Catching Up With Jackson Watkins '19

4/11/2022

Welcome, friends, to another installment of Jackson Watkins’s against-all-odds, living-his-dream, basketball-and-life story.

The first was inspiring: hard-working, passionate-about-hoops, bleeds-North Carolina-blue Collegiate kid, three seasons after a successful and fulfilling high school career, earning a roster spot on the Tar Heels’ varsity after paying his dues on the JV and women’s team practice squad.

The second? Fast forward to tournament time: the Atlantic Coast Conference post-season frenzy at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and UNC’s double-bye to the semifinals and untimely exit, then the March Madness magic carpet ride that took Watkins and his guys to within three points of an NCAA championship.

“That was easily the craziest month of my life,” the 6-1, 180-pound junior guard said this past week shortly after the Tar Heels returned to Chapel Hill. “With the break from school, it felt like I was on a month-long vacation. We were in Texas, Philadelphia, New York, New Orleans, traveling. playing basketball, and doing homework, of course. It was definitely a roller coaster, for sure.”

As a walk-on whose court time came mostly in practice, Watkins suited up for regular-season games, appeared in three (Elon, N.C. State, Florida State), and recorded a made free throw, two rebounds, one assist, and one steal.

For the post-season, though, the walk-on squad didn’t dress because of number limitations but sat just behind the bench, participated in all team activities, and witnessed basketball-for-the-ages from a ringside seat.

If you know Watkins, you won’t be surprised to hear that he was no less engaged than if he was in the starting five playing in prime time.

“Definitely,” said the 2019 Collegiate alumnus. “I embraced my role. Our games are in practice playing the role of the other team, imitating their actions to the best of our ability and being as tough as possible against these (meaning UNC’s) All-American players. We take a lot of pride in that. Just knowing that we have an impact and make the team better is huge. It gets the walk-on squad through the day.”

After dropping a 72-59 decision to Virginia Tech in the ACC semis, the Tar Heels earned a No. 8 seed in the NCAA East Region. There, they defeated No. 9 Marquette 95-63 in the first round in Ft. Worth, then dispatched No. 1 Baylor, the defending national champ, 93-86 in overtime to advance to the Sweet 16.

In Philadelphia, they polished off No. 4 UCLA 73-66, then ended the storybook season of St. Peter’s, everyone’s favorite underdog, 69-49 in the Elite 8.

A week later in the Final Four at the Ceasars Superdome, they defeated archrival Duke 81-77 in Coach K’s final game, then built a 40-25 halftime lead over Kansas in the finals before the Jayhawks mounted a monster second-half run and claimed a 72-69 victory to take the title.

In Coach Hubert Davis’s first year, the Tar Heels finished 29-10 and second in the final Associated Press poll after entering the post-season ranked 28^th.

What follows are Watkins’s thoughts, insights, and reflections about his once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Speak about the ACC tournament.

We had really high hopes of winning the championship. Against Virginia (a 63-43 win in the quarterfinals), we played great. We played lock-down defense. We were really excited going into the game against Virginia Tech, but our shots just weren’t falling. That loss made us realize just how well we needed to play if we really wanted to make a (NCAA) tournament run.

Speak about the first two rounds of the NCAA’s in Ft. Worth.

We played great against Marquette. They were a strong team. The offensive explosion we had carried over, I think, into Baylor. We played on Thursday, then had to play two days later. That was a real benefit for us. We didn’t have any time to worry about the media hype. We just locked in and focused for those 24 hours. We came out swinging. Coach Davis always says we need to look for a fight (figuratively speaking, of course) when we go out on the court. When we played Duke at home and got blown out (87-67 on February 5), they punched first, and we never recovered. Since that game, we took up this mindset like, we have to throw the first punch. Brady (Manek) led the charge. We got up huge on Baylor (25-point lead 10:45 from the end). That quickly unraveled, but we pulled it out at the end.

Speak about the Sweet 16 (UCLA) and Elite 8 (St. Peter’s) in Philadelphia.

