Jones showed star basketball qualities early

Jazmine Jones surprised the prognosticators who called the WNBA draft but they wouldn’t have been if they knew her roots. Jones had the kind of beginning that helped her hone her talent to be the first-round No. 12 pick that she was.

It started with a strong work ethic, said Ericka Cromartie, who coached Jones during her final two seasons at FAMU High. Former FSU star Akmed Aly coached her during her freshman and sophomore years.

Jones, 6-foot guard, and her Louisville teammate forward Kylee Shook were back-to-back picks. After the New York Liberty selected Jones, they made Shook the 13th pick.

Jones was picked to go much later in the draft, according to multiple predictions that included ESPN, which expected her to be the 35th pick overall.

Jazmine Jones (right) and her Cardinal teammate Kylee Shook were back-to-back picks by the New York Liberty in the recent WNBA draft.
Photo courtesy Louisville athletics

Jones and Shook will join their former Louisville teammate Asia Durr, who was picked by the Liberty last year.

Cromnartie recently recalled when she was first told about Jones, who had the youth basketball community abuzz in Tallahassee over her talent.

“I was amazed,” Cromartie said. “I was like, wow, this girl can play. She had the it factor. She knew how to go get it. She has a great IQ and she was just a great ball player.”

Wayne Pye, who promotes the annual Hoops of Fire Tournament, saw the same “it factor” in Jones when she was a senior at FAMU High. He rewarded her with the tournament’s first scholarship.

“The scholarship wasn’t a lot of money,” Pye said, “but it’s something to help buy a laptop or whatever.”

Jones’ pull-up shot became part of her trademark at Louisville, an aspect of her game that Cromartie also remembered Jones spending plenty of time working on. She also developed a penchant for trusting her teammate, with the breakthrough coming in a rivalry game with Rickards.

The Raiders had been collapsing on Jones until she decided to make her teammates a factor in the game, Cromartie said.

“In that game, she was phenomenal,” she said. “She used her teammates to get us over the hump.”

Jones grew into a similar leadership role at Louisville, especially this season. She averaged 14.1 points per game and averaged at least one steal per game. 

During a post-selection interview that at times was emotional for Jones, she told reporters making it to the WNBA completes a childhood dream.

“I don’t know what to feel,” said Jones, who ended the season being named the All-ACC first team. “I wasn’t expecting to go first round so to go first round is a dream come true.

“When it happened, it just blew my mind. I was so amazed. It’s just a true statement to what I’ve done since I was a kid.”

Jones is the first Tallahassee native and FAMU DRS player to be drafted in the first round. Dalila Eshe, who played center at Florida High, was drafted in 2006 by the Seattle Storm.

Cromartie said she was as ecstatic when Jones was selected as she was when she saw her debut as a Cardinal. 

“I look at that now and not only was it good for her but it was good for girls in this area.

 “What you do isn’t just for yourself; it’s to help the generation behind you. I think she is just going to set the tone. You’ve got some kids who might have been thinking about basketball and might want to try it now because they see what happened with her. She sets the tone for the whole basketball culture.”