Tag: Joe Jackson

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Jesus Patino: 11 Years of Success at White Station HS

White Station basketball Coach Jesus Patino

May 9 was a big day for White Station forward Justin Shaw. He signed a letter-of-intent to play basketball at Kaskaskia College, a community college in Centralia, Illinois. It’s not the big-name school that some of the more celebrated Spartans in the past have gone on to attend, but for White Station boys’ basketball coach Jesus Patino, it’s very significant.

That’s because it means Patino (and White Station) it continues an 11-year streak that a Spartans player has received a college basketball scholarship.

“Eleven years,” Patino says, which is also the number of years he’s held the job at WSHS. “And every year we’ve put at least one player in college.” Patino says an average of three Spartans players per year have signed to play on the college level during his tenure.

He remembers his first Spartan to sign. During the 2005-06 season, 6’-5” center, Chris Williams, like Shaw, signed with a junior college. He eventually transferred to Arkansas State.

Former Memphis Tigers guard, Joe Jackson, who graduated from White Station in 2010, is perhaps the most notable and accomplished Spartan Patino has coached. Jackson is currently playing professional basketbal in Korea. “He’s the king of Korean basketball,” says Patino.

Ferrakohn Hall, who graduated in 2009 and attended Seton Hall and Memphis, plays professional ball in Arabia. Andre Hollins, the prize of the 2011 class, graduated from the University of Minnesota and now plays in Germany.

Patino is just as proud of some of the less-heralded players who have come through the program under his watch. James White, who along with Jackson, Hall, and Hollins, helped the Spartans win a state title, is the Tennessee State men’s basketball team video coordinator.

Patino says his most talent rich-class graduated in 2014. “We had eight guys from that class receive scholarships,” he says. The seniors included Leron Black (Illinois), Chris Chiozza (Florida) and Davell Roby (St. Louis).

Justin Shaw

Since their departures, Patino has been in a rebuilding mode. “We lost nine seniors that year,” he says. “But rebuilding is fun.” Still, it doesn’t come without challenges. “I don’t recruit,” Patino says of the practice that has become common in the high school ranks.

Plus, the school’s standing as the premier basketball program in the Memphis area has taken a hit over the past two years, giving way to teams like East and Hamilton. Patino is not fazed. “We do things the right way,” he says. “We will continue to do so. It’s more than basketball. It’s about helping make kids great human beings. It’s a combination of everything. Our staff teaches discipline, leadership, respect, and ownership.”

Shaw agrees. He also believes it’s a team approach between coaching staff and student athlete. “My coaches were great,” he says. “I had to be able to take coaching. If I didn’t have the discipline to do it, I wouldn’t have taken it.”

On occasion, Patino has been asked if it is time for him to move on. “I tell all of my players, when they graduate, I’m leaving,” he jokes. “We’ve won state titles and several tournaments nationwide. We’ve done everything. I’ve had opportunities to leave. But I’m home.”

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“The Game Chose Me”

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

We take the word king seriously in Memphis. This is the city where Elvis Presley rose and Martin Luther King Jr. fell, the former providing an international brand, the latter an eternal wound. Only with more than 30 years of hindsight does Jerry Lawler seem to have earned his chosen moniker in the quasi-sport of professional wrestling. King is royalty in this town, to say the least.

Larry Kuzniewski

As a sophomore basketball prodigy at White Station High School, Joe Jackson had “King of Memphis” tattooed across his chest. He’s been fighting to meet that standard ever since.

The high school credentials were indeed regal. Jackson led the Spartans, under coach Jesus Patino, to three straight Class 3-A championship games, scoring 35 points as a junior against Raleigh-Egypt to win the 2009 title. (The Spartans fell to Melrose — a team led by Jackson’s future college teammate, Adonis Thomas — in the 2010 championship.) Over the course of his four years in green and gray, Jackson scored 3,451 points, the second most in Shelby-Metro history and fourth most in Tennessee history. Jackson became only the second Memphis basketball player to earn All-America recognition from both McDonald’s and Parade, the two most prestigious such teams in the country. (The first was Northside’s Richard Madison in 1984.) As a consensus top-15 recruit, Jackson ignored suitors across the country and made the decision his hometown wanted and expected when he committed to play for second-year coach

Josh Pastner and the Memphis Tigers.

