No. 2 Kansas Overcomes Hilton Magic for 17th Straight Win
By MIKE McCURRY With Frank Mason dealing with
By MIKE McCURRY With Frank Mason dealing with
NEW YORK — It’s always tough comparing one basketball player to another, but Kansas freshman Josh Jackson will inevitably get juxtaposed to Andrew Wiggins.
Both are 6-foot-8 wings.
Both signed on to play for Kansas coach Bill Self.
And Jackson is expected to be a one-and-done in Lawrence just as Wiggins was.
“It’s a fair comparison,” ESPN’s Jay Bilas told me before Jackson went for 15 points before fouling out of Kansas’ epic 77-75 win over No. 1 Duke on Tuesday in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden. “[Jackson] is more skilled with the ball and he’s a better passer. And he’s got a better feel for the game. Wiggins was a better shooter, although Josh is a pretty decent shooter. He’s better than I thought. He’s got a little hitch as he gets it up into his shooting pocket. But once it gets here it’s good and he shoots a good ball. So he’s gonna be fine.
“He’s the real thing, he’s gonna be good.”
The 2016-17 college basketball season is upon is and it could well turn into the Year of the Fabulous Freshmen.
Twelve of the top 14 projected picks in the 2017 NBA Draft according to DraftExpress.com are freshmen.
Duke, Kentucky and Kansas — the top three teams in The Associated Press preseason Top 25 — all feature projected one-and-done lottery picks coming to a television near you. (Interestingly, No. 4 Villanova and No. 5 Oregon do not feature any projected one-and-dones.)
And all of the freshmen hype, of course, has engendered NBA Draft Tank Slogans such as “Lose like hell for Markelle.”
Washington’s Markelle Fultz, the 6-foot-5 guard who led the USA U18 basketball team to a gold medal this summer, is the projected No. 1 pick. Even though he plays in the Pac-12 on the West Coast, he may be worth staying up late for.
Let’s face it. The Champions Classic was going to be loaded this year anyway.
Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State already had the Nos. 1, 2 and 3-ranked recruiting classes in 2016 according to Scout.com and 247Sports.com.
But now with Josh Jackson’s commitment to Kansas, the Jayhawks are up to No. 7 on Scout and No. 13 on 247Sports.com.
On Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden, Duke, which figures to be the preseason No. 1 team in most polls, will face Kansas, while Kentucky meets Michigan State.
