UCLA is firmly in the hunt for Jalen Davis, and the recruitment around the five-star point guard is starting to take shape as a four-school battle.
Davis, a Bremerton, Washington native, is rated by the 24/7 Sports Composite as the No. 17 player in the country. He’s listed as a five-star combo guard, ranked fourth at his position and first in the state of Washington.
His list has now been trimmed to North Carolina, UCLA, Gonzaga, and Washington. That final four brought a notable change, with Stanford and Iowa falling out and Washington moving in after reportedly not being on Davis’s list for quite some time.
The home-state pull is obvious in the group he’s left standing. UCLA, Gonzaga, and Washington all give Davis a chance to stay close to home, while North Carolina is the outlier from across the country.
Still, the Tar Heels are very much in the mix. Davis visited Chapel Hill on October 3rd, and that trip reportedly went well. He then made his way to UCLA on October 16th and is scheduled to visit Gonzaga this upcoming weekend on November 7th.
One wrinkle in the process: Davis has not officially visited Washington yet, though that appears likely to change sooner rather than later.
For UCLA, this would be a major win on the recruiting trail. The Bruins have not landed a lot of momentum with top 2027 prospects, and Davis would be a huge addition for Mick Cronin and his staff.
At the same time, it’s fair to wonder how aggressively UCLA is prioritizing freshman recruiting, with the program seemingly leaning more toward the transfer portal and international prospects. That approach has become more common across college basketball, and it could be part of the Bruins’ plan as well.
Even so, UCLA remains right in the middle of a recruitment that is clearly heating up. Davis would be a standout pickup for Westwood, but the Bruins are battling a strong group of contenders as this process continues to unfold.
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