Sean Jackson (basketball)
American basketball player
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
P. Sean Jackson (born c. 1969/1970) is an American former college basketball player for the Ohio Bobcats and Princeton Tigers. He was the 1992 Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year and earned first team All-Ivy League recognition for both the 1990–91 and 1991–92 Princeton Tigers teams. He earned three Ivy League basketball championships as a player. In high school, he led Vinson High School to the 1986 West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC) Class A state basketball championship as a junior and a one-point 1987 Class AA basketball championship game loss as a senior. He earned multiple All-state recognitions in both basketball and baseball. Vinson won the Class A state baseball championship in 1986 and was Class A baseball runner up in 1985.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1969/1970 |
| Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1] |
| Career information | |
| High school | Vinson (Huntington, West Virginia) |
| College | |
| NBA draft | 1992: undrafted |
| Position | Guard |
| Career highlights | |
| |
Jackson holds the Princeton records for single-season three-point shots (95), and consecutive games with a three-point shot (56). He has also set the Ivy League record for single-season three-point shots made in conference games (56). He is listed among the all-time career three-point field goal percentages in the NCAA annual record book. Jackson formerly held Princeton records for both career and single-game three-point shots made. The Ivy League record book is silent on a possible consecutive games with a three-point shot record. After basketball, he had a career as a highly rated internet analyst.
High school career
As a sophomore, Jackson posted 35 points for Vinson in a 1985 WVSSAC Class A tournament game against Notre Dame, which ranked tied for 8th in State Class A history as of 2014.[2] As a junior, Jackson led Vinson High School of Huntington, West Virginia to the 1986 WVSSAC Class A state championship game victory over Notre Dame. As a senior, he led the school to a 1987 Class AA championship game loss against Central High School of Wheeling, West Virginia.[3] Both his 1986 and 1987 teams finished 26–1 with the 1986 team winning the championship game by a 96–80 margin and the 1987 team losing 59–58.[4] As a senior, he averaged 25.6 points per game.[5] Vinson's home arena was the storied Vinson Gymnatorium.[6] During Jackson's 3 years as a varsity basketball starter the team went 72–4, while he was named first team All-State as both a junior and senior. He had athletic scholarship offers from Delaware, Charlotte and James Madison.[7]
Jackson also played baseball while in high school. He had been twice named All-State in baseball by April 1987 (before his senior season).[7] Vinson won the WVSSAC Class A state championship over Van in 1986 and was Class A runner up to Coalton in 1985.[8]
College career
Jackson played his freshman season for the 1987–88 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team before sitting out a season and transferring to Princeton.[1] That team included two future National Basketball Association players: Paul Graham and Dave Jamerson.[9]
Jackson became the first transfer student of the Pete Carril era at Princeton for the 1989–90 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team, which was Carril's 23rd season at Princeton.[10][11] The team was coming off of an Ivy League championship season that was highlighted by a 1989 NCAA tournament with the memorable 1989 Georgetown vs. Princeton game.[12] At the time of that game, Jackson had been on campus as a student sitting out of athletic competition for a year due to the transfer rules at the time.[9] As a redshirt sophomore transfer, Jackson stepped into the role that had previously been played by Bob Scrabis and was one of the key players on the team.[13][14] He and George Leftwich gave Princeton one of the quickest backcourt combinations in recent school history.[15] Jackson earned Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Week on January 7, 1990.[16] The Princeton record book omits Jackson's January 8, 1990 rivalry game 24-point 7–8 three-point field goal performance against Penn, but The Harvard Crimson and Philadelphia Daily News noted it,[17] giving him a share of the school single-game three-point shots made record until Matt Lapin made 8 against Harvard on February 24, 1990.[18][19] He averaged 11.1 points per game that year.[20] That year's Tigers included Ivy League Player of the Year Kit Mueller.[21] The team won the Ivy League regular season and entered the 1990 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament with a 13-seed. They lost to 4-seed Arkansas 68–64. Jackson opened the game with a pair of three point shots as Princeton held early leads of 10–2 and 20–9. They still led 56–55 lead with 6:25 before surrendering the lead and the game.[22]
Jackson's February 8, 1991, 5–5 three-point shot performance against Cornell stood as a shared school and shared Ivy League record for single-game three point shots without a miss until Sydney Johnson set the current school record (6) six seasons later.[18][23] He earned Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Week on March 4, 1991.[16] As of the 2015–16 season, his 56 three-point shots made during the 1990–91 Ivy League 14 conference game schedule stood as an Ivy League conference single-season record.[23] Jackson's 95 three-point shots made led the Ivy League.[1] Mueller repeated as Ivy Player of the Year.[21] Jackson credits Mueller as the biggest reason for the team's continuing success.[9] Jackson's three-point shooting efforts supported Mueller and resulted in an undefeated 14–0 conference record for the 1990–91 Tigers,[16] which was the first undefeated Ivy League season by any school since the 1975–76 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team.[24] Following the season, he was named First Team All-Ivy League honoree for the 1990–91 team.[1] That year, the team repeated for a third consecutive season as Ivy League champions to earn a bid to the 1991 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as 8-seeds where they lost to Villanova 50–48.[25]
As a redshirt senior for the 1991–92 Tigers, Jackson served as co-captain with Matthew C. Eastwick, and George H. Leftwich.[26] On January 4, 1992, after Princeton fell behind 46–36 with 7:34 time remaining against Loyola (MD), Jackson helped Princeton close out the game on an 11-point run (including 2 Jackson three-point shots) to finish with 20 points and a perfect 4–4 three-point second half.[27] He earned his final Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Week recognition on January 7, 1992.[16] His 84 three-point shots made led the Ivy League.[1] Jackson was the leading scorer of the 4-time Ivy League champion Tigers.[28] He was again named First Team All-Ivy League honoree and was named 1992 Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year.[1] The 1991–92 team earned a fourth consecutive Ivy League championship and went to the 1992 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as a 11-seed against Syracuse. Jackson went into the tournament with the third best three point shooting percentage in the nation (48.1%).[29] Jackson led the team in scoring with 13 points, but the team lost 51–43.[30]
Jackson's single-season totals of 95 (1990–91) and 84 (1991–92) three-point shots made are first and second in the 2023 Princeton record book.[18] His streak of 56 consecutive games with a made three-point shot still stands as a school record, according to the same source.[18] Jackson's 3-year total of 235 three-point shots made was a school record for career three-point shots made until Brian Earl set the current record in 4 years with 281 seven seasons later.[18] His 243/528 (46.02%) career three-point shooting percentage was listed 10th in the annual update of the top 25 listing in the NCAA's 2022–23 Division I Men's Basketball Record book.[31] When he established his three-point shot records, the three-point line was at 19 feet 9 inches (6.02 metres), but for the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, the line was extended to 20 feet 9 inches (6.32 metres).[32] For the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, the line was further extended to 22 feet 1.75 inches (6.75 metres).[33][34]
Post-collegiate
After graduating from Princeton in 1992, Jackson attended Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the Chicago metropolitan area to attain a Master of Business Administration before moving to begin his career in Nashville.[9] During his time in business school, he began playing in competitive 3x3 basketball with John W. Rogers Jr., Mueller and Craig Robinson.[35][36][12] The team won many tournaments and qualified for the world championships.[37] In a 2001 Best on the Street: 2001 Analysts Survey published in The Wall Street Journal, Jackson, who held the title of director of stock research at SunTrust Equitable Securities Corp., the investment-banking [sic] subsidiary of SunTrust Banks Inc. was ranked as "third in Internet stock-picking" among analysts on Wall Street.[38]