“It’s been quite a ride,” says Jackson, as he embarks on a final postseason as a college player. “Especially my last two years. Being able to play at home, you don’t realize what a blessing it is, until you have to leave your hometown and get a career going.”

Longtime Tiger booster — and proud U of M alum — Harold Byrd has watched Jackson grow up, both as a player (Byrd sits a few rows behind press row at FedExForum) and as a community asset. And Byrd is unabashed in describing Jackson’s importance to the Memphis program.

“Joe and Elliot Perry had their choices of schools to attend but didn’t even think of going anywhere else,” says Byrd. “Other coaches might get a player or two over time, but Memphis, for the most part, owns Memphis. And that’s because of the legacy Elliot, Joe, and others have nurtured. The players feel and see the love of the fans, the high regard former players occupy in the city … the hurricane-force delirium swirling around them daily like movie stars. When a [local] player plays for Memphis, the resonance and impact of being a Tiger is one that permeates his entire life.”

Larry Kuzniewski

“I didn’t fully understand it,” says Jackson, reflecting on the intensity of the spotlight on Tiger basketball in Memphis. “How severe it was going to be. Not until I got here. I wish I would have. I wouldn’t have let so much get to me [freshman year]. People want you to do this, do that. When everybody knows you, it’s a good thing, but it can be a bad thing, too. I spent two years just trying to understand that.”

Jackson will finish his college career with achievements only a select few Tigers can claim. He and Perry are the only Tigers to accumulate 1,500 career points and 500 career assists. He and Keith Lee are the only Tigers to twice be named MVP of a conference tournament. (As a freshman, Jackson clinched the 2011 Conference USA (C-USA) title and an unlikely NCAA tournament berth for the Tigers by burying two free throws with 7.8 seconds left in the game against UTEP on the Miners’ home floor.) The only Tigers to make more free throws than Jackson — Perry, Lee, and Larry Finch — have their jersey numbers hanging from the FedExForum rafters. In leading Memphis to an undefeated run through C-USA in 2012-13, Jackson was named the league’s Player of the Year. Entering this week’s American Athletic Conference tournament, Jackson is eighth on the school’s scoring chart with 1,655 career points.

Jackson takes considerable pride in what his Tiger teams have accomplished — he’s particularly attached to that unlikely 2011 C-USA title — but his devotion to basketball goes deeper than the standard “love of the game.” In many respects, Jackson’s devotion to the sport has been a business decision.

“The game chose me to play,” says Jackson. “I didn’t necessarily choose it. I know I can play basketball. I want to be able to make money off this game. I’ve got two younger sisters, and their father isn’t in their lives. My grandma is about to retire. There are a lot of family issues I can help with. I’m smart enough to get a regular job, too, but I’m young. Fresh legs.” (For what it’s worth, Jackson says his favorite college class was accounting.)

“I think Joe has exceeded expectations,” says Pastner. “He’s the most scrutinized player in the history of this program. There have been some great players here, but no player has come in with Twitter, Facebook, and the amount of coverage via TV, radio, and print. And in his hometown. When he got here, there was no upper class; we were just trying to hold it together. His class has won over 100 games, and Joe graduated in three years.”

So why do some feel Jackson has come up short as a college player? Armchair analysts love the Joe Jackson phenomenon for its extremes. After the Tigers beat Louisville on March 1st — their second victory over the reigning national champs in less than two months — some chose to focus on how poorly Jackson played, that he wasn’t on the floor for the Tigers’ 15-1 run to close the game. These analysts didn’t mention that Jackson led Memphis in scoring and assists when the Tigers won at Louisville on January 9th.

“Joe wants to win. He’s a warrior, a competitor,” says Memphis senior guard Michael Dixon.

Jackson won 109 games as a Spartan. Through the end of the Tigers’ regular season, he’s won 105 with the University of Memphis. Jackson has been a winner, and a difference-maker. If the Tigers reach 25 wins this season (they’re 23-8 entering the AAC tourney), it will be eight years in a row for Jackson’s teams. Nonetheless, there have been stumbles.

