Jalen Johnson picks Duke

Jalen Johnson, ESPN and 247Sports’ #4 player in the 2020 class, has committed to the Duke Blue Devils.

Johnson chose the Blue Devils over the Arizona Wildcats, Wisconsin Badgers, and Kentucky Wildcats. He was one of Kentucky’s top targets in 2020, but he’s now officially off the board.

Johnson had been on the record that Kentucky was his “dream school,” but that wasn’t enough to get him to Lexington for his likely one season of college basketball.

When it came to Duke, Johnson had said he had “no clue” where all the buzz around the Blue Devils had started. “I don't show any favoritism, at least that I think. At the end of that day, I’m the one that knows and I’m the one that’s going to make the decision,” said Johnson. Coach Krzyzewski has seemingly been in the driver seat for some time now, though, as Duke has earned many of Johnson’s Crystal Ball predictions.

John Calipari had made Johnson a priority in the Wildcats 2020 recruiting class. “It just meant a lot with (Calipari) coming to my school like three times this year. Just to show that I’m a priority for them and they really want me, it means a lot,” said Johnson.

There’s still plenty of time for Coach Calipari and Kentucky to build their team for 2020. For now, though, they’ve unfortunately missed out on their first top target in the class.