Q&A with John Neil
Ahead of Jaycee Carroll’s jersey retirement, honoring Utah State Men’s Basketball’s all-time leading scorer who played from 2004 to 2008, the Utah Statesman called John Neil — an Aggie who played from 2002 to 2005 — to ask about Carroll.
Statesman: What was your first impression of Jaycee? Did you think he would be as good as he was?
Photo by Ryan Talbot Forward John Neil looks to pass the ball during last Friday’s exhibition contest against Hawaii-Hilo.
Neil: I was just talking to David Pak, my teammate. We were at a gym working out, and he had played in a pickup game with Jaycee the week before. And he was just telling us that he’s a freshman, but he’s going to be really good. We knew he was going to be good. I can’t remember the first time I played with him, but it would have been a summer pickup game. We’d always get together and play pickup ball, even the new guys. We could tell right off the bat that he could score and he could shoot. I could not have guessed he’d be the all-time leading scorer at Utah State. But we knew he was going to be good, even as a freshman.
Q: What was your favorite on-court memory with Jaycee?
A: Definitely the Big West Championship game of 2005. He just had a killer game. And we were playing Pacific, and we just needed everybody to step up. And I think he was the MVP of that tournament as a freshman, which was really impressive. But everybody played really well that game, but he played great. And we beat Pacific, who was nationally ranked, and that got us into the tournament, so that was a great memory.
Q: What was your favorite off-court memory with Jaycee?
A: Favorite, maybe more infamous, but I was kind of known as maybe the best conditioned guy on the team. And so every year before the season, we’d do a two-mile run at the beginning of conditioning and then a one-mile run, and I would always beat everybody pretty good. And my senior year, we started off with a two-mile run, and I beat everybody pretty good. Jaycee was just a little bit behind. But at the end of conditioning, we did the one-mile run, and I was winning the whole time until, like, the last 200 meters. Apparently Jaycee was just behind me the whole time, and then he sprinted by me for the last 200 meters, and I couldn’t keep up. And he actually won the mile in the conditioning my senior year. I was super annoyed that this freshman kid right off his mission was in better shape than I was after just one preseason of conditioning, so I had to give him a hard time about that. But I still joke about it with him today, actually, because I’m still super annoyed that my senior year, he beat me in the mile. That’s the one that comes to mind. I guess that was still in practice, but off the court.
So he was just a fun guy to have in the locker room, especially as a freshman. He was fun to tease. He was kind of one of those guys that — and I think this actually was maybe one of the reasons why he’s such a good shooter — he had a very short memory. Like, he might have a game where he went one for 10 — which was rare — but he probably thought he was 10 for 10.
Q: How do you feel about USU retiring Jaycee’s number?
A: Very well deserved. I’m surprised it came so late, honestly, but I guess it makes sense with him just finishing his career.