By LARRY VAUGHT
Jasper Johnson thought transferring from Woodford County to Link Academy, a prep basketball powerhouse in Branson, Mo., would be a good move for his basketball career.
However, so far it has turned out even better than he anticipated.
“I definitely think it benefits me being in the gym more. I can focus on my shot and I am getting more consistent with it which is a credit to Link and the work we are doing,” said Johnson. “I definitely feel like being at Link was the right decision for me. Talking with my family helped lead me on the right path and this is just a step in my journey.”
The 6-4 junior guard wants that journey to eventually take him to the NBA. He’s now one of only 10 five-star players currently in the 2025 recruiting class and continues to get scholarship offers weekly. He has scholarship offers from Kentucky, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Baylor, Kansas, Louisville, Missouri, North Carolina, Arizona State, Auburn, California, Cincinnati, Florida State, Indiana, LSU, Memphis, Texas A&M, USC and Xavier.
Johnson was at Big Blue Madness and liked the way the crowd was “into everything” going on.
“It was fun to see the players compete a little bit and I got to talk to Coach (John Calipari) a little about recruiting and he’s coming to see me again soon at Link,” Johnson said. “I have been feeling a lot of love from Kentucky. Coach Cal, (assistant) Orlando (Antigua) and (assistant) coach Chin (Coleman) came to see me about two weeks ago.
“They want to coach me and believe in me a lot. They talk a lot about what the program can mean to me long term. It’s not just basketball and a one-year deal with coach Cal. It’s always a good thing to talk to coach Cal.”
More coaches likely will be talking to him after his play at a recent USA Basketball minicamp in Colorado against 80 of the nation’s best prep players.
“I feel like I performed well against a bunch of high level players,” he said. “It was great to be out there and show others what I could do. Overall, I feel like I shot the ball very well. I tried to limit my dribbles and come off screens ready to shoot.”
He’s about ready to narrow his college list to 10 schools and has already made visits to several schools. Coaches reach out to his father, Dennis, a former UK all-SEC defensive end who is now Woodford County football coach/athletics director. However, he’s not seriously considering reclassifying to the 2024 recruiting class as some have thought he might do.
One school that has made a bigger impression than some might expect considering the offers Johnson has is Georgia Tech and new coach Damon Stoudamire, a 13-year NBA veteran and a former college and NBA coach.
“I do love coach Stoudamire. They have communicated with me for a little while. The coaching staff really believes in me. I feel like in a couple of years the program will be on the rise and right at the top,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s rise the last nine months has been phenomenal. He helped Woodford County reach the state basketball tournament and advance to the semifinals. He shined in summer AAU play. His scholarship offers exploded. Now his national ranking/profile is climbing weekly.
“As a little kid I used to always imagine being one of the top players in the nation. I knew I just had to keep putting in the work. I never wanted to be just one of the best players in the state. I wanted to be one of the best in the country,” he said.
Link could help him do that. It won the 2023 GEICO Nationals championship in April and the roster is loaded again this year. Five-star Tre Johnson, the former No. 1 ranked player in the 2024 class, and Kansas commit Labaron Philon also moved to Link this season. Arkansas commit Jalen Shelley and five-star prospect Aaron Rowe are also at Link.
“We really are loaded. We have the best backcourt in the country and we are going to be hard to stop. I think we will be really good,” Johnson said. “I have to lock in every possession in practice. We are going to be playing games against the best teams across the country and that only makes you better.”
Coaches Rick Barnes of Tennessee and John Calipari of Kentucky have been friends for years and their rivalry in SEC play has not changed that. This year Tennessee has been picked as the league favorite while Calipari’s team was not ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press preseason poll for only the second time in his tenure at UK.
While Barnes has a veteran team, Calipari’s team has eight freshmen and two sophomores on the roster.
“It’s tough when you’re there,” Barnes said about Calipari’s young team. “I’ve got a great coaching staff, but I’ve got five guys (on the team) that know what we’re trying to get done out there that can help do it. If you don’t have that, it does make it more difficult.”
Barnes had some advice he knew Calipari probably wouldn’t like.
“The word that John probably doesn’t like, like any other coach, is ‘patience.’ You have to be really patient when you have that many young guys because you want to see ’em get better every day,” Barnes said. “Most young guys will have a good day, maybe next day not so much. If you tell them they’ve had a good day, you can almost bet it’s not going to be as good the next day.
“He has to balance a lot of different things. Anytime you’re coaching young guys, but knowing you have to get them to do a couple things well early, whereas with an older group, you can get a lot more done early in the year compared to the younger guys.”
However, Barnes does know Calipari well enough to expect one thing from the Wildcats this year.
“We would all tell you talent is a good thing to have. He certainly has that. But he’s a terrific coach. Our league’s got terrific coaches,” Barnes said. “In this league, every team where we start, where they start, will be better at the end of the year because of the level of coaching in this league.”