Larry Kuzniewski

On New Year’s Eve in 2011 — Jackson’s sophomore season with the Tigers — the U of M beat Charlotte at FedExForum with no Joe Jackson to be seen. He wasn’t sick, injured, or suspended. Just unhappy. (He’d taken only two shots and been held scoreless in the Tigers’ previous game against Robert Morris.) He returned and helped his team beat Tennessee four days later, but came off the bench the next 14 games behind Antonio Barton. It was no place for a king.

“I was so stressed out,” says Jackson. “I don’t think I can get to a lower point in life than that. I have family here, and I wasn’t raised with a silver spoon. They depend on me, and I don’t mean financially. I’m the lift they get when they feel I’m doing well. And when things don’t go well … My first year here, we were just trying to fix this program. Just because Joe’s here, doesn’t mean everything’s going to be dandy and gold.”

“He was struggling,” says Pastner. “It was strictly basketball. He was listening to a lot of people, and he wasn’t two-feet in on the caravan. I told him to step away, take 24 hours. Don’t come to the game, and decide if you want to be two-feet in. I didn’t want to lose Joe, but no one’s ever bigger than the program. He came back and, to his credit, it may be something that helps him the rest of his life. He shut out the negative that was in his ear. No more blame game. When he eliminated that mental clutter, he really took off.”

“I’ve seen Joe do a lot of crazy things, and that just added to the list,” says Memphis senior guard Chris Crawford.

The Tigers trailed Gonzaga by 11 points with 13:45 to play on February 8th, Joe Jackson’s 22nd birthday. In front of more than 18,000 fans at FedExForum and a national TV audience — ESPN’s “GameDay” crew was on the scene — the Tigers appeared to be the lesser team in a Top 25 match-up that was significant for each team’s RPI ranking. Bulldog center Przemek Karnowski — all 7’1″ of him — received a pass on the low block from teammate David Stockton. The Polish giant rose to the rim for a slam dunk — only to be met by Jackson. The 6’1″ point guard (as he’s listed in game programs) deflected the ball just enough for Karnowski to lose possession. The crowd roared, and Memphis outscored Gonzaga 29-12 the rest of the way.

After the game, the birthday boy was typically understated in describing a play most Memphis fans will remember as The Block. “Shaq Goodwin has a bad habit of gambling,” said Jackson with a smile. “He fronted the post, and I knew that was John Stockton’s son making that pass. I just tried

to make a play on the ball. Honestly, I was trying not to get dunked on; he was so close to the rim. I jumped to block it, and I was successful that time. That kind of changed the game.”

Pastner’s favorite Jackson moment came on Senior Day in 2013, when the Tigers hosted UAB with a chance to complete an undefeated season in C-USA play. “When Joe got here he was not a good 50-50 guy,” says Pastner. (A “50-50” ball is loose and could be recovered by either team.) “That day he won eight 50-50 balls. One time the ball went past halfcourt, and Joe was running with a UAB player. He dove face first, got the ball, and called timeout. Joe came to the bench and I gave him a huge hug. He said, ‘Coach, all I was thinking was that you’ll show that play over and over in Monday’s film session.’ It was a prized moment.”

“Joe’s the leader, our number one. He does what he’s supposed to do,” says Memphis sophomore forward Shaq Goodwin.

Larry Kuzniewski

Maybe that’s the elusive quality in defining the fabled legacy of Joe Jackson: what he’s done vs. what he’s supposed to have done. Does Jackson need a deep NCAA tournament run to cement his place in the pantheon of Tiger stars? Consider the case of Perry, a member of anyone’s Mt. Rushmore of Tiger greats. He may be one of only two Tigers to score 2,000 points, but Perry only reached the NCAA tournament twice and won a single game in the Big Dance (as a freshman in 1988). Jackson and teammate Chris Crawford will become only the sixth and seventh Tigers to play in four NCAA tournaments. (The previous five: Keith Lee, Andre Turner, Baskerville Holmes, Antonio Anderson, and Robert Dozier.)

Pastner’s take: “The only thing that’s missing for Joe — because he’s racked up a lot of individual hardware — is a deep NCAA tournament run. It’s ‘The Road to the Final Four,’ not ‘The Road to the Regular Season,’ so I get that. Players are judged on what they do in the NCAA playoffs. But anyone in the profession understands the long haul of a regular season and all the success and numbers Joe has put up. There’s no reason Joe’s number shouldn’t be hanging from the rafters when all is said and done. But the final chapter hasn’t been written yet.”

