By LARRY VAUGHT

Chris Dortch, the editor of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, isn’t sure how recruits Julius Randle or Andrew Wiggins will be impacted by Dakari Johnson’s decision to join Kentucky’s elite recruiting class.

“But it has to be intriguing to either one of them to consider joining that great class. Should that happen, and I’m no recruiting analyst, wouldn’t that have to be the best class of all time?” Dortch said.

And how good could Kentucky be next year even if Wiggins and/or Randle aren’t Wildcats?

“I’ll reserve judgment to see how many freshman stay around. But even if they don’t, this class is shaping up to be epic, and Kentucky will have a chance to do great things despite being so young,” Dortch said. “It’s an overlooked fact that Kentucky doesn’t just recruit five-star players. It recruits five-star players that, for the most part, want to work, want to be coached and want to get better.”

Dortch says if freshmen Nerlens Noel, Alex Poythress and Archie Goodwin are projected as NBA draft lottery picks, it would be “hard to turn that down” to stay at Kentucky another year.

“Having said that, maybe one of them may be intrigued about the possibility of returning to a team that will be so loaded,” he said.