Jackson, Anteaters Shift Focus to NIT

Reality is sinking in for Sean Jackson. Sometime very soon, his college career will be over.

Jackson and UC Irvine play at Tulsa at 5 today in the opening round of the NIT, and he says the Anteaters have the tools to extend their season for a couple more weeks. In Jackson’s mind, the longer, the better.

“I won’t be satisfied until we go all the way to New York,” he said of the NIT semifinals and finals, March 27 and 29 at Madison Square Garden.

Acutely disappointed that Irvine was not selected to the NCAA tournament, Jackson, nonetheless, realizes the importance of tonight’s performance. It’s only the third time an Anteater basketball team has advanced to post-season play. In the two previous trips, Irvine got to the second round of the NIT.

Jackson, a 6-foot-5 senior, has always set high standards for himself and would like to play professionally some day. But he admits that his marketability is questionable because he has often been overshadowed this year by the performance of 6-3 guard Jerry Green, the Big West Conference player of the year.

“I’m not Jerry Green,” Jackson said.

But according to Coach Pat Douglass, Jackson is Irvine’s best defensive player. And he made 61 of 127 three-point attempts, the third-best mark (48%) in Division I this season.

Douglass lamented that when all-conference accolades were handed out, Jackson received only honorable mention honors.

“Jerry had a fantastic season,” Douglass said of Green. “But we have other guys like Sean Jackson who do good things for us. Jerry has gotten a lot of the publicity. Sean deserves a lot of credit.”

Green credits Jackson with carrying the Anteaters as some players began to wear down in the final weeks of the regular season.

“He hit some big-time threes for us,” Green said. “We really needed him.”

Tulsa (21-11) is 13-2 at home this season and is making its third consecutive postseason appearance. The Golden Hurricane would have made the NCAA tournament for the sixth time since 1994 had it not been upset by Hawaii in overtime in the final of the Western Athletic Conference tournament. Tulsa won the 1981 NIT title.

Will Tulsa be too much for Irvine? It will be hard for Jackson to walk away, but he knows he must sooner or later.

“I feel good about what I have done here,” he said. “I gave it my all. I feel fulfilled.”

Jackson, 23, said he matured rapidly, on and off the court, as the season went on. He credits much of that maturity to becoming a parent. Jackson and his girlfriend, Natasha Olivier, had a daughter, Mya Olivier-Jackson, just as the season began. He said the experience made him realize that he had to spend his time wisely.

On the court, he said, he has learned to spend his time working on his game.

But once off it, he leaves his thoughts in the gym, much like a working man leaves his job at the office. He spends time with the baby and he doesn’t hang out with friends or fellow players as much as he has in the past. It’s a trade-off that he said he is willing to accept.

“I realized how much my maturity has played a huge part in how I approached the game mentally,” he said. “I learned that I can’t do it all any longer.”

He will graduate with a degree in English when the quarter ends next week.

Jackson was a highly touted prep standout when he signed with California out of Stevenson School High in Pebble Beach in 1996. He played in 22 games as a reserve for the Golden Bears as a freshman, and had seven starts in 17 games as a sophomore, but averaged only 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds.

Jackson left Cal at the end of his sophomore season and transferred to Irvine, where he sat out a year. Last season as a junior, he scored in double figures in 12 of his 22 games and led the Anteaters with 37 three-pointers. But an ankle sprain in a home loss to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo cut his playing time significantly in the final seven games of the season.

He reemerged as one of the team’s leaders Dec. 2, when he scored 13 points and had six rebounds in Irvine’s 56-52 victory over Cal.

He struggled after that, failing to score in double figures in his next seven games. But he came alive again offensively toward the end of the season, scoring at least 11 in each of his last nine games.

Jackson was upset that Irvine (25-4) was not invited to the NCAA tournament. Two weeks ago, he figured his final playing days would take him to San Diego or Boise, not Oklahoma.

But that was before Irvine, the Big West Conference regular-season champion, was tripped up by Pacific in the semifinals of the conference tournament. In one game, Jackson’s dreams were dashed.

But now the NIT gives the team, which struggled down the stretch of the regular season, a chance to make amends for that slip-up against Pacific.

And it gives Jackson one more shot at playing time.

“It’s kind of a new start,” Jackson said. “Even though we lost at the conference tournament, I knew it wasn’t going to be my last game.”

Jackson said it will feel strange when he sets foot on the court this afternoon.

“The reality is, the time [that it could all end] is here,” he said.

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