One of three early 2024 UNC basketball signees in the nation’s seventh-ranked class, Ian Jackson, a senior wonder from Our Saviour Lutheran (N.Y.), is one of the ten semifinalists for the Naismith Boys’ High School Player of the Year Trophy, which was announced a few weeks ago.
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However, the 6-foot-5, 185-pound five-star guard—ranked eighth overall on the 247Sports 2024 Composite—was left off of the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s list of the final five players, which it revealed late last week.
Rutgers recruited five-star guard Dylan Harper and five-star forward Ace Bailey are two of the finalists. Another is Cooper Flagg, a top-ranked 2024 prospect who is a forward for Duke basketball and could be the favourite to win the trophy on March 8.
The only juniors who made it to the final round of the Naismith Trophy competition were five-star forward AJ Dybantsa and five-star forward Cameron Boozer, the son of 2001 Blue Devil national champion Carlos Boozer. Not to mention, they and seven other five-star prospects are on UNC’s wish list for 2025.
As of right now, the only basketball player from UNC to win the trophy since it was instituted in 1987 is Raymond Felton, who won it in 2002 while playing at Latta High School (S.C.).
The other two players on the Tar Heels’ 2024 roster are James Brown, a four-star centre from Link Academy (Mo.), and Drake Powell, a five-star forward from Northwood (N.C.), who joined Ian Jackson on the 25-deep Naismith Midseason Team but did not make it to the semifinals.
