Evan Daniels picks against UK for Jeremy Roach, which may impact Scottie Barnes

Jeremy Roach is one of the top point guards in the class of 2020.

In fact, he was the first player at his position to be offered a scholarship by the University of Kentucky. That gives you an idea of how much John Calipari believes in him. At 6-2, Roach is a dynamic player with tremendous upside. Unfortunately, a serious knee injury that turned out to be a torn ACL has sidelined him for the remainder of his junior season.

I had a chance to watch Roach’s high school team play in a tournament this past week, and you could just tell that not being out on the court with his teammates was killing him. Hopefully, he can make a speedy recovery and begin competing again on the summer circuit next year. All of the top programs will be aggressively trying to get involved in his recruitment.

Recruiting analyst Evan Daniels recently logged a crystal ball pick for Roach in favor of the Villanova Wildcats. This came as a bit of surprise, but there is likely a long way to go before his this is over.

Last year, Jay Wright signed a similar five-star point guard in Jahvon Quinerly and things are not going well so far. Quinerly is barely seeing any minutes on the floor after being highly touted as an NBA prospect.

With Ashton Hagans and Immanuel Quickley possibly returning to Lexington next year it will be interesting to see where Kentucky stands among point guards who hold scholarship offers. Once healthy, Roach is good enough to play anywhere that he chooses, so I don’t think that players returning will automatically eliminate Kentucky from getting a player of his caliber.

Along with Roach’s skill set another factor in his recruitment will be the popularity that he has among his peers in the class of 2020. That includes five-star small forward Scottie Barnes.

Back in July, Barnes was asked if there were any players in particular that he would like to team up with in college.

”I really like the way that Jeremy Roach plays. He’s a great point guard. He’s just a great player and I think it would be a good player to play with.” Barnes told reporters.

In my opinion, Barnes is the most important recruit in the class of 2020. At 6-8, Barnes can absolutely do it all, including bringing the ball up the court.

In the first round of the City of Palms, Barnes secured a rare high school triple-double while leading his University School to victory.

Getting a five-star point guard to go along with Scottie Barnes would be an incredible class in 2020. If Jeremy Roach is bringing others along with him then hopefully Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats staff will stay out in front of his recruitment.