Auburn basketball: Recruiting Jalen Green

Auburn basketball’s 2020 recruiting class has been a roller coaster. Auburn had the slow and steady climb up, which consisted of commitments from long time targets Sharife Cooper, Chris Moore and Justin Powell, but also had the ups-and-downs associated with recruiting Kentucky commit BJ Boston– a former teammate of Cooper, Isaac Okoro and Babatunde Akingbola, UNC commit Walker Kessler–a friend of Powell, and Jaemyn Brakefield, who committed to Duke within 24 hours of receiving an offer.

Auburn now has its sights on players like Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Greg Brown III, Cliff Omoruyi and JT Thor, based on coaching visits, who Auburn has hosted and who Auburn has offered. A few other high ranking prospects have been linked to Auburn in some way, but not as seriously as the others.

Today we’ll discuss Auburn’s involvement with Jalen Green, with posts on other recruits scheduled for the near future.

Jalen Green – #3 247/Rivals, #1 ESPN, Pacific Prep, California

Green wasn’t known to be an Auburn target until late August of 2019 when he announced he’d be officially visiting Auburn during the weekend of the Mississippi State football game. Green’s visit wound up coinciding with Cooper’s commitment.

Green’s visit was largely due to Cooper, after the two became friends during EYBL circuits, SLAM events and similar events. Green is expected to make his decision sometime after his high school season ends, but no official dates have been set.

A timeline of Auburn’s recruitment of Green:

Cooper says he wants to play with Green:

Green announces he’ll be visiting Auburn:
https://twitter.com/JalenRomande/status/1168316233151729664?s=20

Auburn coaches make their first trip to visit Green:

Green visits Auburn:

Green shows more interest in Auburn:

Auburn receives its first expert prediction for Green:

Green poses with Cooper and Josh Christopher for the SLAM cover:

Auburn picks up its first crystal ball for Green, followed by a bunch more:

Auburn students chant “We want Jalen”:

Jerry Meyer predicts Green to Auburn or overseas and everyone else follows, including Auburn Einstein:
https://twitter.com/aubawn/status/1229487556850585603?s=20

Possibly worth noting:
Green has also said he wants to study to be a veterinarian due to his love of animals, and Auburn has a great program for that.

Auburn’s student section even joined the “We want Jalen” party when Auburn hosted College Gameday.

(Another note: Green is friends with Josh Christopher, another top 10 player, who announced his final list without including Auburn. Questions surfaced about Green, Christopher and Cooper wanting to play together after the three posed for the cover of SLAM High School magazine together and Christopher dropped a few (likely joking) hints.

However, Cooper has taken it seriously.

But it’s worth keeping in mind that Auburn was NOT listed as a finalist by Christopher. If Auburn somehow has a chance, they’ll probably need Green committed first, which won’t be easy to get.)

Green has been visited by Auburn coaches multiple times, which means that Auburn coaches have flown to California multiple times since the end of August, something that isn’t necessarily easy to do in the midst of preseason practice and the season itself. To me, that shows how serious Auburn coaches are about Green.

Green’s claim to the top rank in the 2020 class and 2021 draft could make Auburn a good landing spot. Bruce Pearl’s tendency to let freshmen play through mistakes and give his players greenlights could give Green a chance to play himself into the number one pick.

73 percent of Green’s crystal ball predictions are now with Auburn.

Green has been reported to have a great relationship with Memphis coach Penny Hardaway and assistant Mike Miller, but this college season has seen Green shift some interest from Memphis to Auburn, in the eyes of the national and regional experts who made those crystal ball predictions.

In addition to the crystal ball prediction from Jerry Meyer, Auburn has also received crystal ball predictions for Green from Andrew Slater, Kentucky insider Chris Fisher, Auburn insiders Keith Niebuhr and Brandon Marcello and others.

However, multiple predictions have come with the warning that Green still could be considering the overseas option and all predictions can be easily changed again if the experts believe Green has changed his mind.