Rick Majerus has seen a lot of great performances during his nine years as Utah basketball coach. He's witnessed dozens of Keith Van Horn slam dunks and spectacular assists by Jimmy Soto. He's seen Brandon Jessie take over games with his athletic ability and Josh Grant rebound and knock down three-pointers.
One performance, however, stands out in Majerus' memory, and those who know the coach can figure out which player it involves. That's right, it's his favorite player, Al Jensen, or as he's known by everyone else, Alex Jensen.Let's let Majerus describe it:
"We're playing Hawaii in Honolulu on a Saturday night in their new arena before a big crowd. Keith (Van Horn) doesn't even suit up because he's injured and feeling sorry for himself. Brandon (Jessie) gets clubbed four minutes into the game and sits next to me the rest of the game.
"Al gets clubbed much worse, but he stays in there and totally controls the game. He rebounded, he defended, he passed - he was the most important presence on the court. He was sensational. To me, in my nine years at Utah I thought that was the best single performance I've ever seen by a player."
Those not familiar with Ute basketball, or those with short memories, may wonder who the heck Alex Jensen is. He's the guy who came out of Viewmont High School and started two games as a freshman during the 1994-95 season, averaging 6.7 points and 6.1 rebounds, and promptly became Majerus' favorite player.
Now Jensen is back in a Ute uniform after spending the past two years knocking on doors as an LDS missionary in England. He's 25 pounds heavier and two inches shorter (he's listed as 6-foot-7 in the media guide after being 6-9 as a freshman - he says he's actually 6-73/4).
Majerus absolutely loves Alex Jensen and isn't shy about telling anyone. In fact, those who cover Majerus on a regular basis have probably heard as much about Jensen the past two years as they did about Van Horn and the rest of the Ute players.
"Al was my favorite player that I've ever coached as a freshman," said Majerus. "He was the toughest player, the best rebounder, the best defender I've ever coached."
The coach will even tell you that had Jensen been around the past two years, the Utes very well could have made it to the Final Four, because Jensen's on-court presence would have made everyone else that much better. Particularly last year, when the Utes were undersize, having to use 6-5 Drew Hansen at the small forward spot.
But now that Jensen is back, Majerus suddenly doesn't have as many wonderful things to say about his favorite player.
"He was a sleek greyhound when he left - and he came back as the Michelin man," Majerus says. "It's no fault of his he ate bad, didn't exercise and didn't lift. He did whatever you're supposed to do on a mission. Even if he did get a chance to play ball, he played with other bad players, with no referees in bad gyms under bad cir-cum-stances."
Majerus even went to London to visit with Jensen for a couple of days, so he knows first-hand about Jensen's lifestyle.
"Everyone was eating Indian or fried food. They just pop it in the greaser and lay another lard on there. It's the most nutritionally unfit food known to man It's a McDonald's French fryer with a pound of butter dropped in. That's what he ate for two years."
When Jensen arrived home in June, he weighed 250 pounds, 50 more than he did as a freshman. While he got a chance to run a little bit and play soccer with the kids, his basketball opportunities were limited. "We tried playing on some 9-foot rims that were bent with no nets," he said.
The biggest thing he lost was his legs, and he's been working hard to get in shape the last four months. Majerus says he hears stories about Jensen staying after practice to ride a stationary bike for an hour, and he was impressed when his body fat recently dropped 2 percent in a short time.
"Before he left, he was lean, he had bounce, he had lateral movement, he had hang time, he had body control," said Majerus. "But he has none of that right now, he has no lift, no wind. We've done everything we can do, and he's doing everything he can do."
Back in the spring of 1995, Jensen had a difficult time deciding whether to go on a mission, torn between his religious beliefs and the chance to play for a great basketball team and further his career. Majerus preferred that he not go and used to joke that he'd convert to the LDS Church if Jensen would stay home. But he left it up to Jensen, who's happy with the decision he made.
"It's funny, because I thought I'd miss (basketball) a lot more than I did," he said. "I missed being on the good teams with Keith here. But there's no regrets, no regrets at all, actually."
So Jensen must be just a shadow of his former self and won't even be a factor on this year's Ute team, right? Well, actually, no.
Jensen made his debut last Thursday in an exhibition win over a team from Hungary, and the Michelin Man looked pretty good, thank you. He started at small forward, led the Utes in scoring (13 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from the field), rebounding (eight boards) and came up with one terrific blocked shot that brought the fans out of their seats.
OK, Majerus was kind of impressed, but he still expects more.
"My goal for Al is by January for him to be some semblance of what he used to be," he said. "He's trying extraordinarily hard, his effort could not be better. He has to go incrementally with small steps. I don't know what the answer is, but I know the kid will find it in his own heart to get back. The one thing I know is that Al won't leave a stone unturned."