The Barclays Center will feature a hue of Kentucky blue tomorrow night.
Months before they will become teammates, six Big Blue Nation-bound All-Americans will share the Barclays Center floor — three on each team — in the Jordan Brand All-American Classic in Brooklyn, a nationally televised showcase featuring the country’s top 24 prospects.
Experts have predicted John Calipari’s eight-man recruiting class could be the greatest of all time, even better than Michigan’s Fab Five. It’s praise the future Wildcats haven’t shied away from.
“On paper it is,” point guard Andrew Harrison of Texas told The Post after a workout yesterday at Basketball City. “But we still got to go out there and prove it on the court.”
Anticipation only should intensify as the season nears. Dakari Johnson of Florida didn’t help slow the hype machine when he recently predicted a national championship, and though Andrew Harrison wouldn’t go nearly as far, he did say, “if Dakari believes it, so do I.”
The class is an obscene accumulation of talent, even for Calipari, who has made a habit out of luring the nation’s best prospects to Lexington since arriving five years ago.
It addition to a pair of talented in-state prospects, the eight-man group includes the 6-foot-10 Johnson, the top-ranked center in the country; Andrew Harrison, a heady and skilled top-ranked point guard; his sweet-shooting twin brother Aaron Harrison, the top-ranked shooting guard; the second-ranked center Marcus Lee, a 6-foot-9 shot-blocking machine from California; third-ranked small forward James Young from Michigan; and Julius Randle, a bull of a power forward ranked No. 1 at his position from Texas.
Kentucky, furthermore, is still in play for consensus No. 1 Andrew Wiggins, a smooth 6-foot-7 forward out of Huntington Prep (W. Va.).
“It’s the best class I’ve ever seen. I haven’t seen anything close,” recruiting analyst Evan Daniels said. “They have a little bit of everything. They’ve got dynamic guards, scoring wings, different types of dominant post players, guys who can score in the post, guys who will rebound and block shots.
“They should be the favorite to win the national championship next year,” Daniels added. “If they get Wiggins, you might as well call off the season.”
Though local recruiting guru Tom Konchalski said it is “the deepest” class he ever has seen, he warned about forecasting greatness too early.
“Just as proof of the pudding is in the eating, the proof of the recruiting is in the winning,” Konchalski said.
Jabari Parker, a standout Chicago native and one of the top prospects to shun Kentucky, said he was surprised to see so many All-Americans choose the same school.
“I don’t know how they’re going to get that done with the players they have right now,” the Duke-bound wing said.
It could prove to be challenging for Calipari, splitting up minutes between a group of freshmen and probable lottery picks used to dominating the ball. They have all said the right things up to this point, that winning is the ultimate goal, not padding numbers.
“If there’s one thing Calipari has proven, it’s he knows how to manage talented kids,” Daniels said.
Many of them, such as Randle and Johnson, noted they picked Kentucky to get pushed not only in the SEC, but in practice also.
“It’s going to be a war,” Johnson said.
The six All-Americans praised Calipari’s honesty, pedigree for producing NBA lottery picks and demanding style for choosing Kentucky. While other coaches told Randle how much they “love” him, Calipari focused on his weaknesses, and challenged him to want to battle Lee and Young every day.
“No other coach said that,” the sculpted 6-foot-9 Randle said.
The impressive haul already has put a bull’s-eye on Kentucky’s back. Several publications have it ranked No. 1 in early preseason rankings, another reason Randle said he and his future teammates are headed to the Bluegrass state.
“Every kid’s dream is to win a national championship,” Randle said. “You can be the man in the NBA.”
That sounds like Calipari’s pitch — that Kentucky offers recruits the best of both worlds.