Josh Jackson, the nation’s top recruit and the projected No. 3 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, is officially down to three schools and plans to announce within a month.
“Michigan State, Arizona and Kansas,” the 6-foot-8 small forward from Prolific Prep (CA) told CSNBayArea.com on Friday night.
Miles Bridges hopes Jackson, a Detroit native, joins the Michigan State class that includes Bridges, Cassius Winston, Josh Langford and Nick Ward and is ranked No. 3 behind only Kentucky and Duke by Scout.com.
“I think it could be [Izzo’s] best, probably better than the Fab Five at Michigan,” the 6-foot-7 Bridges told me earlier this month at the PrimeTime Shootout in New Jersey..
Bridges thinks it will come down to one of two schools.
“It’s either Michigan State or Arizona, I think,” Bridges said. “I think because he knows me and Cassius, then I hope he goes there. But if he goes to Arizona, he goes to Arizona.”
He added: “I’m trying to get him there [to Michigan State]. It would be a great team if he does come. Just whenever I see him at a tournament, I call him like every two weeks.”
Arizona’s two-man class of point guard Kobi Simmons and power forward Lauri Markannen is ranked No. 9 by Scout, but the Wildcats remain in it for both Jackson and Word of God Academy (N.C.) guard Rawle Alkins, who recently took officials to St. John’s, UNLV and Arizona.
As previously reported by SNY.tv, Simmons began recruiting Alkins before he pledged to Arizona, and Alkins is aware that Jackson could join the fray, too.
“Imagine that lineup,” Alkins said of a recruiting class that included himself, Simmons and Jackson.
Kansas, which figures to retake the No. 1 ranking on Monday, now has two commits in 2016 in big man Udoka Azubuike and power forward Mitch Lightfoot, and has produced lottery picks like 2014 No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins.
Meantime, Bridges hopes his fellow Michigan native Jackson joins him at Sparty.
“We’ve known each other for basically all our lives, been playing with each other, against each other and we know each other’s games so if we could get to play together it would be good,” Bridges said.
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