Q&A with Jaycee Carroll
Jaycee Carroll, Utah State Men’s Basketball’s all-time leading scorer, will be honored by USU on Saturday when the Aggies will retire his jersey. The Utah Statesman interviewed Carroll in January to prepare a documentary celebrating his accomplishments.
Statesman: Why did you choose to play at Utah State?
Carroll: Being a Wyoming kid, the University of Wyoming was probably number one on my list whether I knew it or not, subconsciously. I grew up watching them.
Every one of my school teachers graduated from there. My dad graduated from there. I watched Midnight Madness.
Then when we got down to my senior year, I just — I didn’t hear from them very much, and fortunately, my basketball season finished and spring break came. I didn’t, I hadn’t signed a scholarship or anything, so my family, we took a trip and we visited colleges. We stopped at Idaho State and walked in the office and said, ‘I’m Jaycee Carroll. I want to play college basketball.’ And they said, ‘Great, go play with our guys right now. They’re playing pickup.’ So I went and played with them. Our next stop was Utah State, said, ‘Hey, come play pickup.’ And I played pickup with them.
And honestly the story is, well, I remember the very first possession. I came off a down screen, caught the ball, shot a three and made it. You know, my first experience against Division I college players and just did it, played, had a good time. And the story everybody told is that Brennan Ray went upstairs and told the coaches, ‘Hey, you should, you should get this kid.’ And we left. And we got a phone call and they said, ‘All right, look, we want to offer you a scholarship. We’ve offered it to you and one other person. Whoever says yes first gets it.’ And so, it took me about an hour and a half. I called and said, ‘Hey, I want to come. I’d love to come.’ And that’s how I came to Utah State. I had seen them at a few of my games. We had talked a little bit, but that’s what, kind of how the offer happened. And then I saw coach (Randy) Rahe a few years later, I said, ‘Hey, who was the other guy?’ He said there was no one else: ‘There was no one else we offered.’ So kind of an old recruiting trick I guess, but it got me here, and I definitely don’t regret it.”
Q: In your first year, you kind of hit the ground running. I mean, awesome freshman season. What was that pressure like, and how were you able to manage it?
A: Honestly, I was just young and dumb enough that I didn’t feel the pressure. I just, as I came back from serving a mission, my attitude was if I didn’t go on a mission, this would be my junior year of college. I’m going to act like I’m a junior, I’m going to play like I’m a junior, I’m going to try to play junior year minutes. And that’s just the attitude I took from the very first workout as a team and I just kept going. Just kept going. I kind of kept it to myself, and we got to the first preseason game. My parents are calling me, ‘Hey, should we come up? Should we come to the game? Do you think you’re going to play?’ And in my mind — I hadn’t been told, but I was like, ‘I think I might be starting, like I might be starting.’ So I told them, ‘Yeah, come up.’ And I didn’t tell them anything. Sure enough — started the game, I finished with 29 points in my first game. And they’re just like, ‘Well, why didn’t you say something?’ ‘I didn’t know. I didn’t know.’ So it was awesome. But that’s just kind of my attitude. I was going to play as if it was my junior year, and I just, I was just kind of dumb and naive enough that things didn’t worry me. I didn’t feel pressure. I just went out and tried to do what the coaches asked me to do.
Q: What ended up being your favorite memory that season? I mean, the Big West tournament went great.
A: Yeah, that’d be my favorite memory. Had a game where I made a bunch of 3-pointers, six or seven 3-pointers. And I tied Cardell Butler, his personal record at the time. He always said, ‘Don’t beat my record. Don’t beat my personal record.’ And I tied it that year. And yeah, that’s kind of cool. But the culmination was the Big West tournament. Pacific was ranked when we played them. We had to beat a very good Northridge team and had a good tournament. And we got to the championship game, and we put in a few new plays that just fit right into what I was doing, and I played well — was the tournament MVP, the first freshman in history I think.
Again, just being dumb and naive. I remember that the TV did an interview with me and they said ‘You’re going dancing,’ and it didn’t register. I’m not a dumb guy, but the stakes of winning to get into the NCAA Tournament like hadn’t registered with me. So I was like ‘Oh man, we gotta get in.’ So when they’re telling me ‘He’s going dancing. Can you show me your best dance?’ I was just dumb. I was confused, like ‘What’s this guy talking about?’ I was so confused, and I didn’t realize how big of a deal the tournament was. So when we came back and we watched it as a team, you know, the Selection Sunday, that’s when it really started to click. So again, I guess I just was unaware enough that pressures and things — I was just playing basketball. 
Q: Obviously it’s kind of that ‘07-’08 season that you really left your mark, I’d say. What was your favorite moment in that season?
A: Yeah, that was a really fun basketball season. I got a bunch of my buddies back that, that — we were freshmen together. They were, they were redshirting. They went on missions, they were back from missions. So I got them back, got some new teammates that I got along well with and it was a lot of fun. Got a point guard that I loved to death — to this day — with Kris Clark, and we just kind of jelled and meshed. So favorite moments from that year — there were three big milestones that were hit that year. One, Kris Clark set the all-time single-season assist record, which was amazing. Coach Morrill broke the all-time wins by a coach record, and then I broke the all-time scoring record. So, those three events had — and you never knew what night that was going to happen per se — so the Spectrum was rocking. I know at the time, I think we set an attendance record, like a sellout record. I don’t know if it still stands, or seasons afterwards they broke it, but every night was talking about Spectrum Magic — we were in it, right? There was a reason for people to be there, and it was a lot of fun. So those are the three milestones that hit. I had a big 44-point night, 15-for-15 from the free-throw line. Those are a couple of moments that really stand out.
Q: Who was the best competition you played against in college and why?
A: When we moved into the WAC, the WAC was a conference. I mean, essentially they were getting three or four teams in the NCAA tournament. It was a big deal to be there — a lot of them now are in the current Mountain West. But Hawaii was very good, Nevada was very good, Fresno — there were a lot of very good teams in the conference, so that move was spectacular.
So there’s great competition. Nevada had the three-time conference MVP Nick Fazekas and Marcelus Kemp, Ramon Sessions. Boise State was a big team and that was great. Now we went to the NCAA tournament, and those were great teams. We played Arizona my freshman year, coached by hall-of-famer Lute Olson. They had Salim Stoudamire, Channing Frye, Hassan Adams, among others, and we gave them a run for their money. We played great. We end up losing, and then my next year, we played Washington, University of Washington, in the NCAA Tournament, and I had to guard Brandon Roy. Sadly, a lot of people today, young people, they don’t know who Brandon Roy was because his career was so short due to injury, but he was an amazing basketball player. His moment in the NBA shone very brightly for a brief time. And I had to guard him and that was my sophomore year and I took things — I said, ‘He just made the right decision all the time.’ And he had some offensive things he did, I said ‘I’m going to learn how to do that.’ So I spent the summer putting in Brandon Roy stuff that I had to try and defend.
Q: What is your favorite memory from playing in the Spectrum?
A: There’s a lot of memories. The ones that really stick out — the night that I broke the scoring record. I was never a very animated player, never got too high, never got too low. Part of me now looks back and wishes I would have enjoyed moments a little more. I would’ve had a little more fun with the fans, would have interacted with fans a little more, but it just wasn’t me, and it’s my dad’s fault because he always just said, ‘Hey son, be humble.’ And so I always, it was like interacting with fans that’s getting out of where the humbleness lays. But the longer I went off my career, the more was like, ‘Hey, this is a fun experience, I really enjoy this.’ So I enjoyed all the awesome things the fans would do. The student section was awesome. It’s second to none. As I played professionally, I played with teammates — I had teammates that have played at Duke and other major, major universities — I said, ‘Look, it’s cool what you’ve got, but it’s not any better than what we had at Utah State. Utah State is one of the top venues to play college basketball.’
And I still feel that way. So apart from the awesome moments, a couple of game-winners or record-breaking nights, just the overall being in the Spectrum every night. Honestly, my freshman year, driving to the Spectrum with Tai Wesley in the passenger seat yelling out the window as loud as he could, ‘It’s game day! It’s game day!’ Some of my favorite memories.
Q: How does it feel to have your number retired by Utah State?
A: It’s incredible. It’s icing on the cake, it’s the cherry on the top, whatever you want to say. It’s awesome. As a young kid playing basketball, you know, I want to hit game-winning shots. I want championships. I want this, I want that. I want to be my jersey in the rafters and to have that opportunity, it’s cool. When Jerry Bovee reached out and made the call, I was at a loss for words, honestly. I didn’t really know what to say or how to react. Again, I’m not a too-high or too-low guy, and it was emotional. It’s cool. Every time — any gym I go to, I look up there and see who was there, what they did. And now to be one of those guys that other people can walk in and see it and go, ‘Who is this guy?’ And then have it kind of more of a lasting legacy — it’s awesome. So I’m very grateful, very humbled by it.
Q: What was playing professional basketball like for you and your family? 
A: Overall, it was an unbelievable experience. Experience of a lifetime, right? As a young married guy with my new bride, to go to Italy and see a new culture, eat amazing food, see wonders of the world — in the Colosseum, visit Venice — just the cultural experience that brought us would have made it worth it. Now as we’re there, and I’m getting to chase my dream of playing professional basketball and my young — my first daughter was born in Italy, who we named Bella, Italian for beautiful. It just was awesome, and then to be able to do that for another 12 years, to be able to live in Spain for more than a decade, really set up roots in a different place from where we live, you know — such a cool experience. My kids are, especially my oldest, she’s bilingual. It’s fun that I can go to pretty much any European country and I got someone I can call, and they can pick me up at the airport, you know. It’s, it’s kind of neat, and so I don’t regret our time over there at all.
Q: How does it feel to be back in Cache Valley after all your years abroad?
A: I love it here. I’m so happy. As I mentioned how much I enjoyed being abroad, ultimately I still had an opportunity to play a couple more years at Real Madrid, and my wife and I, we felt like it was time to come home. I chased my dream for 13 years and my family went along, and it was time to come home and be around family, grandparents, and I’ve loved the last 18 months I’ve spent in Cache Valley. It’s been fun to see all familiar faces, to get up to the Spectrum and watch basketball games, watch football games, and start to get involved in our local community.
Q: Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?
A: Yeah — first of all, thanks for all the love and support throughout the years. It’s been awesome. You know, talking about fans, it’s funny — a lot of the fans that watched me play, it’s their kids that I see now, and they say, ‘Hey,’ and they’ve never seen me play, and their comments are, ‘Hey, my mom and dad said you were really good at basketball once.’ So that’s kind of where I am now. We played some pickup basketball games with one of the local high schools, got a bunch of us old Aggies together. We went and played them one night, and it was a blast. But it’s funny because some of the players, high school kids, are going, ‘Hey, I got the redhead guy. I’ve got this guy.’ I was like, ‘Look, how do you not know who these guys are? Like the redhead guy is Gary Wilkinson. He’s an all-American. Like, come on, the redhead.’ And one of our other buddies was playing. He goes, ‘Look, you understand. What year did you graduate from Utah State?’ Like well, 2008. ‘Well, this kid was born in 2005.’ So it makes sense, but it’s been fun. So to the fans, to the Aggies, thank you. Thank you for so, so much. It’s awesome to be part of the Aggie family.
