There's a good chance that UNC basketball will be tortured by Ian Jackson leaving Chapel Hill in the transfer portal, regardless of the former 5-star guard's destination. North Carolina and Hubert Davis were already at least mildly scrambling to complete the roster when Jackson was in the fray. Without him, the Tar Heels should be in full-on panic mode, especially if there's no shot that he returns to the program.
Jackson is the type of scorer, though, that could make this even worse for UNC depending on where he goes. In the right program with the right direction and current situation, he could legitimately become the linchpin offensively for a title contender. There was a world wherein he could've been that for the Tar Heels, but that world might be on the horizon behind us.
So now that he's in the transfer portal and could be that key figure for a title contender, these three realistic transfer portal destinations for Jackson would only serve to twist the knife in Davis, in Tar Heels fans, and in the North Carolina program.
3. St. John's Red Storm
While St. John's was never among the leaders in Ian Jackson's recruitment, the Bronx native could be enticed for a return closer to home, especially with the way Rick Pitino is currently manning the controls. The Johnnies did give the hometown 5-star an offer but that was about as far as it went. Now, that could absolutely change for what the Red Storm are trying to do moving forward.
It was an unforgettable season for Pitino's program, getting St. John's back to the pinnacle of the Big East and earning a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, even if that led to a premature exit in the first weekend. Even still, the arrow is pointed up, but the Red Storm are now facing an issue of needing to replace their most trusted and talented scorer, RJ Luis Jr., from this past season's roster. Jackson would be an ideal fit to do so.
Jackson is a far more efficient scorer than Luis and, more importantly, could be more of a reliable force to help St. John's upgrade on the end of the floor where they most struggled, relatively speaking, in the 2024-25 season. And for UNC, to see him bet that for the Johnnies would be a tough, tough pill to swallow when it could've been in Chapel Hill.
2. Arkansas Razorbacks
It wasn't hard to arrive at Arkansas as a potential landing spot for Ian Jackson given some of the details of his recruitment. Down to the wire for his commitment, it seemed like it would be either UNC or Arkansas as the preferred destination for the 5-star recruit as those were his two final visits. That, of course, was under the watch of Eric Musselman — but guess who also recruited Jackson. That's right, John Calipari when he was still with Kentucky.
Given Jackson's familiarity with Fayetteville and his familiarity with Calipari, who he also took a visit to explore when he was with Kentucky as a recruit, the fit would be natural. The first-year head coach of the Razorbacks had to scramble quite heavily upon his arrival with the program to simply just build out a roster. Yes, he did so phenomenally in terms of talent but it also felt like you could see that necessarily rushed roster on the floor at times throughout the season.
Now with his claws dug deep into the program and hoping to now take Arkansas to another level, Jackson is the type of piece that could accomplish that. Not only would it sting North Carolina to lose the talented guard to a program that they beat out on the recruiting trail, but losing anyone to Calipari is never a feeling that a school wants to incur.
1. UConn Huskies
Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies didn't win a national championship this year, so that clearly means that we should be preparing for a large-scale rebuild in Storrs, right? I wouldn't hold my breath on that. Whether you find his antics tiresome or not, Hurley is a damn good college basketball coach and has routinely been able to acquire high-end talent. There was a dip in the 2024-25 season, which you'd expect coming off of back-to-back titles, but now he can start to level back up again.
That's where Jackson could enter the fold for UConn in a pretty obvious way. The Huskies and Hurley were also interested in Jackson at one point, so there's a connection there already. On top of that, while it's not in New York like St. John's, Storrs is much closer to home for Jackson than Chapel Hill, which could be of interest to the talented guard.
Again, there aren't many places that wouldn't be hard for the Tar Heel faithful to swallow when it comes to Jackson transferring. However, seeing him go to UConn with Hurley and keep a budding dynasty on the right track would be particularly painful to witness given the hopes for what he could've done with UNC basketball.