One Last Carroll: After Years of Waiting and Inconsistency, Jeff Set to Lead

Last season, there were times Jeffrey Carroll was fourth in the shooting lines.

Phil Forte, Jawun Evans, Leyton Hammonds, Jeff. But in 2017, Carroll’s last in an Oklahoma State uniform, he leads every drill and dawns every poster.

Carroll was the Cowboys’ second-leading scorer last year, behind Evans who was picked in the NBA Draft, but Jawun, Forte and Hammonds accounted for 47 percent of OSU’s scoring, 30 percent of the rebounds and 55 percent of the assists. Filling up all that production likely won’t happen, and that’s why the Cowboys were picked to finish last in the conference’s preseason poll.

But Carroll is going to get this team to try, and if their history at OSU is any indication, they might just surprise some folks.

“Of course there’s days that you don’t wanna practice, but we all just push each other,” Carroll said at Big 12 Media Day. “I try to tell the guys, ‘Just don’t take it for granted.’ For the freshmen, they’re like, ‘Ah, man, we practice for so long.’

“And I’m like, ‘Trust me, it’s gonna help way longer down the road whenever we’re in Allen Fieldhouse down 5 with a minute to go.'”

Since Carroll and most of the Cowboys got on campus, they have done almost nothing but endure.

As a true freshman, he redshirted and didn’t play during Travis Ford’s last successful season in Stillwater when they made it to the NCAA Tournament and lost to Gonzaga. The next year, the Cowboys somehow made it back into the Big Dance despite going 18-14 that year. After that, the wheels fell off and Ford was fired.

In came Brad Underwood, who had to have felt more like a stepdad than a coach. One of their teammates, Tyrek Coger, died months into his tenure, which was on the players’ minds throughout the year. OSU was successful again, and they got back to the tournament, but then Illinois triggered the buyout clause in Underwood’s contract, and he, too, was gone.

Carroll had a choice. The NBA was waiting and did in fact snag his teammate, Evans, but Carroll didn’t get the high draft grades he was looking for and came back. Boynton’s introductory press conference sealed his decision.

All that brought him to the Sprint Center in Kansas City for Big 12 Media Day. So much was made about the FBI investigation that it was almost an afterthought that the league’s highest-scoring returner was on the conference’s (predicted) worst team. Boynton said he understands the narrative of his program will be about just about anything other than basketball but conceded that it’s a shame because Carroll deserves his moment.

“I’m frustrated for him because he’s earned better, and it’s nobody’s fault,” Boynton said. “… But that’s getting totally disregarded almost, not mentioned, is unfortunate. You guys have seen his development. If none of this happens, I’m not sure we’re picked 10th. I don’t know.”

Because of the losses not only on the court but also on the sideline, the last-placed selection was probably warranted anyway. But as has been the case since things started tanking under Ford, the doubt only lit a brighter fire.

Motivation. #letswork #okstate pic.twitter.com/ZJfZvcwNxj

— Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) October 19, 2017

The video wasn’t Carroll’s idea, but he certainly wasn’t going to turn it down. He said he loved the idea and thought it was probably the best way to go about handling the news.

“I kinda knew that we weren’t gonna be picked the highest, but I also didn’t think that we would be picked dead last either,” Carroll said. “It’s honestly just motivation, and to me, it’s just a number. Everybody in that locker room knows that it’s not gonna happen, that we’re not gonna finish last.”

Those doubters had a right to question Carroll until last season. He was streaky as a redshirt freshman and sophomore, and even he can admit that. As a sophomore, he had nine games with fewer than five points and six with at least a dozen. He snagged at least five rebounds in 10 games that year but also played in six where he came down with one or none.

His game had so much potential, and all could see it. Students behind the baskets just waited for No. 30 to get his 20 minutes on the court, so they would have their shot at witnessing another high-flying dunk or the occasional corner 3-pointer that made you double take to make sure it wasn’t the other Jeff.

In the 2016-17 season, there was no doubt who was taking the shot. Carroll became a go-to scorer for the Cowboys, even with an NBA point guard on the floor, even with the school’s all-time 3-point king on the floor. His game, at this level anyway, is near completion. Anyone who knows basketball just a little bit can see that, but he said he is still pushing for more, and not surprisingly, Thomas Dziagwa is typically the one doing the pushing.

“He wants to be known as the best shooter, and I gotta know I gotta stay on my job, stay working and getting better,” Carroll said, and that is motivation in itself.

Dizzy is a joker. He comes into practice screaming, sings during stretches, talks more than anyone when he is on the court and laughs louder than anyone else in the gym as he leaves. Also, he can shoot the lead out of a pencil.

“He’s the next biggest shooter behind Phil,” Carroll said. “We had (Keiton Page), and we had Phil, and I think Thomas Dziagwa is next up.”

Still, it’s Carroll at the front of the line now. Dziagwa will call out, “Come on, JC,” if he misses a shot in the drills, but it is clear to everyone around the program that 2017-18 is his year. There are no other stars to keep him waiting, no Marcus Smart, LeBryan Nash, Markel Brown, Forte, Evans. Not even a Jeff Newberry.

There is only one Jeff now, and he is singing his last Carroll.

“It’s a challenge that I’m taking on, and that’s a big reason why I came back,” he said. “It’s a team sport, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want to be someone that, ‘Oh, he’s nothing without Jawun. Jawun made him the player he was.’

“That’s the No. 1 thing. I’m wanting to prove people wrong.”