Adidas Friday: Jalen Green backs up No. 1 status and talks recruiting
EMERSON, Ga. -- The top player in the class of 2020, shooting guard Jalen Green backed up his lofty status on the opening night of April's second live period at the Adidas Gauntlet in the Atlanta area.
The 6-foot-4 shooting guard talked recruiting and the prospect of the NBA potentially opening up direct entry out of high school for the class of 2020.
On the night, Green spent the majority of his time and looked great making plays for himself and others while scoring 20 points and handing out seven assists in his EBO team's win over the Atlanta Celtics.
"It feels great to be back out here," Green told Rivals.com. "I'm on a new team this year so there have been some adjustments but we're working on building that chemistry. We're from all over Northern California so it takes some time to get used to one another. Coach is just telling me to be a leader on offense and push the ball up whenever we can for some easy buckets."
An uber athletic scorer, Green has held offers from hometown Fresno State, Creighton, Arizona, USC, Florida State, Washington, UCLA, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Cal and Cincinnati among others.
Recently, Green picked up a big blue blood offer from Kansas and said a few more of the biggest names in college hoops are watching closely and among the new schools making him a priority.
"I've talked to Kentucky and Duke and they both said they're really interested," said Green. "I would say Kansas is making me a priority since they offered last month. I talked to one of the coaches at Duke and they said that I'm a main priority in the 2020 class. They haven't offered but they're watching me closely. I hear from UCLA and USC a lot and they're also saying they want to keep me a main priority and keep me on the West Coast.
"The schools on the West Coast they come to my games and practices and just keep tabs on me. Schools like Oregon, UCLA, USC and Arizona, I know them all pretty well."
Kansas may be Green's newest offer, but he's getting a good feel for Bill Self and the Jayhawks.
"I like their coaching staff and their style of play," said Green. "I like how coach Self gets the guys to play together as a team and it shows year after year, they're always in the mix and when teams beat them it's for a championship so I like what they have going on over there."
Green doesn't have any firm visit plans, but he said that Arizona will most likely be the next school he visits and he's familiar with the Wildcats.
"I like a lot of the players that have come out of there," said Green. "I know Stanley Johnson real well and a few other guards that have come out of there so I just want to get a closer look and check it out."
Green says that there is no reason to hurry things and it will be a while before he starts to narrow his recruitment down.
"I don't think I'll start to narrow things down until my senior year," said Green. "I don't have a timetable or anything like that so there's no rush."
Before it's all said and done, there's a good chance that Green will also be able to consider the NBA. Nothing is concrete, but the league is said to be considering opening up direct entry to the Draft for high schoolers as early as 2020. If that happens, it is something that he will have to consider.
"If the option's there and I'm good enough I would for sure come straight out of high school to the league," said Green. "We'll just have to wait and see how everything plays out though."