SEC Network/ESPN announcer Tom Hart felt like a lot of Kentucky fans when he watched the Cats take a commanding 14-0 lead over Missouri in the first quarter before coach Mark Stoops’ team fell apart and lost 38-21.
“I thought that game was over. We went to a commercial break at 14-0 and I said, ‘This thing is over.’ It was not just because it was 14-0 because plenty of teams have come back from 14 down or blown 14-point leads,” Hart said. “It was the dominance Kentucky showed.
“They imposed their will. It was like a boxer who had a guy on the mat and you just wondered when the knockout blow would come or the other guy would throw in the towel. To me, that is what was so shocking. I have never seen a team dominate so much and then let the game get away like that.”
Kentucky has home games left with Tennessee and Alabama along with road games at Mississippi State, South Carolin and Louisville. Some now wonder if Kentucky will win another game. Hart is not one of them.
“If you only take what Kentucky showed the last three quarters against Missouri, you might feel that way (about not winning). But that’s not how college football works,” Hart said. “There is great inconsistency every week across the country because of the maturity level of players.
“I still see this as a Kentucky team with incredible promise and ability. The problem in that (Missouri) game was focus. I think the team will be focused when Alabama comes to town. It should be focused when they get Tennessee. Winning those types of games against those opponents would not surprise me.
“The tendency is to overreact to what you see on a given Saturday. But remember this is still the same team that beat the snot out of Florida. The season is not over yet.”
Guard Maddie Scherr transferred to Kentucky last year after two seasons at Oregon and averaged 11.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.1 steals, 1.1 blocks and 31.7 minutes per game but the Wildcats went 12-19.
Scherr, a two-time Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year and Miss Basketball for Ryle High School, feels the team did a “lot of growing” during the offseason.
“Mental toughness-wise — in a lot of situations, our backs are put against the wall and I think there’s no better way to learn and seize an opportunity than going through hard things together and that’s what we did. So we’re gonna take that, learn from it, and grow,” Scherr said at SEC Media Days.
Scherr says she has to have the mindset that this will be an even bigger year for her as well as the team.
“I wanna step up into a bigger role. Last season, I kind of had things going later in the season for me when SEC play started. But my goal is to come and get things going right from the jump,” Scherr, Ryle’s all-time leader in scoring, rebounding and assists, said.
Coach Kyra Elzy called Scherr a “pro” who got baptized by fire last season.
“She was still trying to find her way, her voice on this team. Towards the end of last year she found that. This summer she’s really emerged as the leader on this team,” Elzy said. “You’re not going to find anyone more competitive than her. She’s going to fight, claw. She loves winning. That is contagious. I think she will really come into her own this year. Now she knows where she fits.”
Transfer Tre Mitchell is a versatile player who could fill different roles for coach John Calipari this season but he made it clear at the SEC Media Days last week what the coach wants his primary focus to be.
“He expects me to be a leader to these young guys because I am a bit older. He wants me to lead them through tough moments because things can get chippy (during the season),” Mitchell said.
The West Virginia transfer thinks leading a team with eight freshmen and two sophomores will not be that hard.
“Most of our team bonding happens in the gym but it has been easy for us because we have dudes who understand the game,” Mitchell said. “When you have a group of guys like that it is easy to get along.”
He likes the “competitive edge” the freshmen have shown him.
“They are always in the gym and working. They feel they have something to prove and they are unbelievably talented,” Mitchell said.
His versatility could be as valuable as his leadership with 7-footers Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso both currently sidelined with foot injuries.
“I’ve always looked at myself as a guy that can do whatever you need me to do,” Mitchell said. “Whether you want to play me at the 5, 4 — whatever you want to do — I’ll get out there and I’ll do what you need me to do,” Mitchell said.
“That’s just how I see the game, and that’s how I’ve always seen the game. I look at myself as a plug-and-play guy that can literally just do anything out there on the court.”
He knows if he had to go against “some unbelievably huge dude” at center that rebounding might be an issue for him.
“I still feel like I am strong enough to get him out of the way and let one of my other guys get the rebound,” he said. “The advantages with me at the 5 is the versatility that I bring because there’s not many 5’s that have super quick feet or are able to guard a pick-and-pop, a pick and a short roll and just constantly having to adjust to different schemes.”
Quote of the Week: “A little bit more skilled than I anticipated coming in. He has a really nice touch around the basket. Again, needs the minutes (of playing time). Hasn’t played a whole lot these last two years. But I’m incredibly excited about the opportunities ahead for him,” LSU coach Matt McMahon on Kentucky transfer Damion Collins.
Quote of the Week 2: “It is good for both leagues. We are playing a team our fans don’t understand might be the best team in the ACC. They have some guards there. It is good for our league. The Big 12 Challenge was good for our league,” Kentucky coach John Calipari on playing Miami in the ACC/SEC Challenge in November.
Quote of the Week 3: “Guys get their emotions hot. They’ve got to understand that sometimes turning the other cheek isn’t a sign of weakness. You’re not getting punked,” Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White on personal foul/unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against UK.