ACC Basketball:Top Five 2016 NBA Draft Prospects of the ACC

Notre Dame guard Demetrius Jackson (11) celebrates a basket in the Fighting Irish’s Sweet 16 win vs. Wichita State. (Photo: Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports)

Demetrius Jackson/6-foot-1, 194 LBS/Point Guard

With all due respect to North Carolina’s Marcus Paige, who is preseason First-Team All-ACC and will be in the running for “National Player of the Year” all season long, Demetrius Jackson is the better point guard and actually is the more pro ready point guard of the two.

Jackson is built like Tim Hardaway Sr.  He is just as quick as he was, but has more leaping ability.

The explosiveness that he shows at 6-foot-1 is amazing, and he has the physical thickness to be able to absorb body contact when he gets into the interior.

Oh and by the way, Demetrius Jackson can stroke it from outside very efficiently.

Overall Jackson shot 50.8% from the field in 2014-15, but he also knocked down 42.9% of his three-point attempts.

In 2015-16, look for Demetrius Jackson to improve on his scoring average and more importantly his 3.1 assists per contest from last season.

His assists average was low because Mike Brey ran a lot of offense through Jerian Grant and had him handle the ball in order to create for others more often than not last season.

Demetrius Jackson has to be on your short list of “ACC Player of the Year” candidates and if Notre Dame matches their success from last season he is going to be a big reason why.

As far as his draft status is concerned he should go between picks 15 and 25 next season if he declares.

Demetrius Jackson is going to be an excellent professional player. We are not saying Hall of Fame, but he will get a few NBA contracts in his career.

Next: No.1 NBA Prospect/ Duke's Brandon Ingram