Jaxson Robinson named one of the best players in college basketball by ESPN

by:Jack Pilgrim•about 9 hours

Kentucky forward Jaxson Robinson drives the ball at the Blue-White Game - Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio

First, it was CBS Sports listing Jaxson Robinson as one of the best players in college basketball entering the 2024-25 season. Up next? ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf, who dropped their list of top 100 standouts in the sport early Monday morning.

As you can probably imagine, Robinson made the cut. But where? The former Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year comes in at No. 50 overall, good for 12th in the SEC.

Robinson is the only Wildcat on the list of top 100 prospects, but received high praise by the Worldwide Leader.

“After withdrawing from the NBA draft, Robinson (14.2 PPG) followed Mark Pope to Kentucky, where he’ll join a group of transfers aiming to make the Wildcats competitive in their first year without John Calipari,” ESPN wrote. “Robinson has to be more consistent in Lexington (he shot just 30% from 3 in Big 12 play last season), but his best performances — see: 18 points, 4-for-9 from beyond the arc in a win over Kansas in 2023-24 — showed he can be one of the top players in his new conference.”

That comes after the CBS Sports trio of Kyle Boone, Gary Parrish, and Matt Norlander listed Robinson at No. 33 overall in their update of top 101 players last week.

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“Mark Pope brought with him a flamethrower from BYU to Kentucky in his jump from the Cougars to the ‘Cats in Robinson, who last season won Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year after shooting 35.4% from 3-point range and averaging 14.2 points,” they added. “He steps into a new situation in Lexington where he’ll be called upon as a go-to scoring option in an offensive system that plays to his strengths emphasizing his skills as a shooter and spacer. There will be plenty of co-stars in UK’s system this season given the prioritization of spacing and sharing but he should be the leading candidate to benefit most.”

What about the rest of ESPN’s top 100? It’s loaded with players on Kentucky’s schedule — 27, to be exact. Check out those future foes below:

No. 1 Cooper Flagg (Duke)
No. 3 Mark Sears (Alabama)
No. 5 Johni Broome (Auburn)
No. 7 Wade Taylor IV (Texas A&M)
No. 20 Zakai Zeigler (Tennessee)
No. 21 Graham Ike (Gonzaga)
No. 22 Johnell Davis (Arkansas)
No. 23 Ryan Nembhard (Gonzaga)
No. 24 Walter Clayton Jr. (Florida)
No. 25 Tre Johnson (Texas)
No. 34 Collin Murray-Boyles (South Carolina)
No. 36 Cliff Omuruyi (Alabama)
No. 42 Josh Hubbard (Mississippi State)
No. 43 Grant Nelson (Alabama)
No. 58 Matthew Murrell (Ole Miss)
No. 59 Tramon Mark (Texas)
No. 64 Jonas Aidoo (Arkansas)
No. 65 Terrence Edwards Jr. (Louisville)
No. 66 Tyrese Proctor (Duke)
No. 72 Ian Schieffelin (Clemson)
No. 78 Dre Davis (Ole Miss)
No. 81 Khaman Maluach (Duke)
No. 83 Michael Ajayi (Gonzaga)
No. 85 Bruce Thornton (Ohio State)
No. 92 DJ Wagner (Arkansas)
No. 93 Alijah Martin (Florida)
No. 97 Kon Knueppel (Duke)

Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams are here to prove ESPN wrong.

Robinson, Carr included in On3 Top 125

ESPN may have questions about the rest of the pieces on Kentucky’s roster, but On3’s Jamie Shaw has his head on straight when talking about both Robinson and Andrew Carr, including the latter in his top 125 list. The pair of Wildcats sat inside the top 85, Robinson coming in at No. 49 overall and Carr coming in at No. 81 overall.

The likes of Butler and Williams, however, were not included.

Take a peek at the top of On3’s list below: