They* say "An NCAA Title is nice but a Portsmouth Invitational Title is what it's all about." And so, Rick Jackson is truly a champion today.
Rick Jack led the K&D Rounds Landscaping Fightin' 'Scapers to the Portsmouth title this past weekend. Rick has 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals in K&D's 110-93 win over Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, which is either a law firm or an obscure, wind-instrument-focused college band.
To get to the finals, K&D defeated Portsmouth Partnership (not that great partnership, it seems), 79-66. Mr. Double-Double had a very Rick Jackson-type game in the win, 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Jackson finished 2nd on the team and 13th overall in scoring (14.0 PPG) and 2nd on the team and 8th overall in rebounds (8.0 RPG). A very solid showing for the graduating senior and NBA hopeful.
Rick's teammate, Marquette's Jimmy Butler, was named tournament MVP.
Here's what Fox Sports Ohio's Sam Amico had to say about Rickles:
Syracuse center Rick Jackson displayed toughness and grit underneath the basket, despite being a little undersized (6-foot-9). Jackson has a chance to be selected late in the second round, as scouts left Virginia comparing him to NBA garbage men such as Jon Brockman and even Carl Landry.
Here's some more comments courtesy of Philly.com:
"He's competitive," Blake said. "He struggled at times to get his shot down, but he ran up and down the court well and did a good job getting position deep in the post."
"He clearly knows how to get position and carves out space," said Ekstrand, a Syracuse graduate who pointed out that fact before assessing. "He needs a counter move beyond that lefthanded jump hook. But he was a double-double guy in college, and he's done that here at the PIT too."
Most importantly, however, is the fact that The 'Scapers are champions. We can only assume that a team photo will be hung in the K&D Rounds Landscaping home office next to the 12" first-place trophy for all of time.
Watch Rick (No. 10) throw down some slamma-jammas:
*They = no one