Watson: Number cruncher
MILWAUKEE -- You've got your point guards, your shooting guards, your small forwards, your power forwards, and your centers. Or, as basketball people like to say, you've got your 1s, your 2s, your 3s, your 4s, and your 5s.
Jermaine Watson is none of the above.
Jermaine Watson is just a basketball player.
Jermaine Watson also happens to be a basketball player the Boston College Eagles cannot do without.
"He brings a lot of fire, a lot of heart, and a lot of passion to this team," maintains captain Uka Agbai.
He also brings a range of skill no one else on the team possesses, and that breadth of talent was on full display at the Bradley Center yesterday afternoon as BC advanced to a rendezvous tomorrow afternoon with Atlantic Coast Conference power Georgia Tech, courtesy of a 58-51 victory over Utah.
The 6-foot-3-inch sophomore from Dorchester, Mass., via Tabor Academy, was a key figure at both ends of the floor as BC rang up victory No. 24 of this thoroughly enjoyable season. His defense on Utah leading scorer Nick Jacobson extinguished a small second-half fire that had threatened to burn down the BC house. He also put BC ahead to stay with a slashing 3-point play that broke a 49-all deadlock with 3:27 remaining. Throw in four of BC's impressive total of 20 assists (on 23 baskets), and it was a fine all-around day's work for the junior game-changer.
"That wasn't the first time he's done that for us," reminded Craig Smith, he of the game-high 19 points and team-high eight rebounds."
No, Craig, it certainly wasn't. Jermaine Watson has been setting up and closing out BC games since at least the second game of the season, which would take us back to Nov. 23 and the Monmouth affair during the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas. No one can say what BC's record would be without his timely off-the-bench contributions, but it certainly wouldn't be anything close to its current 24-9, and BC wouldn't be preparing for Game No. 34 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
This is not the role Watson foresaw when he said yes to BC three years ago. He was a big-time prep school and AAU star at the time, and he became even bigger as he earned both Gatorade and USA Today Massachusetts Player of the Year awards by averaging 28.5 points and five assists a game at Tabor. He was thinking a bit more about becoming a candidate for Best Actor, not Best Supporting Actor. But after two years at The Heights, it was evident his particular skill package was better suited for a pick-me-up role, rather than a starting job.
"Coach [Al Skinner] told me that while I may deserve to start, I could help the team more by coming off the bench," Watson says. "At first, I was a little bothered by it. Now I'm happy with it."
"I wasn't worried that much about him accepting the role," says Skinner. "It was more a matter of him learning it."
Watson is the team's reigning capital A, Athlete. He is the team's Mr. Energy. He might go coast to coast on a play that might see everyone else on the team walking the ball up the floor. He might soar in for an offensive rebound. He might make a great steal. But one thing is sure: Jermaine Watson will not sneak quietly into a game. You always know when he's out there.
"Jermaine brings us aggressiveness," says Smith. "He is always ready to attack."
He attacks on offense, and, oh baby, will he attack on defense. Jacobson is not going to forget Watson, not in this lifetime.
Save for one 2-minute-45-second flurry in which the Utah captain (a 17-ppg scorer) made all three of his baskets and scored all 8 of his points, it was a sad collegiate farewell for a fine player. Gifted with a half-dozen good looks in the first half, Jacobson shot 0 for 10 as BC built a 29-20 lead. He then nailed back-to-back threes and a two as the Utes made a little run. With 12:41 remaining, Skinner summoned Watson and told him to guard Jacobson. Not only did Jacobson never score again, he never took anything resembling a nice, squared-up shot. As Johnny Most would have said, Jermaine was in Jacobson's shirt, underwear, socks, and sneakers.
Agbai was amused, because he's seen this before. "On defense," he smiles, "Jermaine is relentless. He's like white on rice. He's like glue to the guy."
I think we have the picture, Uka.
It was 12 minutes 41 seconds of textbook hounding.
"You can't do it by yourself," Watson says. "A couple of times I got caught on a screen and Uka was right there to hedge out. The big men were moving their feet to give me time to get back to him. I had a lot of help out there."
But when Watson took the ball to the basket with the score tied at 49, it was all about him. His acrobatic flier hit the back rim, went high in the air, and fell through. That 3-point play gave BC a nonrefundable lead. And it was all about him when he had driven baseline and slipped a clever pass to Smith for the basket that had given BC a 49-47 lead.
Throughout the season, Jermaine Watson has continually made winning plays. He peaked with a 22-point effort in a vital victory over Notre Dame (BC had lost three straight and an NCAA bid was a fantasy), but many times his contribution was an unmakable play here, a hustle play there, and then perhaps simply making clutch free throws, such as the eight he swished in the final 31 seconds of the Wichita State game or the 10 he put down in the clinching portion of the Georgetown Big East tournament game.
He may not be a star, but if the Big East had an All X-Factor Team, he'd be a unanimous choice. Uncategorizable players such as Jermaine Watson are what make college basketball so much fun. As Al Skinner knows, they can also help you win.
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.
