COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Sean Jones in the box at Nationwide Arena on Thursday, throwing rough passes and bouncing and dropping layers of textbooks.
The folks at Columbus know the 5-foot-10-inch first-year guard well, but even more so for his yo-yo, ball handling and a series of high-difficulty shots. He excelled at Gahanna Lincoln High. School, but has also become a YouTube sensation with his video-worthy viral gameplay.
Jones’ web fame is such that it even extends beyond state borders, and a former MU teammate was encouraged to be one of millions of others who watched the videos.
Jones has a more classic role with the second-seeded Golden Eagles (28-6) as they prepare for Vermont’s fifteenth seed (23-10) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
“It’s mind-blowing,” Jones said. But I’m with my teammates. We’ve been to wonderful places all year round and Columbus, Ohio, seems to be a place where I come from.
“I’m super excited to be here and play in front of everyone else in Columbus. But it’s like a general path for us. We come here and we need to win. We need to keep improving. “
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Jones has been in basketball since the day he was born.
His mother, Sherrie Griffin, grew up in Columbus and was late to the game.
“My sister played very young and stood out,” Griffin said. “And because he did, my basketball story starts when I regretted it a little bit, it wasn’t that good. My mother, she was also an athlete, she had us in recreation centers and things of that nature.
“But my sister would go to the community park and the boys would pick up my sister (for the games). I was on the sidelines and the only time they picked me up was because they didn’t have an extra. Not one. “
Griffin has worked to improve. She played at Mifflin High School, then a small forward at Central State University, a traditionally black school that was a NAIA school when she started before moving to NCAA Division II.
She became pregnant with Jones to the degree of time and took a full year. Griffin returned with his son in tow for two seasons.
“His first words were ‘defense’ because he could with the team,” Griffin said. “It was a ghetto, but he was able to sit on the bench.
“We were like a damaged edition of Marquette’s bench. Energy, because it makes all the difference when you move on to other schools and the only other people there and play those games away from home. So one of the things we would do is “Dee-Fense”. Clap. Clap. That’s how Sean’s first words ended up being. “
Griffin played semi-pro basketball in Columbus after college. He was then assigned a training assignment with Gahanna Lincoln and was first given a glimpse of Jones’ quality as a child when competing with the best girls in school.
“He was about five or six years old, he was in his workouts all the time,” Jones said. “And my mom, right now, was still playing a little bit of basketball. I was around basketball. “
When Jones was a sophomore, his mother had him play on an AAU team with players 3 years older.
Griffin also began filming clips of his games and posting them on social media. His reputation grew when he entered college, then grew when AAU coaches and summer camp administrators began texting Griffin to get Jones on their teams.
Jones’ fame exploded just before he entered high school when HoopDiamonds posted a video of Jones’ functionality at the MSHTV camp, an exhibition occasion that is prominent to the social media crowd. The video of Jones’ nasty crossovers and smart trays moved viewers.
“It made some other people look bad,” Griffin said. (UCLA star and five-star rookie in 2022) Amari Bailey appears in the video that went viral. So this is one of the videos that has been viewed more than a million times. “
Jones is also a local celebrity.
“Sean has been like a humble child,” Griffin said. “It’s been silent. But, man, many other people love him. And a lot of other people love him just for that. “
“Basketball here is a big problem. Although other people nationally say, oh, Ohio doesn’t have ball players. They say all the ball players are here in Texas or Indiana. But here, locally, basketball is a big problem.
“Especially for Sean because everyone knows him since his video went viral. So how have I kept it humble, man, they might take it away from you. But other than that, he is just a humble child. He is a quiet child, he is for himself.
Jones took his own from social media afterward.
“I was still young,” he said. Not much educational popularity (from coaches) outside of that. I would say about two years later was when I started to be identified from the year of the best school I had at the time.
“But it’s just a lot of media stuff that came here from MSHTV (video). “
In the Philadelphia area, a lanky high school student named Al Amadou stumbled upon Jones’ YouTube videos. Amadou had yet to reach the flexible 6 feet 9 inches ahead of the 2023 exploration elegance he signed with MU in November.
“I think even before I played basketball,” Amadou said. “I think I’m starting to love basketball and I’m starting to get into it. “
Like many, Amadou was mesmerized by Jones’ quick moves and boundless creativity to bounce.
“He makes all these crazy moves and I like, ‘Me!'” said Amadou. “He just encouraged me to play because he wanted to do that. “
“It seemed crazy. And it’s crazy because now I’m going to Marquette to play with him and never, ever thought it would happen in my life. It’s going to be great to play with him. “
Even as a tall man, Amadou tried to emulate Jones.
“It’s complicated, but I think I understood it very young, probably even before I had my foundations,” Amadou said.
“Honestly, I don’t think I would be as flexible a player if I didn’t see those videos. Because I wouldn’t try to do the moves of one, but because I tried when I was very young, it helped me. ” to the player that I am today.
Amadou never spoke to Jones about inspiration from his visits to MU, but Golden Eagles coaches did.
“Al is such a high-level player,” Jones said. “That it started thanks to me, it’s crazy. I just want us to know that (the videos) were worth something. It’s great. It’s great for me. “
MU assistant coach DeAndre Haynes has many contacts in Ohio and won some of Jones’ early clips. He kept an eye on guard and when he joined Shaka Smart at MU, he knew Jones would be the best for the head coach’s fast system.
“When you first saw it, it was so small,” Haynes said. “Like a Tasmanian devil, putting other people in a blender. You look at him, he is a little boy with a big heart.
“I played at MAC where there are a lot of bodyguards and they can do things. I trained in Michigan when we had Xavier Simpson, he from that Ohio component. I knew it would be translated. You can’t teach speed. “Has. You can’t teach the center you have. That’s what I knew would translate anywhere in basketball.
Jones can’t pull out his original maximum moves as a first-year replacement for the speed goalkeeper on the bench. He averaged 3. 8 points in 12. 2 minutes consistent with the game.
“It’s hard to watch now because it’s high-level school basketball,” Griffin said. “But in an open gym where there is no structure, you can see it. You’ve probably only noticed 10% of Sean. juego.
“That, damn, you don’t want much at school level: make a shot, pass the ball. But if you watch any of his videos on YouTube, he probably has one of the longest bags ever.
There may be no more viral mixtapes, but Smart appreciates what Jones brings to the team.
“I’m proud of him,” Smart said. Probably of all our freshmen, he has the most compatibility in the box in terms of the role he had before school and what we ask him to do with this team.
“It’s been huge helping us with defensive pressure, intensity and aggressiveness. Create offensive shots for guys. Get into portraiture and use your speed to your advantage.
“I asked him the other day how you feel about going back to Columbus. Sean, he’s pretty serious sometimes. He says, oh, I’m just focused on the game. It’s great to play in your hometown for the NCAA Tournament, and I hope you can play well and help this team grow. “
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