Hoop Summit: Decision near for No. 1 Jackson

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The No. 1 senior in America, Josh Jackson didn't make it to the Hoop Summit until Thursday night. While his impact on Team USA's scrimmage was immediate, the real news is that Jackson says he'll soon be ending his decision.

Because of school, 2016's No. 1 player Josh Jackson -- who is down to Arizona, Kansas and Michigan State -- had to miss the USA Team's first three practices. The 6-foot-7 wing from Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep arrived shortly after the tip of the USA's scrimmage and was ready to enter play by early in the second quarter.

Within 15 seconds Jackson had thrown a beautiful alley-oop, gotten a steal that led to a bucket and gobbled up an impressive rebound. Not only that, the intensity of the USA Team went up noticeably the second he hit the floor.

Even without scoring and without having the benefit of being taught the USA sets, offense and defense, he made one basketball play after another. That was to be expected, though.

The real news is that Jackson says he's ready to make a college decision.

"I'm ready. Look for me to do something on Monday," Jackson told Rivals.com. "I know what I want to do."

Jackson didn't offer up any details about how exactly he would handle his announcement and later told reporters that his decision could come as late as Wednesday of next week. But, he's set a timeable and either Sean Miller, Bill Self or Tom Izzo is about to be a very happy man.

After three intense practice sessions, Team USA finally got a chance to scrimmage on Thursday night. In front of 150 or so NBA personnel and playing against a thrown together group of local college players, the L.J. Goolsby and Sean Flannery coached squad was quite impressive.

One of the biggest stories of the last few weeks has been the play of unsigned senior power forward Jarrett Allen. Ranked No. 20 nationally and considering the likes of Houston, Texas, Notre Dame and Kentucky -- and in no apparent hurry to make his choice -- Allen has really taken his game to a new level against elite competition. He must get stronger but he was playing above the rim, swatting shots and most impressively being vocal with his teammates. His run from the McDonald's All-American Game to Hoop Summit has been impressive.

Playing his best on Thursday night was 2016's No. 3 player, Duke bound Jayson Tatum. The 6-foot-8 small forward was highly active in passing lanes which led to several deflections, steals and open floor slams. At times the past few weeks, Tatum has been trigger happy with his shot but he was more measured on Thursday night and played his best ball as a result.

Tatum wasn't the only future Duke scorer who played well. Combo guard Frank Jackson had another standout effort on both ends. He locked up defensively, got to the rim when he wanted and hit several jumpers. The Blue Devils perimeter scoring is going to be scary with Jackson and Tatum joining Luke Kennard and Grayson Allen.

The Kentucky bound duo of De'Aaron Fox and Wenyen Gabriel each had their best runs in Portland during the scrimmage. A lightning quick point guard, Fox has been loose with the ball at times but he really cleaned things up on Thursday. His decision making was tight and his defensive pressure was suffocating at times. Because of his commitment to rebounding, Gabriel was a standout. He was all over the floor corralling rebounds and with Florida State bound Jonathan Isaac not playing as well in the scrimmage as he had practices, Gabriel has made a pretty good argument to be made a starter.

They have different styles, but wings Terrance Ferguson and Joshua Langford had their best runs during the scrimmage. Undecided with Arizona, Baylor and Kansas in his upper tier, Ferguson raised NBA eyebrows with the ease of which he made shots from beyond the NBA three point line and the way he finished above the rim on the break. After forcing some shots in earlier practices, Langford made smart and tough plays. He boarded, defended and scored on physical drives.

Continuing his transformation to point guard was Washington bound Markelle Fultz. We have been hesitant to call the 6-foot-4 slasher a point guard. Not because he can't play the position, because he certainly can. But, he's so outstanding as a shooting guard (similar in style to a young Eric Gordon) that we weren't sure he could be a better point than shooting guard. The way he continually got into the lane and made plays for himself or others, we are starting to lean towards the point guard side of things. Looking back a few years, he's making the same types of plays that D'Angelo Russell was.