“I understand now,” says Jackson. “It was never ‘Joe Jackson isn’t good enough.’ It was just too early with too many expectations. That’s all it was. It’s not easy to make it to the Final Four. I think we have a chance; we just have to take care of business. It’s on us. Everything has to come together at the right time.”

As Jackson’s college career nears the end, Byrd recalls fondly a chance encounter — in traffic — when the player was still an underclassman. Jackson had pulled up next to Byrd at a stoplight and began waving at him, a huge smile on the rising star’s face. “Joe reminded me of a sweet little kid,” says Byrd, “unsure, looking for acknowledgment and approval. I’ve often thought of this chance meeting, knowing the pressure Joe has felt as the player, carrying the weight of hopes and expectations for one of the most demanding fan bases in the country.”

And about that tattoo. “People took it the wrong way,” says Jackson. “I know Penny Hardaway is the best player to come out of Memphis. But if you’re going to look at [a tattoo] every day, it should keep you confident. Who doesn’t want to be a king?”

Like Larry Finch, Jackson grew up in Orange Mound. Like Penny Hardaway, Jackson learned right from wrong at his grandmother’s side. Like Finch, Hardaway, and Perry, Jackson chose to play college basketball under a microscope in front of friends and family, embracing the love he came to know as a youth along with the expectations he knew would come the first time he donned a Tiger uniform. Those expectations have followed Jackson for four seasons now, somehow growing with every season-ending disappointment he and his team have met in the NCAA tournament. Joe Jackson has one more March as a Tiger. One more Big Dance. What they say is quite true: Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

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Hoop City 2013: 20 Questions – pt. 2

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

The start of college basketball season is more about questions than answers. And this is particularly the case for the 2013-14 Memphis Tigers, who are coming off a season that saw them finish 31-5, including an undefeated 16-0 record in their final season in Conference USA. The Tigers also won the C-USA tournament, and one game in the Big Dance, over St. Mary’s, before bowing to a bigger and stronger Michigan State team in the round of 32. This year’s team is an intriguing mix of veteran guards and heralded and untested recruits at numerous positions. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the University of Memphis will be playing in the newly formed American Athletic Conference, a much tougher league.

So let’s get to those questions.

1: How will Joe Jackson be remembered?

The “King of Memphis” is finally a senior? A certified city legend at White Station High School, Jackson first donned a Tiger jersey in 2010 with expectations that approached those of Penny Hardaway a generation earlier. Has he met the standard? Jackson was named MVP of the Conference USA tournament as a freshman and sophomore, then earned the league’s Player of the Year honor last season (when he led Memphis with 13.6 points and 4.8 assists per game). Entering the season with 1,209 career points, he should finish his career comfortably in the program’s top 10. (If he matches his 490 points of last season, Jackson would rank sixth.) With 187 assists (he had 173 last year), Jackson would become only the fourth Tiger to reach 600 for his career. “Kings” play on the NCAA tournament’s second weekend, though, and Jackson has yet to reach that sweet territory. A legacy waits to be defined.

2: Can Josh Pastner coach in the deep end?

Like his predecessor, John Calipari, Pastner ran roughshod over the kiddie pool that was Conference USA, winning the last three tournament championships and the last two regular-season titles, going 19-0 in league play last season, the Tigers’ farewell tour before joining the AAC. Pastner’s record against teams from the traditional power conferences — ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, and former Big East — isn’t as stellar: 7-15 (with three of those wins against a Tennessee program struggling for relevance since Bruce Pearl’s dismissal in 2011).

Pastner will spend his fifth season as a head coach armed with a fat contract extension and staring at a schedule that features at least four games against coaches who reached the Final Four before he entered high school (Louisville’s Rick Pitino and SMU’s Larry Brown). His Tigers will face five programs that hang national-championship banners above their courts: Oklahoma State, Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut, and Louisville.

“Our non-conference schedule will allow us to be tested for the American,” Pastner says. “We’ll know early what we need to do to get better, what our strengths and weaknesses are. We have no margin for error when you look at our schedule. We’re going to have to stay at a high level and take [an opponent’s] best shot. We were up 18 on Louisville [last December], and they didn’t stay down.”

