Kansas men’s basketball announces trio of guards among 2023 recruiting class

LAWRENCE — There’s a lot that can happen between now and the start of the 2023-24 Kansas men’s basketball season, when it comes to the construction of the Jayhawks’ roster.

The 2022-23 campaign only just got underway earlier this week. Projections of who will return and who will leave, whether to join another program or turn pro, are just that at this point — projections. As the 2021-22 season showed with a talent like Christian Braun, a breakout season could lead to a departure to the professional ranks that may not have been predicted at this point last year.

But Kansas did announce Wednesday it had signed a trio of high school guards — Chris Johnson, Elmarko Jackson and Jamari McDowell — to its 2023 recruiting class. All three are 247Sports Composite four-star prospects ranked in the top 80 of their class. As it stands Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. they give Jayhawks head coach Bill Self and company the 10th-ranked class in the country.

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“I feel like all three together give us probably about as good a trio that we have signed on the perimeter since maybe a Frank (Mason), Wayne Selden, Brannen Greene or a Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush and Micah Downs,” Self said in a Kansas release. “To me these three could fit in the same type of category as far as what their potential will be at KU.”

Here’s more on each of them:

Elmarko Jackson

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, Jackson is from Marlton, New Jersey, and attends South Kent School in Connecticut. He’s the seventh-ranked point guard in the nation and 35th player overall.

Self described Jackson this way: “People may not know he’s only played organized basketball for three years and his skill level is well beyond his experience. He’s a 6’3” athlete that can make plays with the ball and can play above the rim. He is extremely explosive and a guy that has been well drilled, well taught in a short amount of time to put him in a position to potentially be a McDonald’s All American. We’re so excited to have him in camp and he’ll be one of those versatile guards that can play the point, but also can play anywhere off the ball as well. Coach (Norm) Roberts did a great job recruiting Elmarko and his family and we feel he will be an immediate impact player for us and potentially one of the best guards we’ve had in our program.”

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Chris Johnson

Listed at 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, Johnson is from Fort Bend, Texas, and attends Montverde Academy in Florida. He’s the 12th-ranked combo guard in the nation and 45th player overall.

Self described Johnson this way: “Chris is a very good high school player out of Houston who transferred his senior year to be at Montverde. In the short amount of time he’s been there, we understand his game has just grown tremendously. He was MVP of the big preseason tournament out in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago with many of the top high school prospects in America participating. He’s also a guy that can play point guard. He’s 6’4” and much like Elmarko, very versatile, can score, get his own shot but at the same time be a distributor. The thing that people rave about with him is that he could be an elite defender, an elite collegiate defender. Coach (Jeremy) Case did a great job recruiting Chris and his family and he and Elmarko and Jamari will all complement each other so well because they’re all similar but they’re so different because of their versatility.”

Jamari McDowell

Listed at 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, McDowell is from Manvel, Texas, and attends Manvel High School. He’s the 10th-ranked shooting guard in the nation and the 76th player overall.

Self described McDowell this way: “Jamari is the best shooter of the three. He can make a shot with range. He’s got point guard skills and actually plays point guard for his respective high school team. At 6’4”, he’s got great size for his skillset and is a guy that I kind of see like as an Ochai (Agbaji) that you can throw lobs to and he’s a terrific three-point shooter. Coach Case recruited Jamari and his family as well.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Chris Johnson, Elmarko Jackson, Jamari McDowell sign with Kansas