Big Ten Basketball: Top Players from the Conference in the 2018 NBA Draft

There’s only one year for a sample size, but I think it was enough to prove why he’s a top-10 pick. Jackson came in as a five-star. He was ranked eighth in the country and the fifth ranked power forward in the 2017 recruiting class. His scoring numbers did pop off the paper, but his overall production was tops among freshman and all the rest of the players.

Jackson failed to eclipse 11 points, but there wasn’t a need to. He was playing with four other highly recruited players who were on a mission this season. it was only half accomplished, but they still won a lot of games. Jackson got to share the paint duties with a four-star athlete from last year’s class which cut into his rebounding totals.

The Spartans also had a deep bench. They featured a six-foot-nine guy who missed all of 2016 so he was hungry to get back out there. Bridges is also great athlete so he grabbed a lot of boards. Nonetheless, Jackson was the primary shot blocker. Nick Ward blocked 47 shots this season. Jackson’s total when it was all said and done was 106. That’s over three per game.

Next: NBA Draft 2018 Big Board 1.0: Ranking the top 60 prospects

He also portrayed the quality I love the most. Jackson has an outside shot. He averaged just over one per game for a total of 38 on the season. NBA guys are going to really enjoy this player who stands at six-foot-eleven, is a quality shot blocker and has the ability to knock down a three-pointer. Jackson shot a little less than 40 percent from behind-the-arc and there’s nothing better than that.

To sell the case for Jackson being a top-10 pick is that he’s going to be a reliable front court player and he shoots free throw really well. As a big man he’s clearly going to go to the line often. Jackson shot a very nice 79 percent from the line. He will avoid the hack-a-player label at the next level. Jackson is going to be the real deal.