3: Can a basketball team have too many freshmen?

The Tigers’ 2013 recruiting class — led by a pair of local five-star recruits, Austin Nichols (Briarcrest) and Nick King (East) — has been ranked as high as second in the country (by ESPN and Scout.com). Add five more frosh — forward Kuran Iverson should be in the rotation on opening night, and center Dominic Woodson is the largest player on the squad — and two senior transfers, and the University of Memphis will feature nine players on its roster who did not wear blue and gray a year ago. Not since the 1972-73 season has a Tiger team welcomed so many new faces at once. Presuming Pastner goes with an eight-man rotation once the season is in full swing, there are four or five players who may not be happy with their playing time come New Year’s Day. Whether or not player disgruntlement creeps into the season’s narrative will be a contributing factor to how deeply into March this team might play. By the way, that 1972-73 team fell one Bill Walton short of a national championship.

4: Is “rookie leadership” an oxymoron?

David Pellom (a transfer from George Washington) and Michael Dixon (from Missouri) will play as seniors for the Tigers this season. They’re “one-and-done” players from the other side of the eligibility spectrum, squeezing in one final college season in a new program before exploring pro careers. Pellom averaged 10.4 points and 6.1 rebounds last year for a GW team that struggled to a 10-21 record. Michael Dixon won the 2012 Sixth Man Award in the Big 12, averaging 13.3 points off the bench in Tiger stripes of a different color. (Dixon sat out the 2012-13 season, having faced allegations of sexual assault. No charges were ever filed.) Can two veterans — introduced from different basketball worlds — help shape the personality of this year’s team?

“At GW, I was a rebounding guy,” Pellom acknowledges. “Only thing I can do is carry it over here. I’m a leader, very enthusiastic on the court, an athletic guy. [Coach Pastner] tells me in practice to always be talkative, to push the young guys, to hustle. He’s big on 50-50 balls. Get on the floor. It’s big-time basketball here. In D.C., we weren’t the primary team. Here, we’re as big as the Memphis Grizzlies.”

Dixon is especially grateful for the new basketball life he’s been granted by the NCAA and U of M. And he relishes being part of the backcourt band that will lead this team. “We don’t have a ceiling,” he says. “We have a lot of young guys who are talented. It’s our job as seniors to bring [the freshmen] along the way. The teams I played for at Missouri were a collective unit. We shared the ball, played together. Here, we have so many different skills and talents. So much more than at Missouri. But talent alone doesn’t win games. We’ve got a lot of guys coming out of high school, and you don’t have to play much defense in high school. Every possession matters in college. And you’ve got to be coachable. I’m ready to do whatever’s asked of me to help us be one of the top teams in the country.”

5: Can a lighter Shaq Goodwin be a stronger player?

Goodwin arrived on the U of M campus a celebrated McDonald’s All-American, then finished seventh on the team in scoring (7.4 points per game) and, more disturbingly, fifth in rebounding (4.4). Eliminating his daily trips to a certain fast-food establishment, Goodwin shed no fewer than 40 pounds since playing his last game as a freshman for the Tigers. If you ask him, his smaller size will result in bigger impact.

“When I was 270 pounds, I couldn’t touch my toes,” Goodwin says through his ever-present smile. “It just didn’t feel right. I have a quicker bounce now, a better first step. I get lower on rebounds, initial contact. It all started with the Michigan State game [in the NCAA tournament]. After losing, I sat down with Coach [Pastner]. If I wanted to get where I want to be, I had to change myself. I’m not heavier, but I actually feel stronger.”

Adds Pastner, “Shaq is a different person, in an unbelievable way. His conditioning is superior. He didn’t make the [U19] national team because the coaches felt he clowned around too much. But he realized that his way didn’t work. He’s a totally different guy.”

6: Just how strong is the Tiger backcourt?

Larry Kuzniewski

Head Coach Josh Pastner

Pastner likes to share the fact he has four senior guards at his disposal, each with a 30-win season under his belt. In the world of college basketball, where guard play has dominated for the better part of three decades, this is a full quiver. “I hope to be a coach ’til I’m 70 or 75,” Pastner says. “That’s another 30 or 35 years. I don’t know if I’ll ever again be in a position where I have four high-level senior guards. Not this level. It’s a privilege to coach them, and they’re very talented. But we have to produce on the floor. The expectations don’t guarantee wins. We have to take full advantage of having these seniors. And they’ll have to step up when the bright lights are on.”

