There was quite a bit of debate regarding these two coming out of high school. After watching both for a couple of years in college now, who has had the better career so far?

I thought Jackson would have developed more than he has. With that said, I think Diebler has had the better career to this point.

Diebler.

Jackson. 2 Sweet 16 appearances, in which he played extremely well. Has embraced role of shut-down defender at X, sacrificing individual numbers. Granted, Dante has not been aggressive enough on the offensive end for stat mongers, but what he provides can't be measured in a box score. He probably should look for his own shot more, I'll not argue that...but you can't fault him for trying to make his teammates better every time he hits the floor. Dante is also the vocal leader at X this year...seemingly every article written about the team in the local or national press has a quote from him. The media recognizes this quality in him even though he's not putting up gawdy numbers, and Dante does not shy away from this responsibility as an upperclassman.

Diebler. Averaging nearly 17 ppg. Unstoppable from the perimeter. Not to mention the Ohio all time leading scorer in High School (yes, over LeBron)

Has to be Jon. Im not a huge fan of either, but have nothing against either. Dante was the better HS player. Jon is the better college player. Period I feel.

both are equal at what their team needs.....but what Diebler does is more important

Diebler.

TheBaxter wrote: Diebler. Averaging nearly 17 ppg. Unstoppable from the perimeter. Not to mention the Ohio all time leading scorer in High School (yes, over LeBron)

Not surprising when Diebler shot 60 shots a game...

LeBron was the greatest complete player in Ohio High School basketball history. There is no debate about that.

LTrain23 wrote:

TheBaxter wrote: Diebler. Averaging nearly 17 ppg. Unstoppable from the perimeter. Not to mention the Ohio all time leading scorer in High School (yes, over LeBron)

Not surprising when Diebler shot 60 shots a game...

LeBron was the greatest complete player in Ohio High School basketball history. There is no debate about that.

Agreed.. but I'll do ya one better. LeBron was the best HS player EVER IMO. Dude could not be stopped.

Dante benefited a lot from playing in the poor SCOL conference..

Diebler is better.

Diebler plays against much better competition in the Big 10, so probably Diebler.

Trueblue23 wrote:Dante benefited a lot from playing in the poor SCOL conference..

How did he benefit?? Wouldn't it be a disadvantage to play in a poor conference? Dante was the better HS player, and he showed that when his Greenfield team crushed Diebler and Upper Sandusky his senior year. I believe their careers are about even at this point. They have totally different games, so it makes it hard to compare.

"Agreed.. but I'll do ya one better. LeBron was the best HS player EVER IMO. Dude could not be stopped."



Lebron isn't even top 10 of the best High School players to ever play.

Skyhook79 wrote: "Agreed.. but I'll do ya one better. LeBron was the best HS player EVER IMO. Dude could not be stopped."



Lebron isn't even top 10 of the best High School players to ever play.

Wow, just wow. And who would you say was better? Seriously, LeBron James absolutely dominated the national scene of high school basketball. He singlehandedly beat teams that were nationally ranked. I remember when SVSM destroyed Trevor Ariza's Westchester (Calif.) team that was top 10 nationally and he almost outscored them by himself. I don't think you can even make a case for anyone else.

Lew Alcindor was decent. lol However, I agree on LBJ as best ever. When a regular HS beats the best of the best, its a no-brainer in my eyes and I am not even a LeBron fan. LBJ is the best HS player ever. Top 3-5 worstcase scenario.

Jon is a better college player. Better numbers, better competition.

Dante does fill his role nicely, but he was given the role due to the inability to take on a bigger one.

I was sold on Dante as the better HS player. I feel the same in college with Jon.

I'll disagree a little on the semantics...Dante was not given the role he is in, he earned it. You make it sound like embracing a "non-sexy" role of defending the other team's best guard & distributing the basketball on offense is a demotion. Dante played out of position his first two seasons at X offensively without complaining one bit, and took Stanley Burrell's lead on the defensive end as a freshman. Without Stanley's influence on Dante things may have turned out a little different, for the worse. His career has basically been an extension of Burrell's senior season when you step back & look at it, & that ain't all bad when you take into count the chemistry needed to build a really good program like Xavier has.

Skyhook just made my day. Lebron isn't one of the top ten players of all time? yeah right, man haha whatever you say

I don't think Lebron makes the top 10 high school players list either.

Think of how many high school players left their schools the state's all time leading scorer, and won 3-4 state titles. There are probably more than a dozen or so, each with a credential that surpasses LeBron.

