Jersey point guard Jalen Carey lists KU as one of six finalists

Jalen Carey, a 6-foot-4 senior point guard from Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair, N.J., who is ranked No. 52 in the recruiting class of 2018 by Rivals.com, on Sunday listed Kansas as one of his six finalists.

Carey tweeted a list of KU, Villanova, Connecticut, Rutgers, Miami and Syracuse. His Twitter post included pictures of him wearing the jerseys of all six finalists.

“Carey is a highly talented young playmaking guard. He’s both smooth and athletic with an extra gear to his attacking game off the bounce. He’s good with the ball and a high level finisher at a young age who is bouncy, able to use both hands and even be crafty by jumping off both feet,” reads ESPN.com’s scouting report on Carey.

“He has a solid build, is capable of playing on or off the ball and has the tools to be a good defender down the road. The consistency of Carey’s jumper is the biggest question mark in his game right now. … Carey is a high level scoring guard with great attacking tools and the potential to be an equally impactful defender down the road but he’ll either need to evolve into more of a true point guard or become a more consistent shooting threat from off the ball,” added the ESPN.com scouting report.

KU makes offer to Chicago Simeon player

KU has offered a scholarship to Talen Horton-Tucker, a 6-5, 210-pound senior small forward from Chicago’s Simeon High School, Tucker reported Sunday on Twitter.

Horton-Tucker, who is ranked No. 104 in the recruiting class of 2018 by Rivals.com, has also been offered by Missouri, Iowa State, Illinois, Michigan State, Northwestern, Xavier, Minnesota, TCU and others.

“He’s underrated,” future KU point guard Markese Jacobs, a junior-to-be from Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix (formerly Uplift Community High in Chicago) told the Star in a Facebook message on Sunday when asked about Horton-Tucker’s ability.

“Heck yes, he’s good,” Jacobs added.

Horton-Tucker scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in Simeon’s 73-58 win over Gonzaga College Prep last December in Chicago.

“Everybody thinks I’m slow and I don’t have any moves,” Horton-Tucker told the Chicago Tribune after that game. “It’s the way my body is. It’s kind of thick and wide. But I’m really skilled and I can make moves they can’t handle.”

Simeon coach Robert Smith told the Tribune: “He’s unique. His body type kind of fools people. They don’t think he can really play. He doesn’t pass the eye test. But once he gets out there and start playing, you can see. He’s a problem to play against. He can play inside and he can play outside. In high school now, with the lack of size in Illinois, he can actually play all five positions.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2017 at 10:25 PM with the headline "Jersey point guard Jalen Carey lists KU as one of six finalists."