Jalen Green “will 100% be going to college” as Oregon emerges as a real threat

Hours after Evan Daniels said that Kentucky getting a commitment from Terrence Clarke would “effectively end the Wildcats recruitments of Josh Christopher and Jalen Green,” we now have a new update from Green’s camp.

KSR’s Jack Pilgrim contacted Green’s father, Marcus, to check the validity of Daniels’ prediction. While he did not shoot it down completely, he did have several interesting things to say.

“Jalen will 100% be going to college,” Marcus Green told Daniels. “I can promise you that.”

There has been a lot of speculation about Green playing overseas next year and skipping college entirely, so for his father to completely squash those rumors is a big deal. The other trending topic for Green is that Memphis is the favorite to land the California native. Pilgrim has gotten information recently that suggests that is not the case.

“Outside of this Kentucky’s standing with the elite guard prospect, I continue to hear that the buzz surrounding Memphis and the fact that they are seen by national analysts as a lock isn’t true in the slightest,” Pilgrim wrote. “In fact, I was told this afternoon that Oregon may now be the school to beat, with Kentucky and Memphis following close behind in that order.”

Oregon’s emergence is somewhat unexpected, but the fact that Memphis is not the leader is good news for Big Blue Nation. But is it true that landing Clarke would knock Kentucky out of the running for Green?

“[Clarke’s commitment] is something we will definitely be looking at,” Marcus Green said. “It’ll be up to Coach Cal how we move forward with things.”

It sounds like, if Clarke does commit to Kentucky and intend to reclassify to 2020, Calipari will have to convince the Green family that Jalen will still be a featured part of Kentucky’s roster next fall. If he is able to do so, the 2020 class could be one of the best Coach Cal has ever brought to Lexington.

And with Green, this is the second-straight week in which a new school has come out of nowhere to become a legitimate threat. Seeing as how new schools keep popping up is bad news for the original perceived leaders — Memphis and Kentucky.

Speaking of Oregon, they’re viewed as the favorites to land top-10 recruits Scottie Barnes and Makur Maker (if he plays college ball). With Green, they’d have a good chance of having the top-ranked class in 2020.

Read all of Marcus Green’s comments and Pilgrim’s thoughts here.

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