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'You won't get any layups on him': Meet the Kentucky freshman coaches are buzzing about

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Is a surprise performance really a surprise anymore if almost everyone is predicting it?

That is the question facing Kentucky basketball freshman Isaiah Jackson, once considered an under-the-radar prospect in the Wildcats’ No. 1-ranked 2020 class but now one of the most buzzed-about players on the 2020-21 UK roster.

“The other kid that’s surprised me is Isaiah,” UK coach John Calipari said just a couple of weeks after the start of full preseason practices. “Can do more than I thought.”

“I think he is probably one of the ones that is going to surprise a lot of people this season, just how he’s been playing and his development from the last time that I saw him and where he is today,” assistant coach Jai Lucas said last week.