Player Profile: Alex Jacobson

Last Updated on Saturday, 02 January 2010 19:04 Written by Gary Randazzo Thursday, 04 June 2009 18:33

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Jacobson has been a prototypical role player since arriving at Arizona.  This season Jacobson should have an expanded role in providing an inside presence for the Wildcats.  Click inside to learn more about Jacobson as the Arizona Hoops Series rolls on.

 

For those who think that 6’11, 253 pound center Alex Jacobson can’t play at the Division I level, think again.  Jacobson battled teammate Jordan Hill on the low block for two years as Hill evolved into what should prove to be a Top 5 NBA Lottery pick this June.

 

Jacobson isn’t exactly fleet of foot, but he does have great fundamentals when it comes to footwork.  There is still plenty of work to be done in honing his skills, but Jacobson plays with the kind of emotion and hustle that new coach Sean Miller is looking for in a player.

 

Most impressive about Jacobson though is his attitude.  He’s also very knowledgeable about the physics of the game and simply needs playing time to demonstrate that.

 

Last season, Jacobson was one of the last Wildcats off the bench.  This season, he’ll have a chance to be one of the first, if not start, depending on how rapidly incoming freshman center Kryl Natyazhko develops this summer.

 

Despite playing sparingly, Jacobson provided valuable minutes off the bench last year replacing Hill when Hill was in foul trouble.  Jacobson clearly wasn’t the quickest player on the floor, but he was rarely caught out of position.  This is no more evident than when it came to rebounding the basketball.  Of Jacobson’s 29 total rebounds, 16 came on the offensive end which demonstrates his knack for anticipating misses and negotiating the angles to get into proper position.

 

Approximately 80 percent of Jacobson’s points scored came by way of offensive rebounds and put packs.

 

Jacobson the Player

 

Jacobson played in one of the finer high school basketball programs in the country, learning under one of the game’s greats in head coach Gary McKnight at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California.  In high school, promising freshman and sophomore seasons were overshadowed by disappointing junior and senior seasons when the Monarchs decided to go quicker with the Wear Twins manning the post positions.

 

Jacobson was tall and lanky, and to an extent slightly uncoordinated in high school as he was still growing into his body.  The good news for Jacobson now is he’s put on nearly 30 pounds of good weight since entering the Arizona program and now it’s more a matter of slimming down and getting quicker, which is much easier on the basketball body than bulking up.  To this end, this offseason is the biggest in Jacobson’s career.

 

Jacobson is physically imposing, but needs to work on his foot speed to improve his lateral movement.  Jacobson’s not a shot blocker or a player who can score effectively over a defender similar in size.  Hence, Jacobson needs to utilize his basketball IQ and anticipating skills to play quicker than he actually is.  Further, to succeed at this level, Jacobson will have to be one of those players who simply must “try harder” to outwork his opponent.

 

Jacobson’s Role This Season

 

Jacobson the junior will more than likely find himself backing up Natyazhko the freshman at the center position.  That’s okay.  The two Arizona centers actually compliment one another in that Natyazhko is more of a face up scorer who is comfortable on the perimeter out to 17 feet while Jacobson is a banger who’s willing to do the dirty work to help out his team.

 

Jacobson will have to play the role of enforcer for this Arizona squad.  He’ll be the biggest player on the team and in Arizona’s motion offense to be implemented by Miller, Jacobson setting screens near the elbows and skinny posts will be a much needed benefit to true scorers working off those screens.

 

Jacobson’s main role will be to rebound the basketball and force opponents to shoot over his long reach inside.  As a team, the Wildcats won’t have much of a post presence with just Jacobson and Natyazhko so both will be called upon to provide valuable minutes whether they average five minutes a game or 25.

 

This is the main reason why Jacobson needs to focus on conditioning more than anything this summer.  Jacobson, more often than not, played less than five minutes per game last season.  Practice speed pales in comparison to game speed.  If Jacobson is not well-conditioned, he could wear down quickly and that’s when players start making mental mistakes, taking ill-advised shots, and drawing silly “tired” fouls. 

 

As a junior-to-be, the days of making silly mistakes should be over so if Jacobson can get into game-speed shape and become an energy player, there will be room for him on the court for this Arizona team.