Jalen Johnson
- Thread starter EmCats3
- Start date
Nike bag men stay away and let Cal reel him and Todd in!
This will be biggest recruiting battle between UK/Duke in '20.
I take kids saying stuff like that with a grain of salt. They’re being interviewed, usually by UK media like Tucker and Pilgrim and they just say flattering stuff about the school. With that said, he was good friends with Tyler Herro so I’m sure UK has a good “in” with him. Tyler has to speak glowingly of UKs coaches and how they prepped him for the NBA
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Markelle Fultz said the same thing and went to Washington sooooooo don't put to much stock into this.
FWIW I hear BJ Boston(along with Todd) is the highest on the cats for 2020 and could potentially commit this summer. Cal has a good track record with GA kids.
FWIW I hear BJ Boston(along with Todd) is the highest on the cats for 2020 and could potentially commit this summer. Cal has a good track record with GA kids.
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Let's keep the elite forward thing going.
Get McDaniels to lock down this year's class and join Brooks and Whitney for the most versatile trio of forwards in the country.
Then go out and land Johnson next year to play the 3. Put Todd beside him at the 4 and it's net cutting time again, friends.
Get McDaniels to lock down this year's class and join Brooks and Whitney for the most versatile trio of forwards in the country.
Then go out and land Johnson next year to play the 3. Put Todd beside him at the 4 and it's net cutting time again, friends.
So did McDaniels. We'll see how that one finishes out.
Then again, so did Whitney and James Young. Those turned out well for us.
It can't be a bad thing when Cal has invested multiple trips into this kid, Herro has become your exhibit A as far as native Wisconsin kids go, and the kid is publicly saying he loves your program.
Is he a guarantee? Obviously not, but this is an incredible start to a recruitment for a top 3 kid.
Sure, it may be lip service to some UK media, but it still means we're at least in the running, and I'll take that.
It’ll comes down to things! 1. Does he want to be pushed to get better at the things he doesn’t do well. 2. Does he fall for the Duke and Nike bag man and only feature what he already does well and not wait for the payday 9 mths later!
Cal already offered didn't he? If not, do it now! Cmon Jalen, buck the trend. Commit now and focus on school and your craft. Don't need the announcement etc, show the NBA you are a professional, mature, future of NBA
I think there's a third thing, and it's the role of the parents. Duke has done a phenomenal job selling certain aspects of their program to these parents of elite prospects. They love the academic lines that the Duke staff has been slinging out there.
Is most of it BS? Obviously, but in many cases, it's working. I could see Johnson being one of those kids whose family likes the Duke academic package, even though he'll be out the door in 9 months.
Mike Krzyzewski will be 75 years old when Jalen Johnson is playing in the NCAA tournament.
No recruit is a "must get" but he sure feels like it to me. Cal needs to reel in a top 5 kid this time around and he is probably our best shot.
Johnson, Todd, and Dante would be a pretty strong frontcourt for 2020-21.
Johnson, Todd, and Dante would be a pretty strong frontcourt for 2020-21.
Exactly.
I used to think his age would be a detriment to his ability to recruit, especially when it's clear his passion and animation in the games has taken a logical step back due to his lack of energy.
And yet, he keeps landing elite prospects every year. The age component might actually be helping him as kids assess the notion of playing for one of college basketball's perceived elder statesmen/wizards.
I think he's one back attack away. I'd have no issue triggering his next back spasm...
I love our options for 2020. I think Cunningham is perfect for how we play, but the Montverde angle might make that troublesome.
Todd is probably our most likely 2020 guy at this point, and I've raved about his talent enough already.
Johnson is just incredible. Better than anyone in '19.
I also wish we seemed like more of a player for Barnes. He's another guy that's perfect for Cal.
Nah, it's the dough and don't let anyone tell you otherwise...
we shall see we have a ton of players this year that play his position(s) once he sees how they are ALLOWED to play he can see himself in that spot.
That's because the media just defaults to a line of "He's Duke bound" because of Duke's recent recruiting dominance. They know as much as we do at this point.
We'll see how it shapes out. He's certainly no Jayson Tatum when it comes to already having his mind made up at this point.
I always respect your views, but I think that particular outlook is way too narrow.
Nike has helped them. So has Team USA, the myth of Duke academics, their beautiful campus, and a 5 time national champion coach. You know what else has helped them? K's history of landing elite small forwards to the tune of Hill, Deng, Parker, Tatum, Winslow, Ingram, etc. He is to small forwards what Cal is to point guards and bigs.
In our narratives regarding Duke, we typically front load the cash element and it matters (I'd actually say it's more Nike perks than real hard cash) but we tend to obliterate those other realities when we're discussing Duke, and it's not a good look as far telling the full story as to why Duke is dominating recruiting right now.
That can't be a bad thing. Cal just saw this kid; Herro is a top 20 pick; the kid says we're his dream school.
Peach Jam is set for early July.
They also had Brooks headed to Indiana for most of last season, with Michigan State in 2nd place.
We'll see how it goes.
And Hill is the only one that was a star from the beginning! Tatum has potential! Parker is too injury prone! Ingram won’t amount to anything either!
Not only that, Michigan State recruited him for many years.
Markelle Fultz didn't have the option once Cal honed in on Fox/Monk. As we've seen it play out, that was the correct decision by UK staff.
Keep an eye on UK getting involved stronger with Greg Brown. He's been on the radar and took it as a good thing he won't focus on recruiting until after the Summer. Gives them a window to get on him stronger.
Cade cunningham, jalen johnson, fill in some shooters and a defender, the let's go to war
I remember Goodman acting like UK blew it because Fultz really wanted to be here. I have this sense that Fultz legit wanted to come--Cal didn't go after him as much as others, and we wound up with other people.
If you remember there was a lot of talk UK was going to get Fultz and Kobi Simmons--who was an absolute clown when I attended a game. That class I knew a lot of direct info on for several reasons and knew Fox, Monk and Bam were UK bound.
Too soon to make ideal list but this is what I'm referring to--hard to go wrong with this line of thinking. I'd want Isaiah Todd in this class no matter what. I'm higher on Makur Maker then most but if you want Cliff Omoruyi for role type of big....give me Terrence Clarke as a reclassifed guy (a guard version of MKG), any choice of Greg Brown, Jalen Johnson, etc....as you can see, it's hard to go wrong.