Heck, Diebler has to be considered as having a better high school career than Lebron James.

swamisez wrote: I don't think Lebron makes the top 10 high school players list either.

Think of how many high school players left their schools the state's all time leading scorer, and won 3-4 state titles. There are probably more than a dozen or so, each with a credential that surpasses LeBron.

Heck, Diebler has to be considered as having a better high school career than Lebron James.

LeBron has a pretty solid resume even looking at it from an accomplishments angle. 3x state champion, 1x state finalist, 4th on ohio scoring list (i think its safe to say that had LBJ really wanted to, he could have put the scoring record out of the reach of Jon Diebler), and one national title? And thats not even looking at it from a standpoint of the way that he singlehandedly dominated so many nationally ranked teams that there are now rules prohibiting how many teams that Ohio high school teams can play who are not located in adjacent states.

swamisez wrote:

Heck, Diebler has to be considered as having a better high school career than Lebron James.

Its pretty easy to score more points if you shoot a gazillion more shots, play no defense, and refuse to shoot anything but 3s.

If they ever met on the hardwood, I am sure LeBron would do whatever he wanted to Diebler. The fact that Diebler continues to play at Ohio State while Lebron never stepped foot on a college court tells me everything I need to know.

I don't remember seeing Diebler on the cover of SI while he was in high school? Did I miss something?:-/

From an acomplishment standpoint a couple guys give LeBron a run for his money.

Oscar Robertson
John Lucas
Damon Baily
Lew Alcinder

...those off the top of my head. Now from a pure best player standpoint, LeBron is better than all of them in HS I think. MAYBE the Big O was better. Alcinder was close, but they play different positions so its tough. Big O and LeBron are pretty identical and they are pretty even skill wise and accomplishment wise. I dont think I could name 10 better than LeBron though.

jordo212000 wrote:

swamisez wrote:

Heck, Diebler has to be considered as having a better high school career than Lebron James.

Its pretty easy to score more points if you shoot a gazillion more shots, play no defense, and refuse to shoot anything but 3s.

If they ever met on the hardwood, I am sure LeBron would do whatever he wanted to Diebler. The fact that Diebler continues to play at Ohio State while Lebron never stepped foot on a college court tells me everything I need to know.

I don't remember seeing Diebler on the cover of SI while he was in high school? Did I miss something?:-/

Not to mention that Diebler played in the Northern Ohio League (or whatever league Upper Sandusky plays in). Can you imagine the points LBJ would have put up had he played in that league vs. playing Oak Hill Academy, Westchester, Mater Dei, etc.

Heres a look at some of the great high school teams and the players that anchored them:

http://hsohio.scout.com/2/103562.html

swamisez wrote:

Think of how many high school players left their schools the state's all time leading scorer, and won 3-4 state titles. There are probably more than a dozen or so, each with a credential that surpasses LeBron.

Ummm Lebron won 3 titles at SVSM. Played legit competition, scored alot of points, was the 1st pick in the NBA draft... The "most points" argument is so silly. I've already talked about that. You have some players who play in up and down gimmick offenses that chuck 3s, you have players who are the only 'player' on the team, and you have teams with weak schedules. All allow somebody to rack up points.

jordo212000 wrote:

swamisez wrote:

Think of how many high school players left their schools the state's all time leading scorer, and won 3-4 state titles. There are probably more than a dozen or so, each with a credential that surpasses LeBron.

Ummm Lebron won 3 titles at SVSM. Played legit competition, scored alot of points, was the 1st pick in the NBA draft... The "most points" argument is so silly. I've already talked about that. You have some players who play in up and down gimmick offenses that chuck 3s, you have players who are the only 'player' on the team, and you have teams with weak schedules. All allow somebody to rack up points.

Not to mention that LBJ won a national championship...how many high school players can say that? That trumps any number of state championships in my mind.

Also, its funny that of the circumstances you listed above that can allow a player to score a ton of points, Diebler benefited from all three.

Think about all of the high school basketball players throughout history. I am sure the greatest basketball players from each state all have a litany of state titles as well.

The point being, to single out Lebron James, who coincidentally was from Ohio, as being the greatest high school basketball player of all time is a slight to so many outstanding high school great.

Much research would be required to compile a true list of this magnitude, and my guess is that if you put all the categories and stats together, Lebron may be in the top 10, but he wouldn't be a hands down number one like so many are claiming.