Marreon Jackson has yet to play a minute in an ASU uniform, but the point guard is already one of the most anticipated newcomers fans are eager to watch on this year’s Sun Devil team. The accolades speak for themselves; as the reigning MAC conference Player of the Year, the 6-1 190-pound Jackson paced Toledo with 18.1 ppg and 5.9 apg and showcased his well-rounded traits with averaging six rebounds and a free-throw shooting percentage of 90.4.
If anyone were not supposed to come into his first year at a high major program with the proverbial chip on his shoulder, it would be ASU’s newcomer starting point guard. Nonetheless, Jackson, who has been one of the team’s most visible standouts in the preseason, feels that he still has plenty to prove to himself, coaches and teammates.
“I definitely play with a chip on my shoulder,” Jackson admitted, “because I am overlooked a lot, and I have always have been, so I’m used to it. That’s the chip (on his shoulder). But then again, this is what I do, play basketball. Nobody can get in my ear about anything about basketball unless it’s good advice.”
Jackson doesn’t portray his acclimation to playing at a higher level as a slow or fast process, but just a necessary progression a first-year player such as himself has to endure. There has been a natural patience that needed to be exercised, which is why the ASU point guard feels that the wait to now witnessing it all come to fruition for Arizona State has been rewarding.
“We had some minor injuries during the summer workouts,” Jackson explained, “but we are starting to come together in these last few weeks of practices before the season. It’s coming together well, but you know we’re not at our peak at all right now. We’ll probably hit our peak mid-season as we should, but I can’t wait though until the season starts. This is an exciting team.
“The pace is something I needed to get used to; the pace of the Pac-12 is really fast. I never played this fast, but I’m used to it now with all the practices that we’ve had, and I like it, though.”
The inevitable comparisons to outgoing Arizona State point guard and last year’s First Team All-Pac 12 selection, Remy Martin (who transferred to Kansas), may be unavoidable. Jackson said that while he did hear about Martin, he didn’t feel the need to carefully study his games in a Sun Devil uniform to get a feel as to what his head coach, Bobby Hurley, expects from his floor general.
“Coach Hurley told me how he wanted his guards to play, and that’s all I needed to know,” Jackson stated. “He’s been very consistent with me. He’s kept it ‘100’ with me the whole time, and that’s what I respect about him, one of the main reasons I came here. He kept it ‘100’ from the jump with me, telling me what he wanted me to come in and do, and I liked I’m ready to make a run at this.”
The early returns from Jackson’s performance and his effectiveness in fulfilling his head coach’s expectations appear to be nothing but positive.
“It’s comforting for me to bring in a player like Marreon,” said Hurley, who came to ASU after being the head coach at Buffalo. “I coached in that league and know it’s a legit league. Marreon has that experience, he’s a communicator, and he’s a natural leader. He’s a guy that is easy to like. I think the guys enjoy playing with him. He’s unselfish, but at the same time, he can make shots, and he’s proven in his career that he can make big shots.”
In numerous off-season interviews, Hurley was extremely transparent in noting that the chemistry of the locker room of last year’s team was up to his satisfaction and acknowledged that he needed to do a better job in improving the character of his team. When welcoming nine new scholarship players, this is a task that would seem to be extremely challenging to accomplish. Yet, Jackson, as perhaps the most direct extension of the coaching staff on the floor, has been pleased with the camaraderie aspect that has developed over the last few months. Even though he wasn’t part of the team last season, he was fully aware of what Hurley was trying to realize concerning this vital team element.
“With bringing in so many new guys on any type of team, it’s was gonna be difficult to build that type of chemistry,” Jackson stated, “but on this team, we get along so well. We compete at practice, we’re at each other’s necks, and then we go into the locker room, we laugh, dance, clown about whatever after practice, and we are with each other later on in the day at each other’s houses. I think that (camaraderie) is going to really, you know, help during the season.
“Having that chemistry was easy, especially with me because I’m a people’s person. I love talking, and I’m social. I definitely enforced my influence and my leadership because I’m the point guard. But these guys know that I’m all fun and games; even on the court, sometimes I’ll crack a joke or whatever. This team is very close, which is nice.”
What may seem anything but less than cordial, yet in an area that anybody would welcome, is the overall tenacity that Jackson brings along with his backcourt teammate, Luther Muhammad, who transferred from Ohio State prior to last season and had to sit out the 2020-21 campaign due to a shoulder injury.
“That’s always been my mentality,” Jackson said. “That’s just how it’s been growing up in Cleveland. You got to be tough whether you’re playing basketball or football. That’s always been in me, and then when I come here, and I see I got another dog right here with me in Luther, and you know that’s my guy. I can’t wait to play with him. He’s a gritty player, and he does what it takes. Off the court, he’s always laughing and is just a goofy dude. That’s my guy.”
And much like his high level of tenaciousness was simply an innate trait that Jackson already owned when he arrived in Tempe, and not an ability that he had to crank up now playing for a high major program, the same can be said about his entire arsenal of skills. The point guard is certainly a high motored player who’s plenty self-motivated to perform at the highest level but is also one who is confident that the manner that he has played with until now will definitely serve him well in his upcoming (and lone) season at ASU.
“I don’t feel like I had to make any adjustments to my game,” Jackson stated. “I was at a mid-major level, but if you ask anybody who paid attention to me, I didn’t look like I was a mid-major level player. I played against NBA players in open gyms and all that other stuff, and they will tell you the same thing.
“This is what I do.”
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