By R.L. Bynum
You’ll get a chance to watch the highest-ranked player in Carolina’s Class of 2024 starting Saturday morning when five-star 6–5 guard Ian Jackson goes for his third gold medal in as many summers.
Jackson will play for the United States in the FIBA U19 World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary, as he tries to follow up on gold medals he won in 2021 at the FIBA U16 Americas tournament and last summer at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup, when he averaged 11.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals.
The FIBA site lists Jackson, a rising senior at Cardinal Hayes in The Bronx, as the No. 3 player to watch in the tournament. ESPN ranks Jackson No. 5 in the Class of 2024, and he’s part of UNC’s class that includes four-star and No. 34-ranked 6–5 wing Drake Powell and four-star and No. 45-ranked James Brown.
Three other American players were listed on FIBA’s top 20 players to watch: 6–6 guard Tre Johnson of Dallas at No. 7 (No. 1 in ESPN’s Class of 2024 rankings and uncommitted); 6–4 point guard Dylan Harper at No. 11 (No. 2 in the Class of 2024 and uncommitted), the son of former NBA star Ron Harper; 6–8 forward Cody Williams at No. 14, an incoming freshman at Colorado; and 6–2 guard Mark Armstrong at No. 19, a rising sophomore at Villanova.
Colorado coach Tad Boyle is the head coach for the team, which also includes Tennessee’s Tobe Awaka, Iowa State incoming freshman Omaha Biliew, Arizona’s Kylan Boswell, Purdue’s Myles Colvin, incoming Oklahoma State freshman Eric Dailey Jr., Vanderbilt’s Ven-Allen Lubin and Asa Newell (uncommitted Class of 2024 player).
For two of the three U.S. pool-play games in Group B, it will be breakfast with Ian, starting with Saturday’s opener against Madagascar at 9:30 a.m. ET. Sunday’s game against Slovenia is at 2 p.m. and Tuesday’s contest with Lebanon is at 9 a.m.
All games are streamed here.
There are four four-team groups, and all 16 teams automatically advance to Wednesday’s round of 16. After a rest day, the quarterfinals are Friday, June 30, with the semifinals Saturday, July 1 and the championship on Sunday, July 2.
Key events, dates
Saturday, April 27, was the deadline for players to submit their names to the NBA draft (doesn’t apply to players who were seniors last season, even though they have another year of eligibility)
Wednesday — Deadline for players to enter the transfer portal
May 11–12 — NBA G League Elite Camp in Chicago
May 12–19 — NBA Combine in Chicago
May 17–19 — Evaluation for high school players at NCAA-certified events (EYBL in Indianapolis is one of those)
May 29 at 11:59 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from NBA draft and maintain college eligibility
June 16 at 5 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft
UNC schedule so far
Nov. 8 — at Kansas (final AP rank No. 20; final NET ranking No. 19)
Nov. 22 — at Hawaii (final NET ranking No. 172)
Nov. 25–27 — Maui Invitational — Auburn (final AP rank No. 18; final NET ranking No. 5), Colorado (unranked; No. 25), Connecticut (No. 1; No. 2), Dayton (No. 24; No. 23), Iowa State (No. 8; No. 6), Memphis (unranked; No. 75), Michigan State (unranked; No. 24)
Dec. 14 — vs. La Salle (final NET ranking No. 195)
Likely in late November — Opponent TBA in ACC/SEC Challenge
December — vs. UCLA (final NET ranking No. 107) in CBS Sports Classic (date, location TBA)
December — vs. Florida (final NET ranking No. 29) in Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center (date TBA)
— Games home and away against Duke, N.C. State and Pittsburgh
— Home games vs. Boston College, California, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU, Stanford and Virginia
— Road games vs. Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest
Note: 2024 NCAA tournament teams are in bold.
Potential 2024-25 UNC roster
| No. | Class | Player | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Freshman | James Brown (4 star) | 5 | 6–8 | 225 |
| — | Freshman | Ian Jackson (5 star) | 2 | 6–4 | 180 |
| — | Freshman | Drake Powell (5 star) | 2 | 6–5 | 185 |
| 2 | Soph. | Elliot Cadeau | PG | 6–1 | 180 |
| 1 | Soph. | Zayden High | 4 | 6–9 | 225 |
| — | Junior | Cade Tyson | 3 | 6–7 | 203 |
| 13 | Junior | Jalen Washington | 5 | 6–10 | 230 |
| 0 | Junior | Seth Trimble | 2 | 6–3 | 195 |
| 5 | Graduate | RJ Davis | PG | 6–0 | 180 |
| Eligible for fifth season | |||||
| 24 | Graduate | Jae’Lyn Withers | 4 | 6–9 | 215 |
| Walk-ons eligible for 5th season | |||||
| 14 | Graduate | Creighton Lebo | PG | 6–1 | 180 |
| 22 | Graduate | Rob Landry | 2 | 6–4 | 190 |
Photo courtesy of FIBA
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