https://wisconsin.rivals.com/news/strong-mutual-interest-between-uw-and-2020-wing-jalen-johnson
Had a chance to see Jalen Johnson, arguably the top in-state player in the 2020 class, on Saturday. Awfully impressive kid for just a freshman in high school. I feel like at this age, he stacks up with some of the best players who have come out of the state since I've been covering recruiting. The comparison that came to mind while watching him was Kevon Looney as a freshman at Milwaukee Hamilton, though it's definitely not an exact match. Johnson is much thicker already and looks to take the ball to the bucket as opposed to Looney, who was more of a shooter early on and probably an inch or two taller. I always think Looney was a bit "smoother" and had a better feel for the game at this age.
Johnson's a legit 6-foot-6 right now and tells me he expects to get taller. He grew up playing point guard, and you can see some of the ball handling skills he already possess. Like I said above, he tries to attack the rim and is very good right now in transition. I didn't get to see much of his outside shot Saturday, but he looked pretty good in warm-ups.
If his grades are good - and I have no reason to believe they aren't - he'll get an offer from Wisconsin sooner rather than later. I would imagine a number of other schools follow suit if his recruitment plays out as I think he's a top 50 player in the country, if not higher.
He plays right now with the Wisconsin Playground Warriors, a very Badger-friendly program. The Warriors are now under contract with Under Armour, which is another good thing for UW moving forward. This looks like a lay-up for Wisconsin right now, but there's still a long way to go.
Had a chance to see Jalen Johnson, arguably the top in-state player in the 2020 class, on Saturday. Awfully impressive kid for just a freshman in high school. I feel like at this age, he stacks up with some of the best players who have come out of the state since I've been covering recruiting. The comparison that came to mind while watching him was Kevon Looney as a freshman at Milwaukee Hamilton, though it's definitely not an exact match. Johnson is much thicker already and looks to take the ball to the bucket as opposed to Looney, who was more of a shooter early on and probably an inch or two taller. I always think Looney was a bit "smoother" and had a better feel for the game at this age.
Johnson's a legit 6-foot-6 right now and tells me he expects to get taller. He grew up playing point guard, and you can see some of the ball handling skills he already possess. Like I said above, he tries to attack the rim and is very good right now in transition. I didn't get to see much of his outside shot Saturday, but he looked pretty good in warm-ups.
If his grades are good - and I have no reason to believe they aren't - he'll get an offer from Wisconsin sooner rather than later. I would imagine a number of other schools follow suit if his recruitment plays out as I think he's a top 50 player in the country, if not higher.
He plays right now with the Wisconsin Playground Warriors, a very Badger-friendly program. The Warriors are now under contract with Under Armour, which is another good thing for UW moving forward. This looks like a lay-up for Wisconsin right now, but there's still a long way to go.
