photo by: Nick Krug

Blue Team guard Josh Jackson drives against Red Team guard Brannen Greene during the Bill Self basketball camp alumni scrimmage, Wednesday, June 8, 2016 at the Horejsi Athletic Center.

It’s no secret that Lawrence has been a popular stop for one-and-done college basketball players during the past several seasons.

And KU coach Bill Self has put himself in the top tier of college coaches who can recruit, sign and coach these unique players who make a quick stop in college on their way to the NBA.

For the fifth consecutive season — and seventh time in the past eight years — Self’s Kansas roster has another one-and-done candidate in 6-foot-8 freshman forward Josh Jackson, who, for months, has been labeled a sure-fire Top 5 pick in next year’s NBA Draft.

“Barring something happening that’s out of our control, he’s gonna be a one-and-done,” Self told the Journal-World this week. “He’ll just be here one year. I’m very sure of that.”

Self also is very familiar with what that means, both for the player and the program.

Some former Jayhawks, like Andrew Wiggins, were obvious one-and-done talents. Others, like Joel Embiid on that same team, emerged quicker than expected. And still others, such as Josh Selby, Cliff Alexander and Cheick Diallo, left Kansas without making the impact many hoped and expected them to make.

The man responsible for bringing all of them to town has his own memories and interpretations of what went right and what went wrong with these marquee athletes.

With that in mind, the Journal-World recently caught up with Self for a quick recap of the wild ride on which the one-and-done phenomenon has taken the Jayhawks during the past several seasons.

Here is some of Self’s insight about KU’s most high-profile players of the past decade.

• Most rewarding get: “The two guys that have set themselves apart from the others are the guys that, if they remain healthy, are gonna make $300,000,000 (in the NBA),” Self said. “And that’s Wiggs and Joel. Those were guys that everybody knew were going to be one-and-done guys just from the impact they had on the game while they were here.”

• Most surprising get: “The thing with Wiggs was we got him without knowing we were getting him,” Self said. “We could’ve been in great shape all along or we could’ve closed strong at the end. We didn’t know. All we knew was that on the day he announced, he picked us. And we were certainly OK with that.”

• Most surprising year at KU: “Joel by his talents and Andrew by his humility, considering everything he had come his way,” Self said.

• Most difficult to land: “No question, Wiggs,” Self said. “Josh (Jackson) was difficult to get, too, though.”

• Player who got the most out of his one year at KU: “Nobody bats 1.000,” Self said. “But we’ve been fortunate. Wiggs did it. Ben (McLemore) did it. Joel did it. Kelly (Oubre) did it. It just took him a little bit of time to do it. Xavier (Henry) did it, for the most part. Those guys all figured it out and helped make us better while they were here.”

And that brings us to Jackson, who spent a good chunk of the summer in Lawrence, taking classes and developing a bond with his teammates.

Because of that, Self said Jackson figures to be ahead of where some of the previous one-and-done Jayhawks were.

“What would be bad is if you had a young guy coming in that expected to be catered to and a bunch of veterans who resented that because they’ve had to pay their dues and they know the way it works,” Self said. “But that’s not the case at all with Josh.”

Self knows the inevitable comparisons between Jackson and Wiggins already have started. He also is aware that more are coming. And while he admits that the two have similarities, he made sure to point out that they also aren’t even close to the same player.

“I’m excited about Josh for a lot of reasons,” Self said. “But the thing I’m most excited about is how much he can make his teammates better by his mindset. Wiggs was polished, but Josh, basketball-wise, is polished, too. He’s not as freakishly athletic as Wiggs, but he is a complete basketball playing dude.”