This Shooting Star Has Seen Brighter Days : Things Aren’t Falling In for Jon Samuelson

Jon Samuelson’s jump shot once elicited oohs and aahs from even the most hostile crowds and attracted the attention of every big-time college recruiter on the West Coast. It made opposing players envious and opposing coaches worry.

But now, the shot that gained him so many accolades during his days at Sonora High School is just a memory, and a haunting one at that. Samuelson can no longer make his jump shot.

The slump began last year when Samuelson was at Cal State Fullerton. Titan Coach George McQuarn recruited him to play alongside All-American point guard Leon Wood, and that forced a big change in Samuelson’s role.

At Sonora, he was the Raiders’ leading scorer at point guard and took the majority of the shots, mostly from 20 feet away or more. For Fullerton, he played off-guard or small forward, shooting only on the rare occasions his more-experienced teammates didn’t. The few shots that he did take, he often missed.

His confidence eroded, and McQuarn benched him. After starting the first five games of the year, Samuelson played sparingly the rest of the season. Last summer, Samuelson and McQuarn decided that the 6-foot, 6-inch, 210-pounder should transfer to Fullerton College and try to put his game back together.

He’s achieved only mixed results with the Hornets. In 23 games, Samuelson is averaging 12.7 points. That’s a respectable statistic, but he averaged close to the 20 points at Sonora in 1982-83, when he led the Raiders to the Southern Section 2-A title and was that division’s co-player of the year.

And almost all of his points for the Hornets come from the inside (don’t be misled by his 49% field-goal percentage). On the rare occasion that Samuelson tries an outside shot, he usually misses. Even from the free-throw line, he’s shooting 54%. He made 80% in high school.

“I haven’t been shooting well,” Samuelson said. “But I’m working on it. I just don’t have the confidence I used to. The shot feels O.K. at practice but in the games it doesn’t.”

A lack of confidence isn’t the only reason for Samuelson’s slump. He has picked up some bad habits the last couple of years, and they haven’t been easy to break.

In high school, he had what is considered to be a fundamentally perfect shot. He would leap and release the ball in a fluid motion, and his right hand would roll forward in a perfect follow-through.

These days, his form varies. Sometimes, he displays the Samuelson shot of old, but only for one or two shots. Then he reverts to some of the new, less-than-textbook mannerisms that have brought down his shooting percentage.

“He’s still looking for consistency,” Fullerton College Coach Roger See said. “Sometimes, he’ll shoot off-balance, or jump toward the basket or shoot with his elbows out. It’s hard to be a good shooter when you’re doing those things.”

Samuelson is so quiet and even-tempered, it’s hard to tell just how his slump is affecting him. He said that with hard work and the extra shooting he does after practice each day, his touch will come back and he’ll get a chance at playing for a four-year school next season.

But others who have watched Samuelson closely unhappily admit that they think he may never again be the shooter he once was.

“It’s very frustrating for me to watch Jon play now,” Sonora Coach Paul Bottiaux said. “I watched him do so many things for me as a point guard, and he’s not doing them now. At Fullerton College, he is playing forward, and he doesn’t even handle the ball much.

“He’s put on weight and bulked up to help him play inside, and because of that I really don’t see him ever moving to guard again. It’s sad for the people who remember what he could do at guard, because he was at his best there.”

In spite of the slump, Samuelson says that he still enjoys playing basketball and wants to play again next season, even if he has to settle for a scholarship to a Division 2 school.

“I still have fun playing,” he said. “I want to keep playing after this year. I’d like to play Division 1 again, because I’ve been through it and know what to expect. But I’ll play anywhere they want me.”