Jordan says he's No. 1

Young's Marcus Jordan increased his stock this summer playing with the Rising Stars.
(Scott Powers/For the Sun-Times)

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Before the start of the summer, Young senior Marcus Jordan knew it was the one aspect of his game that needed to improve. His coaches told him that. His dad told him that. The rankings, which he didn’t see his name appear in, told him that.

For him to prove he was more than just a good high school player with a great last name, Jordan realized he had to show he could consistently shoot the ball.

As he put up shot after shot with former Young teammate A.J. Rompza at Joy of the Game on a recent August afternoon and as the ball fell through the net more often than not, Jordan showed to one more person what every coach and scout in the country saw throughout the summer – his jumper had arrived.

Put that jumper together with Jordan’s already superior ability to get to the rim and finish under almost any circumstance, and …

“I’m just a whole another player now,” Jordan said.

Months before Jordan was putting up 30 points on teams at the Peach Jam in July and his name was being bolded by scouting services, the process to the new and improved jumper began with countless hours in the gym. It then took another step when he attended Paul Pierce’s and LeBron James’ camps.

Finally, his confidence arrived.

“I think the whole summer was a learning experience,” Jordan said. “I went to Paul Pierce’s camp and I went to LeBron, and they helped me work on my game personally. I learned how to get open, and I really learned by making the jump shot I can get to the basket easier.”

Jordan first saw progress at the Kingwood Classic. He was up against Oklahoma recruit Tommy Mason-Griffin and while Mason-Griffin had 18 points Jordan had 16 with all of them coming off his jumper.

The peak of his jumper, his game and his summer, though, did come at Peach Jam. It was the tournament he and his AAU coach Rising Stars’ Brian Davis had talked about for some time.

“At that point he’d been getting looks from college, but I told him, ‘You have to make a move here,’” Davis said.

Jordan understood that.

“When I got to Peach Jam, I just wanted to do me and get my name out there,” Jordan said. “I definitely just wanted to get out there and kill everybody I played. I definitely felt like I left a statement.”

Going for 20-plus points every game, Jordan impressed himself and nearly everyone else there. Up against the likes of Mason-Griffin and highly-ranked John Wall, Jordan held more than his own.

“I think he was really assertive at Peach Jam,” Davis said. “He’s hard to guard because he can score in so many different ways. He’s grown up in all aspects of the game.”

Despite his success at Peach Jam, to both Jordan and Davis’ surprise, the college interest never took off when they got back home. No one new really came after him.

Right now, Jordan’s list contains Toledo, Nebraska, Iowa State, Miami (Fla.) and a few others.

“It surprised me I didn’t get as many phone calls, but it is what it is,” Jordan said. “I definitely feel I’m a high-major guy. I want to prove that to people.”

While it’s been rumored that Jordan might end up at Illinois like his brother Jeff, a sophomore guard, the younger Jordan has no intention of following his older brother.

“No, Illinois is not in the mix,” Jordan said. “I want to go to my own school and create my own thing. I don’t want to go to Jeff’s school.”