Kansas Basketball: Jayhawks add 2023 piece with top-30 Elmarko Jackson

Four-star point guard Elmarko Jackson has committed to Kansas Basketball, joining the defending champions and Bill Self’s 2023 recruiting class.

Suffice to say, last year went according to plan at Kansas Basketball. Bill Self led these Jayhawks all the way to the national championship, his second as head coach and the fourth in program history. Kansas has been one of the best programs in the nation on a regular basis in recent years and got the job done this past season.

Many of the faces on last year’s title team are gone from Kansas, including Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun, and David McCormack, three of the stars of that title run. Self has always been an impressive recruiter, even before he arrived in Lawrence, and has turned that into both success recruiting freshmen and transfers to Kansas, adding players like Kevin McCullar Jr. and Gradey Dick this season. However, he’s been successful building for the future as well, continuing that with the commitment of Elmarko Jackson.

A 6’3 point guard from Connecticut, Jackson becomes the third piece of the Jayhawks’ 2023 class of recruits, joining 4-star guards Chris Johnson and Jamari McDowell. Kansas is truly a Blue Blood program and continues to bring talented young prospects into the fold, with Jackson certainly no slouch.

He rates as a 4-star prospect because of his speed and power. He’s already built up, far more than the average high school senior at this point, and will certainly be one of the nation’s faster point guards when he arrives on campus. He’s still developing the skills of his game, but he’ll likely develop into a major piece for the Jayhawks in the future, especially due to his patience and decision-making ability while leading the offense.

Jackson chose Kansas over Miami, Notre Dame, Texas, and Villanova and really emphasized his interest in Kansas’s winning culture and success. By next season, it’s likely that Kansas’s starting backcourt will be gone, as Dajuan Harris Jr. and Gradey Dick both look like potential draft picks if they have stellar seasons. Either way, Jackson should develop into a dynamic part of this Kansas squad, especially if his game transitions to the collegiate level as we expect. We’re not sure how long he’d stay in college, but he’ll become the player non-Kansas fans will love to hate.

A third 4-star prospect further solidifies a strong class for Bill Self, a fact that comes as a surprise to nobody. With the recent coaching retirements, it’s fair to claim Self as the game’s best head coach, and he keeps hitting home runs on the recruiting trail as well. We’ll see Jackson in Lawrence a year from now; what do you think we can expect from the young point guard when he gets there?