We wanted to show everyone that we were the best 8-seed ever. Honestly, it was more of a mindset like, Please keep treating us like an 8-seed. We’ll show you that we’re not. That UCLA game, very similar to Baylor, we knew we were competing against a really strong team. We didn’t underestimate them. Caleb Love stepped up and made some huge plays down the stretch. Even though it was a close game, I think the craziness and the overtime experience against Baylor translated to UCLA. When it came down to the wire, we were prepared to pull it out.

St. Peter’s was playing in the game (with Purdue) before us. When they pulled off yet another upset, we looked at ourselves like, If we win this UCLA game, we’ll get to the Final Four. That gave us a little bit more fire. In terms of preparing for St. Peter’s, the coaches made clear that they were a very good team because they had beaten Kentucky and Purdue who we had lost to. We knew that if we underestimated them, we’d probably lose. We locked in just like any other game. Within the first two minutes, we made sure they knew who we were playing with. After that quick start (9-0 UNC after four minutes), it just felt obvious that we’d go Final Four. That was a surreal feeling.

And the for-the-ages Duke game in the national semifinals?

It was not only a rivalry game but the first meeting ever in the NCAA tournament between Carolina and Duke. It was the Final Four. It was Hubert Davis’s first tournament experience (as a head coach) and Coach K’s last. Having a week not just to prepare but marinate in all the media hype was a weird feeling. It didn’t hit me initially, but as we got closer to Saturday, I realized the gravity of the game. That was easily the best game I’ve ever witnessed. It was just awesome to be part of it.

And Kansas?

After all the excitement and celebration from Duke, we realized we were one step away from being national champions. We prepared as such. We had short memories. We totally focused on Kansas. We knew they were the best team we’d played all year. We had sort of a rocky start (down 7-0 after 2:15). Then we had a huge run (16-0) and ended the half up 15. (40-25). At halftime. I remember walking into the locker room and saying to some of the guys, “Good half, fellows, but it’s a 0-0 ballgame. We have to come out swinging again.”

I think we all felt like we were 20 minutes away from the trophy. Coach Davis said, “Give your all to this program for 20 minutes and you’re national champion.” That fired me up. Very quickly, they went on a tremendous run (28-10 to retake the lead 10:20 from the end). We couldn’t hit shots. We had some injuries. We couldn’t close out the game. It was devastating to come up three points short after such an unexpected and magical run. When we missed that last shot, and the buzzer went off, and the blue and red confetti shot up into the air, it was a moment I’ll never forget, in a bad way. The reason we lost hasn’t revealed itself to us yet, but there’s always a reason. We’ll learn from it and hopefully be back next year. I’m definitely proud of our entire season and the run we made, even though we came up short.

It’s been less than a week. Are you getting your heads around the outcome?

Every few hours, I think, Durn, we were that close. I don’t think that will ever go away. We WERE that close after the biggest month of our lives. A few days out, there’s definitely more of a calmness, a quiet. There’s not the media to deal with. There’s not practice. We can all catch up on our rest. I don’t think the proximity of the loss will weigh as heavily on me as not seeing some of the seniors like Brady (Manek) and Ryan (McAdoo) every day.

How have you occupied your time?

It’s funny. With my extra free time, I’ve tried to figure out things to do. For the past year, my afternoons have been taken up with four or five hours of practice. I’ve caught up on school work and sleep. I actually went to the rec center with some of my buddies and played pick-up, which was fun. I’m taking time to give my body a break from lifting and running, but over the next few days, I’ll get back into the gym in some capacity. It’s really just trying to mentally recover from everything that’s been going on.

Speak about your friendship (UNC teammate) Armando Bacot, a former rival who played for Trinity.

It’s awesome playing with him and getting to know him a lot better. He’s been a huge advocate for me. I owe him everything because he put in a good word for me and supported me throughout. His development and growth as a player are a testament to how hard he works and how passionate he is about the game. He’s a hilarious person. He’s so fun to be around.

What advice would you give a young kid who shares your dream?

Have faith in what you’re doing. That’s huge. I’m focused on trying to better myself and my teammates every day. I don’t put pressure on myself. I take pride in seeing what I can bring to the table each day. You never know where intangibles like that can take you. I’m just so thankful to be part of such an historic ride.

~Weldon Bradshaw

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