Pastner welcomes the challenge of finding playing time for Jackson, Dixon, Geron Johnson, and Chris Crawford, noting that he’d play five guards at once if that will help the Tigers win a game. He points out the group’s unselfishness, noting that Jackson, Johnson, and Crawford each had more than 100 assists last season. The addition of Dixon could mean intangible benefits, both for the backcourt band and the entire team. “Michael’s unselfish, and he communicates,” Pastner says. “He gets after it on defense, and that’s always a positive.”

7: How important is November?

Some tropical-island trips are better than others. When the Tigers lost their first two games at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas last year — dropping their record to a repulsive 2-2 — you would have thought pork shoulder had been banned in Memphis, Tennessee. It took 22 wins in their next 23 games — hello, C-USA! — to persuade Tiger faithfuls that a leap from the Hernando DeSoto bridge wouldn’t ease their troubles.

After opening against Austin Peay at FedExForum on November 14th, the Tigers will travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to face Oklahoma State on November 19th. They’ll play three games over Thanksgiving weekend (sound familiar?) at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, where Siena, LSU, and St. Joseph’s will be in the Tigers’ bracket. Yes, a couple of early-season losses are quite possible. Beyond damage to the team’s ranking, though, pre-winter stumbles are hardly catastrophic.

8: Does a band of native Memphians help or hurt the Tiger cause?

Jackson (White Station) and Chris Crawford (Sheffield) will be the first pair of local products to play four years together as Tigers since Cedric Henderson and Chris Garner from 1993 to 1997. With the addition of King, Nichols, and Markel Crawford (Melrose), the Tigers could see as many as five native sons in their rotation. Does the local talent make a college team distinctly part of its community, or might the pressures of playing on such a bright stage in front of family, friends, and all things familiar compound and complicate the task of winning a championship?

When I asked Markel Crawford about his favorite player growing up, he lit up with a smile and said, “Penny Hardaway.” Hardaway played his last game as a Tiger more than a year before Markel was born. When asked about his thoughts on wearing a Tiger uniform for the first time, Nichols paused then responded, “It will be an honor.”

Tiger basketball runs deep in Memphis and stretches back well beyond the lifetimes of current players. “In this day and age,” Pastner says, “you can be connected [with players far and wide] via Facebook or Twitter. But it’s a tremendous positive, having a great recruiting base in our backyard. That doesn’t mean we’ll sign every kid from Memphis. There could be times when it’s not the right fit. When it is the right fit, though, it’s a no-brainer for the student-athlete to play at the University of Memphis.”

9: Are the Tigers a tougher team than they were last season?

We’ll let Pastner take this one: “We are not a smash-mouth team. We’re better when we’re trying to score in the 80s or 90s, where we can play as fast as possible. Michigan State kicked our butts, but we hit a segment in the second half of that game where we could not score. We have to be able to score when teams force us into smash-mouth games. You don’t have to be big to be tough. It’s rebounding, getting 50-50 balls. Diving on the floor. You need to have the mentality of toughness.”

Adds Goodwin, “This team has no choice but to be mentally tough. We’ve gone through defensive boot camp, starting at 6 in the morning. The four senior guards we have, they’re staying on everybody to be mentally tough.”

10: What will constitute a successful 2013-14 season?

The Tigers will not win 31 games this season, and they won’t go undefeated in conference play. Still, they may be a more memorable team than the one of a year ago. Beat a marquee team (Oklahoma State, Florida, or Gonzaga among non-conference foes), win a big conference game on the road (at Louisville, UConn, Cincinnati, or Temple), or win 22 or 23 games with the schedule they’re facing, and the Tigers could end up with a higher seed than the number six they landed last March as Conference USA champions. And landing a higher seed would be a major step toward a return to the Sweet 16 for Memphis, territory Josh Pastner has yet to see as a head coach.

We’ll leave the last word to Chris Crawford. “Time moves fast,” he says. “Joe and I are the last ones here from our freshman class. We want to make our last year together the best one.”

