Despite reporting to the contrary last week, Maryland remains a top-five contender for the commitment of 2016 five-star shooting guard Josh Jackson, who's widely regarded as the best prospect in next year's basketball class.
It was reported last week, apparently erroneously, that Jackson was down to a top two of Michigan State and Arizona. But Jackson says that isn't true.
"It's Michigan State, Arizona, Kansas, UNLV and Maryland," Jackson told Matt Wenzel of MLive.com.
A couple of other interesting quotes from Jackson in that article:
On his growth as a player:
"Obviously with age, I've become bigger, faster and stronger," Jackson said. "I feel like as time went on I got smarter as a player, learning through experience playing a lot of games, winning and losing. I figured out how to win more."
And on what it'll be like when he's finally done being recruited:
"I feel like I'll be relieved when it's all over. I won't be doing as many interviews," he said with a laugh, "and I won't have as many college coaches calling. I'll just have to focus on school and my game, pretty much."
Jackson is the No. 1 player in the 2016 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. About 70 percent of that site's recruiting analysts peg Jackson to either Arizona or Michigan State, but at least Maryland's still nominally in the running.
Jackson has previously said he could envision himself at Maryland and has called Xfinity Center one of the nicest gyms he's visited during his recruitment.