Jason in Barrington

(More stuff that didn’t make the book ...)

Jason scored a lot of points, broke records at his high school, but McKillop still wondered whether he could play at Davidson, and particularly at a critical position like point guard.

One afternoon on a recruiting trip to Barrington he sat still on the side of the court and watched Jason work out and took notes and never smiled.

At one point in a pickup game after the workout, a junior varsity coach was hot-dogging on a drive to the basket, and Jason fouled him, full body, hard.

The message was clear: It didn’t matter that he was a teacher. It didn’t matter that he was a coach. His title didn’t matter. There was a right way to play, and that wasn’t it, and he certainly wasn’t going to get an easy layup.

They both hit the floor. Jason bounced back up.

McKillop loved it.