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Dunks and Jams!

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

If only basketball had a statistic for applause. The volume (quantity?) of cheers generated. Think about it. It just might be one of the most bankable statistics a player could have. It’s one thing to negotiate a contract around your points per game or your efficiency on the offensive glass and quite another to convince an employer that you actually put fans in the seats. And better yet, you make those fans happy they purchased the seats.

When or if Dalenta Jameral Stephens gets to negotiate a pro contract, he’ll be doing it without conventional basketball numbers. He might begin by jumping to touch the ceiling of his host’s office (with his elbow). But the most convincing case D.J. Stephens could make for himself as a valuable basketball player would be some audio to enhance the video highlights from his senior season as a Memphis Tiger.

“He brings life and energy to the arena,” says Stephens’ teammate of three years, Antonio Barton. “You can hear it when [the p.a. announcer] calls his name for the starting lineup. And he deserves it. He comes out every day, putting his body on the line. He grinds, gets rebounds, dives on the floor. A guy like that, he’s special.”

Before tipoff this Saturday at FedExForum, Ferrakohn Hall, Stan Simpson, and Charles Holt will rightfully be honored as part of the program’s annual Senior Day. But you can bet on two things: the last senior to be introduced will be D.J. Stephens and the loudest cheers of the day will be for the departing native of Killeen, Texas. About the only thing over which D.J. Stephens could not leap this winter would be the height of his popularity.

“He’ll go down as one of the great, beloved Tigers, when it’s all said and done,” says Tiger coach Josh Pastner. “He’ll be up there with Elliot Perry, Andre Turner, and Keith Lee. I mean that.” Pastner has an affection for Stephens that will remain singular, no matter where Stephens goes, no matter how long the coach carries a clipboard. For Stephens will always be the first player to spend four years in a rotation coached by Pastner. In terms of player/coach marriages, Stephens/Pastner belongs to posterity.

Pastner has described Stephens as “a zero-star recruit” coming out of Harker Heights High School in 2009. (Stephens actually averaged 16.3 points and 7.8 rebounds as a senior and was named all-district.) Not until Pastner received an email from Stephens’ AAU coach did the player even register on the rookie coach’s radar.

“We needed athleticism,” Pastner says today. “I knew he could jump, that he could play above the rim. But he couldn’t chew gum and dribble at the same time.”

Stephens actually had four scholarship offers before his senior year in high school (including North Texas and Western Kentucky), but he neglected to pursue any of them. By graduation day, each offer had been pulled. As the summer of 2009 unfolded, Stephens received some phone calls from coaches (after a mass email sent by that AAU coach, Max Ivany) but only one that truly connected. “Once I got the call from Coach Pastner, I just knew,” Stephens says. “I had that gut feeling. There was a reason for me getting that call, and I was supposed to come here. He had to talk it over with his staff, but then he called me a couple of days later and offered me a scholarship.” Having not made a formal visit to the U of M campus, D.J. Stephens became a Memphis Tiger. The youngest of six siblings, Stephens felt that moving some distance from his Texas home would be valuable to his growth, both as a basketball player and a man.

As a freshman for the Tigers, Stephens averaged 7.9 minutes a game, backing up the likes of Wesley Witherspoon and Roburt Sallie for an NIT-bound team. His minutes picked up as a sophomore (11.2) then dipped his junior season (8.3) as Stephens battled tendinitis in his knees. Before the 2012-13 season began, Stephens had surgery to repair a deviated septum (imagine playing basketball with constricted breathing) and had his tonsils removed. Then at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas — the Tigers’ first test of Stephens’ senior season — he separated his left shoulder, an injury that has curtailed his practice time ever since. “The reason I don’t practice him,” Pastner says, “is he plays so hard in games. He gets banged up. I want to preserve him.”

The sight of D.J. Stephens rising above the other nine players on the court has become common at FedExForum. And so has the collective intake of breath from more than 16,000 fans when Stephens falls flat to the surface from heights most of us only see atop a ladder. Stephens was not quite six feet tall as a junior in high school when he rose to the challenge of a teammate and dunked a basketball for the first time. Since then, with added height, his view from above the rim has grown more and more familiar.

