Duke basketball: North Carolina suffers first decommittment ever

North Carolina suffered its first ever decommittment from a former Duke basketball target. 

It was in the works for weeks but former Duke basketball recruiting target G.G. Jackson has officially decommitted from North Carolina.

Jackson made the announcement late Thursday night after the story was first reported by Jamie Shaw of On3Sports.

https://twitter.com/_ggjackson/status/1547762706702159872

G.G. Jackson becomes the first every decommittment in the history of the North Carolina basketball program as the only other player who was committed to the Tar Heels and did not make it to Chapel Hill was JR Smith, who opted for the NBA Draft directly from high school.

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The Tar Heels landed the verbal pledge of the five-star prospect in late April after South Carolina head coach Frank Martin was relieved of his duties with the Gamecocks.

South Carolina was widely considered the favorite to land Jackson before firing Martin but new head coach Lamont Paris picked up the 6-foot-9 forward’s recruitment and appears to be in the drivers seat to land the No. 2 player in the Class of 2023, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

It also appears likely that G.G. Jackson will be reclassifying into 2022 after this week’s Peach Jam in South Carolina as the Gamecocks are once again the favorites to land the coveted prospect.

Duke basketball looking to strengthen lead for top-ranked class

North Carolina did not have any room for Jackson after filling its available scholarships for the 2022-23 season with the commitment of Northwestern transfer Pete Nance and the his decommitment only leaves the Tar Heels with one commitment player in the Class of 2023, five-star guard Simeon Wilcher.

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Hubert Davis’ squad had the second ranked recruiting class, only trailing Duke, with Jackson and Wilcher committed to the program but the ‘Heels dropped to the No. 15 recruiting class in 2023, according to 247Sports, with only the Roselle Catholic (NJ) guard pledged to the school.

Duke currently has five-star forward Mackenzie Mgbacko, five-star guard Caleb Foster, five-star forward Sean Stewart, and four-star guard Jared McCain committed in the Class of 2023 while Jon Scheyer is still involved with four-star forward Xavier Booker, four-star center JP Estrella, and four-star forward TJ Power.