Ian Jackson is returning home, electing to transfer to St. John's

While quite a few teams threw their name into the mix, one program always stood out during Ian Jackson's transfer portal recruitment.

Now, Jackson is officially set to join that program: St. John's.

The former five-star guard will now continue his college career in his home state, committing to Rick Pitino and the Red Storm. He will have three seasons of eligibility to work with.

Jackson, a highly-touted recruit out of high school, spent one season with the UNC basketball program. The Bronx, New York native averaged 11.9 points, 2.7 rebounds over 36 games (12 starts).

Considered to be a "one-and-done" prospect, Jackson looked the part early on in the season. You could make the case that he was the Tar Heels best player for a good stretch of time, as he was simply a scoring machine from late December into the mid portion of January.

From December 21 to January 15, Jackson put together six 20+ point outings over seven games, including a 27-point outburst against Notre Dame. During that stretch, Jackson looked like a sure-fire first rounder, but as the season went on, his role significantly decreased.

In fact, Jackson didn't play more than 20 minutes in any of the Tar Heels' final six games, as his lack of scoring made him essentially unplayable.

Jackson surely has room to grow in his game, especially in terms of impacting the game in other ways. Sure, scoring the basketball is an elite trait to have, but it's useless if a coach can't trust you to lock in defensively or make winning plays when your shot isn't falling.

St. John's got a good one, as the pairing between them and Jackson has finally come to fruition. Pitino and company have been pursing him even during his original commitment to the Tar Heels, and now will have the opportunity to pencil him into their lineup for the 2025-2026 season.