Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

New Utah coach brings out the best in star guard

The Great

Vermont

Featuring the nation's top-scoring duo -- seniors T.J. Sorrentine and Taylor Coppenrath average 42.5 points a night -- the Catamounts (18-3) sport a school-record 15-game winning streak and are 17th on the Ratings Percentage Index.

The Good

Illinois

The undefeated Big Ten squad, whose odds of winning it all have been cut from 12-1 to 2-1 at the Palms sports book, has convinced the gamblers of their legitimacy. That's the most dramatic reduction of any team on the big board.

The Bad

Michigan

The Wolverines' chances of winning the finale in St. Louis have ballooned from 45-1 to 250-1, the biggest inflation of any team at the Palms

The Ugly

Texas

Since sophomore forward P.J. Tucker was dismissed, the 23rd-ranked Longhorns (15-7) have dropped four of five games and are on the verge of being dismissed from the AP poll.

The essence of the college game bears an eight-stitch red welt below his right eye and cradled his month-old son, Kolbyn, late Monday night just off the Thomas & Mack Center court.

He also will not review his history with former Utah coach Rick Majerus, whose departure served as the main reason why he went back to school. Utah senior guard Marc Jackson is happy just to be playing hoops again.

"It's great being back on the court," Jackson said. "It's a great experience to end your college career with a great team. It just kind of worked out. The opportunities were there.

"Yeah, it's nice to come back and end on a good note, a positive note."

Jackson, 23, answered abruptly, with a slight mocking laugh, when asked if he would have returned had Majerus, for health reasons, not left the program last season.

"No way," Jackson said. "No."

And Majerus was the sole reason he chose not to return before last season?

"Yeah," Jackson said, "mostly."

Jackson didn't care to dredge up any of those bitter memories.

"No," he said. "We're off of that. We're on a new (season), a great year and a fun opportunity with these new coaches, and I'm glad I had the opportunity."

Jackson revealed plenty when he responded to a question about first-year Utah coach Ray Giacoletti.

"A great coach and a great person," Jackson said. "One thing that really got me when I first met him was his character. He's a classy guy who cares about you off the court. A real genuine guy."

He recently told the Deseret Morning News that this season embodies what college basketball should be all about ... "play hard, have fun and get treated like a human being."

Jackson harbored no designs on resuscitating his college career after the 2002-03 season, once he bolted from Majerus, who often laced his demanding ways with personal jabs.

Instead, Jackson devoted his time to custom homes, working for an uncle's land developing company, and wife Brooke, whom he wed in the spring of '03.

On the job, he served as the general contractor for high-end developments in Park City and Deer Valley.

"I got the bids and got the sub-contractors there," Jackson said. "I went over the plans with the home owners. No physical work. I was pretty much in the office or meeting home owners at the site."

At a gym near his home, he worked out occasionally and played in a couple of recreational basketball leagues that were more about staying in some sort of shape than competition.

When Giacoletti took the job, his mind was on the aggressive combo guard who always seemed to play the game with passion and style.

Giacoletti wondered if Jackson had graduated. If not, had he exhausted his eligibility? An abbreviated Mormon mission and a stop at Utah Valley State early in his career complicated the situation.

"It was a crazy deal," Giacoletti said. " ... the (eligibility) clock starts and stops ... with that, I had never heard of a guy not going to school at all, so how would that play out? He had only really played two years, in the craziness of all this.

"Anyway, we could not have gone out and recruited anybody, no way, in April."

So Giacoletti rang Jackson's cell phone, which Jackson had purposely left at his home so he could enjoy a weekend of quiet time with Brooke on their one-year anniversary trip at the Aladdin.

Yearning for a sun-soaked celebration in Las Vegas, the couple instead was greeted with a rainy weekend.

It became considerably more sunny for Jackson, who had an all-state hoops career at Olympus High in Salt Lake City, when he checked his phone messages upon returning home.

Giacoletti had made another deft move by hiring Randy Rahe, who had tried to recruit Jackson to Utah State out of Olympus, on his Utah staff.

"They took the initiative," Jackson said. "I've always tried to be a hard-nosed player and give my best effort. It's one of those things that, if an opportunity comes back to you ... it doesn't happen very often, but it did.

"I feel privileged, like it's an amazing time. You're not this young all your life."

Or this good, either.

Jackson is 12th in the nation, and tops in the Mountain West Conference, in 3-point shooting, at 52.4 percent. He's fourth in the league in free-throw shooting (82.9 percent) and 15th in scoring, at 10.8 points a game.

Utah (20-3, 8-0) is ranked 15th in the country and leads Air Force by two games in the Mountain West.

"I didn't let myself get way out of shape," Jackson said. "I had to get into the groove, do a little extra stuff."

He and junior guard Tim Drisdom form one of the most lethal backcourts in the country. Both average 3.57 assists a game, while Drisdom leads the league with an assists-to-turnovers ratio of 2.22-to-1 (Jackson is third at 1.61-to-1).

"We just have to keep it together till March," Jackson said, "and hope for the best."

Jackson will continue a rich family legacy at the university when he graduates at the end of the semester.

His parents, David and Karen, and all four of his grandparents are Utah graduates, and both of his older brothers, Jeff and Scott, were Utes.

"Can't put a price tag on it," Giacoletti said of Jackson's impact. "He's been invaluable to get us to this point. We're not here without him. Andrew (Bogut) is an unbelievable player, but we need five pieces to it.

"It's hard to put into words. He's a Salt Lake kid who I believe truly deserves to go out with a great taste in his mouth about Utah basketball, and that's going to happen."

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