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With the USA Basketball U17 tryouts ongoing, there’s plenty of 2020 talent in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and a few of the rising stars have heard from Kentucky.
That includes five-star talents Jeremy Roach and Jalen Johnson, who are both hoping to nab a spot on the USA U17 team.
Roach, a five-star guard from Fairfax, Virginia, received a call from Kentucky this week. He also got calls from the Villanova Wildcats, Duke Blue Devils and Pitt Panthers, according to Rivals.
“They just said the same thing as pretty much everyone else, that they want to build a relationship with me and that I am a priority for them and hopefully I can be a Kentucky Wildcat,” Roach said about UK, according to Rivals’ Corey Evans. “They don’t have a real big sports team there so the fans are crazy and I have a lot of respect for that.”
Johnson, a five-star small forward from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, received a call from Kentucky as well. Or rather, his father did, as well as one from the Kansas Jayhawks, according to Rivals.
“That is a great school. It is run by a great coaching staff and Coach Cal has developed his players,” Johnson said of Kentucky, according to Evans. “I know they’re known for going one-and-done but he still develops his players to be the best that they can be, which is what I have the utmost respect for, in that aspect of it.”
It’s become evident that John Calipari and his staff are making it a point this offseason to be more practice with future classes. To this point, UK has shown interest in Roach, Johnson, Scottie Barnes (offered), N’Faly Dante (offered), R.J. Hampton, Jaemyn Brakefield, Jaden Springer, Noah Farrakhan and Joshua Christopher in the Class of 2020.
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