Syracuse Basketball: Kentucky trending for 5-star guard with Orange offer

In May, several media reports suggested that Syracuse basketball coaches were recruiting 2024 five-star shooting guard Ian Jackson from New York City hard.

In fact, one report said that the Orange was heavily involved in Jackson’s recruitment.

Now, the ‘Cuse offered him a scholarship in April, so it would have been understandable and even logical that reports in the spring would have noted Syracuse basketball coaches were in regular communication for Jackson, who is a serious contender for the No. 1 overall ranking in his class.

Fast-forward to the present, however, and one blue-blood program is getting a lot of analyst buzz for Jackson, a consensus top-three national prospect, on various recruiting Web sites.

The Orange, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to be a major player for him at this time, although the recruiting processes of top-flight prospects such as Jackson can change rather quickly.

Plus, as we reported in early November, businessman and top SU booster Adam Weitsman had reached out to Jackson and his camp to discuss Weitsman’s lucrative name, image and likeness opportunities.

Kentucky may be the current favorite for five-star guard Ian Jackson, who holds a Syracuse basketball offer.

When I wrote this column, I counted at least four analyst predictions in the direction of Southeastern Conference member Kentucky for Jackson between the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com and the On3 Web site.

It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up picking the Wildcats, a blue-blood program led by Kentucky’s ace recruiter and head coach, John Calipari.

Calipari & Co., by the way, have an absolutely loaded 2023 class, including three former Syracuse basketball recruiting targets in five-star guard D.J. Wagner, five-star center Aaron Bradshaw and five-star small forward Justin Edwards.

Jackson, the national sophomore of the year according to MaxPreps, is a star junior for Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, N.Y. In grassroots basketball, he suits up for the Bronx, N.Y.-based Wiz Kids in the Adidas league.

Per recruiting services, Jackson has around 15 scholarship offers, from teams including Syracuse basketball, Kentucky, North Carolina, LSU, Oregon, UConn, UCLA, Kansas, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Kansas State and Oklahoma State.

Media reports and recruiting Web sites say that Jackson has taken official visits to Kentucky, LSU and Oregon. He reportedly has a trip planned to UNC on January 6, and Jackson has said that he may also make official visits to Arkansas and Texas.

In a recent article, Jackson told On3 national analyst Joe Tipton that he anticipates making a college decision “soon.” Rivals.com national analyst Rob Cassidy has reported that Jackson is mulling a possible reclassification into the 2023 cycle.