“The first time I dunked a ball, I jumped a lot higher than I expected to,” Stephens says. “After that, I was trying to dunk every chance I got. Since I got to college, I’ve grown some. Since I do jump higher than most people, it’s kinda cool to still be going up when they’ve reached their peak. But it can be a blessing and curse. If you jump high, you have a longer way to come down if you get bumped. You deal with some wear and tear. But it makes me feel blessed.”

Stephens’ jumping ability allows him to wait until a shot is released before elevating for a block attempt, a rare skill on the basketball court. And what does Stephens find more gratifying, a rim-shaking dunk or a crowd-stirring block of an opponent’s shot? He’s got a quick blend of an answer: “A block that leads to a dunk at the other end.”

It’s one thing to be blessed with leaping ability and quite another to apply the trick in the context of a basketball game. Stephens’ impact this season has exceeded the oohs and ahhs Tiger fans deliver with each of his dunks (now more than 100 in his career). Consider Stephens’ performance against Tulsa on February 2nd: 15 points (a career high), four slam dunks, four blocked shots, nine rebounds, and a three-pointer. Those all came in the first half. The Golden Hurricane was reduced to a guttural gasp in 20 minutes and almost entirely under the heel of a player Pastner considered redshirting before this season.

Says junior center Tarik Black, “We haven’t seen what we have with D.J. before. It’s not been classified. I’m not surprised at all. He’s been capable of things before, but this year is his time. A lot of players grow up in a college system, freshman year to senior year. It’s in the later years when they show their spurt … their time to shine. He’s taking advantage of his moment.”

Stephens says he would need a mechanical counter to tabulate the number of autographs he signs each week. And what are the qualities Tiger fans tell him they admire most? “People are going to love you, just because you’re a Tiger,” Stephens says. “But by the time you’re a senior, people have gotten to know you. People love my jumping ability, but the number-one thing they say is how personable I am. Down to earth. That I’m a sweet person. You can affect people in so many different ways. Just saying hello can change someone’s life. I try to be as friendly as possible.”

Stephens is on schedule to graduate in May and would love to hear his name called in June’s NBA draft. If you have doubts, don’t tell Stephens and don’t tell his coach. “I believe people would pay to watch him play,” Pastner says. “He’s continued to get better, and he has a wonderful, team-first attitude. He plays to win. Recruiting rankings can’t open up someone’s insides. They can’t show heart. Or the mind.”

The best part about Senior Day, of course, is that we see players become Tigers for life. D.J. Stephens will be a welcome member of the family. “Looking back on things, it seems like a blur,” Stephens says. “For me to be able to come from where I started and be where I am today … it’s a blessing.”

Tigers by the Numbers

Like it or not, college basketball is all about numbers this time of year. As Selection Sunday (March 17th) for the NCAA tournament looms, teams — particularly those on the proverbial bubble — are being dissected by data devotees. Rankings and records, standings and statistics … it’s a numbers game until the field of 68 is finally announced.

Remember the star power Dajuan Wagner brought the 2001-02 Tigers? Lot of good it did his team. John Calipari’s second Memphis squad was 22-9 on Selection Sunday with a one-and-done wonder on its roster. They got a one-way ticket to the NIT (which they proceeded to win).

Here’s a look at some numbers that will impact where (or if) the Tigers are ticketed for the Big Dance. (Last year, a 26-8 record — with both regular-season and tournament titles in C-USA — got them an eight seed.)

National Polls

AP: 25 • Coaches: 20

RPI

RealTimeRPI: 19 (just behind Kansas State, just ahead of Ohio State) CBSSports.com: 19

TeamRankings.com

Overall: 22

Strength of Schedule: 108 (just behind Fordham and Rhode Island)

Nonconference: 46 Conference USA ranking*: 11 (just behind the Missouri Valley and West Coast)

*League is 0-21 vs. top-25 teams

KenPom.com

Overall ranking: 37

NCSOS*: .528 (156th of 347 teams)

* a Pythagorean winning percentage (of nonconference opponents) based on opponents’ strengths and adjusted for home/road/neutral conditions.

Bracketology (Projected Seed)

Jerry Palm, CBSSports.com:9 (would face Missouri in East regional)

TeamRankings.com: 6

Bracket Matrix*: 7.69

* average seed among 96 brackets