Jackson family talks Duke visit impact
Bull City Hoops spoke with GG Jackson’s father about his son’s official visit to Durham this past weekend.
The Duke staff hosted VIP recruit Greg (GG) Jackson over the weekend and Bull City Hoops spoke with his father, Bishop, after the family returned to Columbia, S.C., following the two-day visit to campus.
“We are home now, back in Columbia,” the elder Jackson said, with both an excited and exhausted tone over the phone. “The visit was great. We had a lot of fun.”
Per the normal protocols for an official visit, the university paid all expenses for the 6-foot-9 forward as well as both of his parents to fly into Raleigh-Durham Airport, get shuttled to the school and see all that the Blue Devil program has to offer.
As one of the highlights of the visit, the family sat behind the bench for Saturday afternoon’s 79-59 throttling of Syracuse.
Mr. Jackson said they certainly enjoyed the game, and he was particularly fond of the way that the Cameron Crazies supported the team. While they’d seen them on TV, being there in person left a major impact.
“The support from the students was just something. To see it live was just so impactful. They’re so lively and loud and they were that way the entire game,” he noted. “A great atmosphere.”
The fans chanted his son’s name and lobbied him to come join them on the other side of the court. So he and Sean Stewart, who has already committed to play for Jon Scheyer next season, spent time in the midst of the student section during the win over Syracuse.
Perhaps the most special part of the visit for the Jackson family was a Saturday evening dinner. And it wasn’t a special place in the city. It wasn’t a high dollar steakhouse either. It was a table set up on the floor in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
It made quite the impression, evidently.
“Oh man, that was absolutely spectacular,” he said. “All of the coaches were there, and their wives. It was just incredible,” he added as the inflection in his voice increased.
“We had salmon, we had steak. We had so much great stuff. That was just special for us.”
During the visit, Nolan Smith spent a lot of time with Jackson. And the sell is simply to watch Paolo Banchero.
“Basically the same position that Paolo plays. They’re very similar. Taking the ball off the glass. No designated guy for each position They have a lot of pieces. Everyone is interchangeable. There will be some guys who have different strengths or specialties but he’ll have the ability to play all over the floor,” he continued.
On Sunday morning, the Jackson family ate breakfast with the coaches before boarding their flights back to Columbia. And as it stands, they’ll have one more official visit — South Carolina — before they release their top five schools.
“We are going to release (the list) after regions but before the playoffs. We will probably go with five schools.”
Since I know it will be asked; here are my guesses on his top five. Again, these are just my feelings on who will make up the final list. And these are in no particular order; Duke, UNC, South Carolina, Georgetown and Auburn.
I saw there Jason Jordan from SI tweeted “An official visit can change it all.” Seemed to be a possible veiled reference to GG and Duke. Any sense about that? I’ve always assumed UNC was a definitive leader here.