Evan Daniels picks Washington for Jaden McDaniels

What a crazy couple of weeks this has been in recruiting for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Johnny Juzang joined Big Blue Nation last Friday. On Monday, everyone was certain that Jaden McDaniels would join him.

However, his recruitment quickly began trending toward the Washington Huskies. That came to a head today when Evan Daniels of 247 Sports logged an official prediction for McDaniels to land at Washington.

While McDaniels’ recruitment has been very quiet throughout, many believed that he would always end up playing for the Huskies. For a kid that does not love the spotlight, playing in Lexington certainly seemed out of his comfort zone. However, Kentucky has seemed to be in contention for the No. 8 recruit the entire time.

We do not know what exactly happened during the last week. The pendulum seemed to swing very quickly in Kentucky’s direction, only to have it swing back toward the Huskies even faster. While Daniels does not have 100% accuracy, it’s a pretty big indicator that McDaniels will pick Washington sooner rather than later.

McDaniels is a 6-9 forward that plays more like a guard. Yes, he needs to put on some weight and get stronger, and he does need to work on his defense in the post. But as far as potential goes, he has a higher ceiling than any player that has come to Kentucky in a long time.

While you should certainly hope that Daniels is wrong, I would not set your heart on it. Even without McDaniels, Kentucky has the No. 2 class in the country for 2019.