One was a star high school player in Utah who was never offered a scholarship by the University of Utah. The other grew up in California, nearly went to the U. of U., but decided to stay and play in California.
Both players are now mainstays on the Stanford basketball team, which plays Utah Thursday night (5:40 p.m. MST) at the San Jose Arena in the NCAA West Regionals.Rich Jackson and Mark Madsen know all about Utah basketball, Jackson as a Utah native and Madsen as a player who nearly became a Ute out of high school. Even though both have followed the Utes from a distance over the years, they'll be doing their darndest to eliminate them from the NCAA tourney and keep their own hopes alive come Thursday evening.
Jackson spent the first 10 years of his life in Salt Lake before moving to Provo where his father, Richard, serves as one of the BYU team physicians. Even though he was an all-state player for Timpview High and a BYU fan growing up, Jackson wasn't offered a scholarship to his favorite school. Utah never even talked to him and so, as a straight-A student, he gladly took the offer from Stanford, one of the top academic institutions in the country.
"Stanford wanted me to come more and it was a chance for me to play in the Pac-10," said Jackson. "I always watched teams like UCLA and Arizona and that was the conference I followed. Something about the Pac-10 was fascinating to me."
Before he ever enrolled at Stanford, Jackson left on an LDS mission to New Zealand. He enrolled at Stanford three days after returning in September of 1994 and played on the Stanford team less than two months later. "It was a rude awakening," he said of his initial season.
Jackson played more and more each season, but has basically been a role player through most of his four years at Stanford. He did start 19 games this year as a senior co-captain, but he knows his duty on the Cardinal team.
"My job is to defend, rebound, show intensity and be a physical presence," he said. "My role is similar to Drew Hansen's for Utah."
Although he doesn't know Hansen personally, Jackson's cousin is dating Hansen right now and Jackson says, "I've heard great things about him. I always root for him when I see him on TV. It's been nice to see Utah's team do well."
Playing for one of the deepest teams in America, Jackson doesn't even know if he'll play against Utah Thursday night. Against Oklahoma in the first-round NCAA game, he played nearly 30 minutes and almost the entire second half. Then after being told he would probably start against Wake Forest the day before that game, he never got off the bench for the first time all season.
"We have great depth with 10 or 11 players. But as long as we win that's all I care about," said Jackson, sounding like the consummate team player.
Madsen, the fifth of 10 children, has never lived in Utah, although his father, an investment banker in San Francisco, is originally from Salt Lake.
As a star high school player in Danville, Madsen was highly sought by numerous basketball programs around the country. His Final Four? Stanford, UCLA, BYU and Utah.
During the recruiting process, Madsen said he got to know Ute coach Rick Majerus and his assistants "very well."
"I loved the University of Utah and the coaching staff," said Madsen. "But the reason I went to Stanford was because of the coaching staff and because I simply fell in love with the school itself."
Madsen passed on BYU even though both of his parents went to school there and five of his siblings have either attended or are attending BYU.
Like Jackson, Madsen went on an LDS mission right out of high school, and he returned last summer in time to play this year as a 21-year-old freshman.
He is sort of plays the same role as Utah's freshman Hanno Mottola. Madsen plays both the big forward and center positions in a backup role and he logged several minutes against Tim Duncan Sunday afternoon and made some key free throws down the stretch.
Madsen didn't even play in five of the first six games, but his minutes gradually increased to the point where he has become one of the first players off the bench in Mike Montgomery's 11-man rotation. He averages nearly six points and five rebounds per game.
During the season, Madsen has had the chance to watch the Utes in action and has been impressed, particularly with Keith Van Horn and Michael Doleac, the two men he'll likely have to guard Thursday night.
"I'm very impressed with Van Horn's soft touch, and Doleac has a sack full of good moves in the post," he said.