Five-star recruit Johnny Juzang has made it official, announcing via Instagram Friday that he is committing to Kentucky.
The five-star, 6’6” California guard had included Virginia among his four finalists, along with Kansas and Oregon.
Juzang had visited UVA in October when he was still a Class of 2020 recruit. After he reclassified to the Class of 2019, UK coach John Calipari entered the recruiting equation, and Juzang visited Kentucky on April 29.
The late interest from the Wildcats fueled speculation that UK was the heavy favorite for Juzang, ranked 28th nationally in the Class of 2019 by 247Sports and 34th by Rivals.
That late interest seemed to factor into Virginia’s late recruiting push for JUCO All-American guard Tomas Woldetensae, who announced Wednesday that he has committed to UVA.
Woldetensae, a 6’5” guard, scored 17.3 points per game and shot 47.6 percent from three at Indian Hills Community College (Ottumwa, Iowa) in 2018-2019.
Woldetensae, a consensus Top-10 JUCO recruit, picked UVA over Illinois and Central Florida.
Virginia still has three scholarships open heading into the 2019-2020 season, with the departures of the Big Three from the 2019 national championship team, De’Andre Hunter, Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy, plus the transfer of Marco Anthony and the graduation of Jack Salt.
Junior Mamadi Diakite may also be on his way out, after announcing his intention to test the NBA Draft waters, though Diakite left open the possibility that he could return for his senior season.
This week, UVA hosted Sam Hauser and Joey Hauser, brothers who were the second- and third-leading scorers for Marquette in 2018-2019, and announced last month that they intend to transfer.
The Hauser brothers listed Virginia among their three finalists, along with Wisconsin and Michigan State.
The brothers have already visited Wisconsin, and are scheduled to visit Michigan State next week.
Story by Chris Graham
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Chris Graham
