Syracuse Basketball: Nation’s No. 1 player, SU 5-star target, details visits

In late May, five-star guard Ian Jackson from New York City said in an interview that Syracuse basketball was among the teams heavily involved in his recruitment at that time.

Fast-forward to the present, and I’m not getting a sense that the Orange is a significant contender these days for the 6-foot-6 Jackson, who recently vaulted to the No. 1 spot nationally in the 2024 class, according to Rivals.com.

Of course, my thoughts here are based on media reports and comments from national recruiting analysts and others, so it’s certainly possible that the ‘Cuse remains in the mix for Jackson.

As a sophomore during the 2021-22 campaign, Jackson was a stand-out for the top-10 Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, N.Y. In fact, MaxPreps named him its national sophomore of the year in 2021-22, after Jackson averaged nearly 20 points a game.

Over the spring and summer months, analysts and scouts have praised Jackson for his play in grassroots basketball and at other events. He is a member of the Bronx, N.Y.-based Wiz Kids in the Adidas league.

Syracuse basketball offered a scholarship to five-star Ian Jackson in April.

Not too long ago, Jackson was a key contributor as the USA Basketball U17 national team claimed the gold medal at the FIBA U17 World Cup in Málaga, Spain.

To date, beyond the ‘Cuse, Jackson’s offer sheet includes Kentucky, North Carolina, Arkansas, Pittsburgh, Kansas, UCLA, Oregon, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Oklahoma State, Connecticut, Nebraska, Kansas State and Bryant.

At the time that I penned this column, at least two predictions had come in for Kentucky in Jackson’s recruitment, one each on Rivals.com and the On3 Web site.

In a recent story, Rivals.com national analyst Travis Graf discussed potential upcoming official visits that Jackson may be eyeing. Teams mentioned here were Kentucky, Oregon, North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas and Duke.

Obviously, that’s a bunch of blue-blood programs and other recruiting heavyweights, and it would be understandable if other possible suitors, like Syracuse basketball, could have a tough time competing with these college titans.

Then again, I have to say, it would be nice to see the Orange evolve as a legit contender for Jackson, not only because he’s a top-flight prospect in the 2024 cycle, but also because he hails from New York City.

In my humble opinion, the Orange should be heavily in the running for big-time prospects coming out of the Big Apple, given the team’s geographic proximity to NYC.

We’ll certainly continue to monitor Jackson’s recruiting process moving forward, however, my gut tells me that Syracuse basketball probably isn’t going to win out for this elite guard in the rising-junior class.