Andre Jackson Jr: A Primer

**Who is he:** 21-year old junior from UConn. 6’5.5″ in socks with 6’10” wingspan. ~40″ max vert. Born in New York outside of Albany. Top ~50, 4* HS recruit. Family are all athletes of various types (basketball, jujitsu, power lifters, and his mom was an amateur boxer). Big East All-Academic Team. Led UConn to 2023 NCAA National Championship. The first captain UConn coach Dan Hurley named in his 22 years of being a head coach, convinced of the necessity by Jackson’s natural leadership.

>“I never thought about having captains,” Hurley said. “I always felt everyone on the team has an obligation to carry themselves like a captain. Until I met Andre and started coaching him, I never really thought about that captain piece… he is a true captain in the sense of somebody who takes that responsibility to heart in an old-school way.” Jackson has a forceful, gregarious personality, a “tone-setter,” Hurley calls him. “He’s a beautiful human being, and it’s not like ‘Coach Talk,’ he genuinely cares more about our success than his production. He’s very mature that way. He understands his identity. He’s the type of guy, if he’s not organizing a dinner, Hibachi, he’s bringing the guys together to watch an NFL game on a Sunday or forcing them to get in a gym when they don’t want to.”

His former teammates sing his praises.
>”The ultimate team player. Doesn’t care if he scores, as long as we win. People can say that’s a cliche if they want, but he actually says it and means it, and will do it,” Karaban said. “He definitely is the ultimate team player.” … Clingan: “Andre is the most selfless player I’ll ever play with… He’s doing whatever it takes to win, whether it’s zero points, 10 assists or 10 rebounds, he’ll be happy as long as we win. That’s all you can ask for. He’s a great teammate, a great person.”

**How he plays:** Played more as a true wing with some connector flashes in his freshman and sophomore years, but with the graduation of UConn’s PG before last year, he switched to playing a lot of PG (in a loose committee with Tristen Newton) this season. Great entry passer. Frequently starts the break by grabbing and going off a defensive rebound and [loves spraying to shooters flaring to the wings in transition](https://youtu.be/lzSC9g1zgU8?t=160) due to his elite speed with the ball (3rd/57 in 3/4 sprint at combine). Explosive athlete, has another gear than most both sprinting and jumping. Due to his passing and vertical, frequently throws alleys and also (other times) throws down oops. On ball in PnR, he’ll find the roll man or far corner frequently, but isn’t typically a guy that will blow by his defender to the rim (often because his defender will go under). Has a developing floater/push shot game using his leaping ability, but still needs more development on it.

Cannot shoot. Opponents do not respect his shot. Shot less than 30% from 3. UConn struggled in January in part because teams were “daring him to shoot” jumpers. [He’s got bad form.](https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/1658306553403809792) He and the coaches adjusted his role in a number of ways when he was not playing PG with the ball: 1) Using him as a screener. 2) Putting him in the dunker’s spot. 3) If in the corner spacing, cutting baseline to the basket if his man is shading off him. In general, is an excellent cutter and will pass or dunk off those cuts. Also excellent finding space on cuts as an outlet to help when his man was doubling against a big (should come in handy for Giannis). Also has an awesome ability to pass or DHO and [then screen immediately for a shooter.](https://youtu.be/y18IndUAQnQ) ala Draymond Green. Coaches also used him in snug PnR so that he was closer to basket when opp went under ala Ben Simmons.

Versatile defender, can guard some 1s through some 4s. Has a defense-first mindset. Uses a heavy chest to wall up drives. Skies for rebounds and blocks. Loves to kick out to shooters on offensive rebounds. Will dive on the floor at a moment’s notice for a loose ball and is usually first to the ball because of his quick processing of the game. Makes all the little plays and has [some Derek Jeter-like feel for the game
](https://youtu.be/lzSC9g1zgU8?t=277).

**What the stats say:** 3rd in the entire NCAA in [EvanMiya’s player BPR](https://evanmiya.com/) (similar to PIPM and other impact +/- stats but for college), one spot ahead of Brandon Miller. 14th in [Hoop-Explorer’s luck-adjusted RAPM](https://hoop-explorer.com/PlayerLeaderboard?advancedFilter=transfer_dest%20%3D%20%22NBA%22&gender=Men&tier=All&year=2022%2F23&) among draft picks. Balanced between strong offensive and defensive impacts. [18th among college draft picks in BPM](https://barttorvik.com/playerstat.php?link=y&sIndex=53&minpick=60&year=2023&start=20221101&end=20230501&pickSelect=-1). Despite his shooting woes, UConn’s offense was [10 points per 100 possessions better](https://hoop-explorer.com/OnOffAnalyzer?autoOffQuery=true&baseQuery=&filterGarbage=true&gender=Men&maxRank=200&minRank=0&offQuery=NOT%20%28Jackson%29&onQuery=Jackson&team=UConn&year=2022%2F23&) with him on the court.

Career 70% FT. 29% from 3. 27% assist rate as team’s co-PG shows his passing acumen (weak PG draft class, but he was 2nd in college drafted assist rate). 24% TO rate shows he can be a bit reckless and aggressive with the ball. Good, but not outstanding block and steal rates for his height (1.8% and 2.2% respectively this past year). Not a high usage player or high volume shooter (low volume shooter in fact).

**What else should you know?** [Sometimes on dunks he goes horizontal](https://youtu.be/zvqbOapfHWU). Woj reported on draft night that he had some medical flags. In college, he had a broken wrist and a broken pinky, but may be alluding to a knee surgery he had after high school on his meniscus (he referred to it as minor). It did not hinder his athleticism or movement in college. Adrian Griffin’s daughter plays at UConn and he played with UConn coach Dan Hurley for 4 years at Seton Hall. It’s fair to assume that Griffin knows Jackson’s game.

by bkervick