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WHAT'S MY NAME? WORDS. Kevin Zimmerman PHOTO. Steven Maikoski/USA Basketball Jahii Carson
Swagger and cockiness. Tere's a fine line between the two. For an Arizona State basketball program com- ing off a down year, head coach Herb Sendek needed someone who could ride that line to winning.
Call on the guy whose name translated from Swahili means "to lead with dignity." At 5-11 and 160 pounds, incoming freshman Jahii Carson isn't very tall, but his brashness makes up for it. Not that he thinks he's better than everyone, but the point guard believes he can create a winning culture at ASU by playing with a sometimes over-the-top attitude.
"I definitely have a confident swagger about me," says Carson. "I don't want to say I'm cocky or conceited about any of it. I have a confidence about myself on the basketball court. I think that some guys have it, but they don't like to express it.
"I think when people say ASU needs that, that's what they mean – try to bring out the best of guys," he adds. "That's what I want to do with all my teammates."
On a Mesa High School (Mesa, Ariz.) team that saw his scoring as a necessity, Carson averaged 32.2 points, 3.6 assists and 2.1 steals per game during his senior year. He was even more spectacular in the state playoffs, dropping 37 and 38 points his first two playoff games – both wins – before scoring 58 points for the Jackrabbits in a 96-82 loss during the state semifinals.
At ASU, the incoming freshman is expected to bring his blind- ing speed, passing skills and mind-blowing dunking ability into a Sendek offense that's been hurt by the lack of a pure playmaker.
"My speed is my strength," says Carson. "I try to get up on defense and try to make the offensive player uncomfortable. I'm just all about making everyone uncomfortable that's playing against me on the opposing team.
"I'm an explosive guard who likes to get up and down the floor."
That confidence in himself has made Carson do what very few have done before him. Ask most top-10 point guards in the country living on the West Coast, and they'll tell you they're interested in joining the Washingtons, Arizonas or UCLAs of the world rather than sniff the Sun Devils. But forging his own path isn't the unthinkable for Carson, who chose the hometown school over the big-time Pac-12 basketball programs.
Before he arrived for workouts in Tempe, Ariz., however, Carson gained valuable basketball lessons in Lithuania and Latvia as the only high school player on the Under-19 USA Basketball Team ros- ter. It was a humbling experience that has kept his ego in check.
"I think that I'm going to get something out of every city and trip we've been on so far," Carson said from Riga, Latvia. "The physical capabilities of the guys is definitely something I've had to adjust to and also become more true to, to understand that sometimes I'm not always going to get as much playing time as I want to see, or I'm not going to be able to score as much as I want to score."
But following his European trip, Carson's future has much intrigue. Joining ASU after it went 12-19 last season and finished last in the Pac-10, he becomes the second program-defining signee for the Sun Devils under Sendek, Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden being the first. There's trust in his coach, and Carson believes he can help improve over last season's record. At the same time, he doesn't believe going to a traditionally unheralded basketball school will hurt his chances at making it to the NBA.
"I wanted to change, switch and make my own path," he says. "Coach Sendek is a great coach, and I feel like he can help me get to the next level. He's a very intellectual guy, he's a very smart guy, and I think that he can use my talents the best."
So how far does his balance of swagger without cockiness take him? Carson has broader goals of making the Pac-12 All-Freshman team and upping the Sun Devils' win total next season. After that?
"It is definitely a challenge for me," says Carson about the pressures of reshaping a basketball program. "I don't look at it like a struggle. I just look at it as a process that I have to go through with my team."
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