Four-star point guard prospect Demetrius Jackson will be playing college basketball at either Notre Dame or the University of Illinois.
Jackson, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior from Marian High in Mishawaka, Ind., will orally commit to one of the two schools at 4 p.m. Thursday on ESPNU.
Jackson had tentatively planned to visit Kansas University, but never set a date.
Rivals.com’s No. 27-rated player in the Class of 2013 lives with a foster family, whose oldest son, Michael Whitfield, is a Div. I football recruit who is considering Illinois. Jackson, who has visited Illinois, has been a top priority of Notre Dame for several years now. He has made numerous unofficial visits to the South Bend, Ind., campus to go with his official visit last weekend.
“The reason why his value is so high is because of his leadership and ability to command a team,” ESPN’s Dave Telep said of Jackson. “He may not be a household name, but he will be.”
California in-home today: KU coach Bill Self tonight will visit the home of No. 5-ranked Aaron Gordon, a 6-8 senior small forward from Archbishop Mitty High in San Jose, Calif. Gordon has a list of KU, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Kentucky and Cal.
He visited Oregon last weekend and will visit Washington this weekend, with trips scheduled to KU (Oct. 12) and Arizona (Oct. 19). He still has to schedule a visit to Kentucky.
Gordon’s high school coach, Tim Kennedy, said Gordon knows the least about KU than any of his finalists.
“Just for the fact he’s never been out there,” Kennedy told Zagsblog.com. “But it’s Kansas, kind of like a Kentucky thing where it’s always a top program so he’s interested and he has a connection knowing the assistant (Kurtis Townsend) for a little while.”
Gordon has said he will wait until the spring to choose a school.
Vonleh reclassifies: Zagsblog.com reports that coaches from KU, Louisville and Boston College visited New Hampton (N.H.) Prep School on Monday to watch a workout of Noah Vonleh, who has just reclassified to the Class of 2013.
Vonleh, a 6-9, 220-pound power forward, was Rivals.com’s No. 3-rated player in the Class of ’14. He is considering KU, B.C., Louisville, North Carolina, Ohio State and others.
Late Night on ESPNU: KU’s Late Night in the Phog again will be included as part of part of ESPNU’s four hours of Midnight Madness coverage on Friday, Oct. 12. Broadcaster Sean Farnham has been assigned to KU’s festivities. Details on Late Night will be released in coming days.
Boot Camp: The opening day of KU Basketball Boot Camp turned into a two-a-day workout for the Jayhawks on Monday.
“We just didn’t get it done (completed). The young kids were really nervous,” Self said of the 6 to 7 a.m. session in KU’s practice facility.
“It was much better,” he added of the afternoon conditioning drills.
Boot Camp runs Monday to Friday this week and all next week as well.