit a fire in the most passionate basketball state in the nation.

When it comes down to it, it’s hard not to like Calipari as the new headcoach. Two years ago, everyone hyped Gillispie up because of the Donovan shun. But there’s no reason to hype Calipari up, because his résumé speaks for itself.

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