LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The timing of the great coronavirus threat of 2020 was not good for anyone. Louisville's Jazmine Jones has her own gripe. She's not complaining – but let me point out that she was playing the best basketball of her career when the outbreak halted the Cardinals' season.
As often is said of men's players hitting their stride at the right time, Jones stood to "make some money" in the NCAA Tournament. Her shooting range was expanding. Her confidence was growing. She was, in short, doing what seniors are supposed to do, when they're supposed to do them.
Louisville women's basketball has a pretty good platform, but Jones stood to garner plenty of attention during March Madness. Now, she's just hoping she made enough good impressions while helping the Cardinals to the regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference title, earning first-team all-conference and making the league's all-defensive team — along with earning honorable mention All-American honors from the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.Â
Jones averaged 15 points in ACC games as a senior and shot 54.5% from the field. She already has signed a professional contract to play in the south of France. Now, she's waiting for Friday's WNBA Draft, where she has no idea where she'll be taken.
Nor does she have any big plans. Jones stayed at her apartment in Louisville after in-person classes were canceled. She thought she might not ever be back here to live. So she'll watch the draft at her place, with family on a Zoom call, and hope for the best.
"I'm very nervous, to say the least, but I'm also excited," Jones said. "It's going to be a dream come true to possibly hear my name Friday, so I'm very excited."
Jones has hired an agent but has no idea whether she'll hear her name called Friday, or get a free-agent opportunity. If teams paid much attention to the second half of her season, they saw a player who had added impressive shooting range and accuracy to add to an already superior athletic game.
Louisville coach Jeff Walz was on Jones at times to shoot it more, and she did in a couple of wins down the stretch, after ACC Player of the Year Dana Evans went down with an injury.
"I can bring high energy and be a high-volume player with a motor," Jones said. "The versatility to defend ones, twos, threes, and maybe even fours. The passion that I bring every day and knowing that I am going to play both sides of the floor offensively and defensively."
Jones missed a chance to take a final bow at the KFC Yum! Center. She missed a chance to show off her skills in one last attempt at a Final Four. She's missed a lot in the past month, but she had a remarkable Louisville career.
She played more basketball games – 144 – than any player in Louisville women's history. She was a fan favorite. Lobs from Dana Evans would induce gasps. She said playing basketball at Louisville, in front of the big crowds the Cardinals draw, was a dream. She's hoping to experience another one on Friday.
"I always thought about it as a kid growing up," she said. "Playing the game that you love and just getting better at the next level. It's always been a dream to play college basketball at the highest level, and I did that. To further my basketball career, to possibly play in the WNBA, it's definitely going to be a dream come true."
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