Although USF plays in the Big East which is widely regardedas a Basketball conference, the Bulls haven’t quite been able to shine on thehardwood. One of the few Bulls to play in the NBA, Dominique Jones, was aspecial player for USF but has also done something remarkable in the pros thatno other Bull has so far, win an NBA Championship.
Coming to USF as a three star prospect, as ranked byScout.com, Jones made an immediate impact on the team. DoJo started every gamehis freshman year, scoring 17.1 points per game, while also grabbing 4.6rebounds and getting 2.8 assists. Back in 2007 when Jones still played for LakeWales Senior High School, Scout listed Jones being a “Big-Time Scorer” as hisbiggest strengths. He surely showed that instantly, with only three singledigit scoring games his entire freshman year, while dropping 30 on rival UCF ina 75-67 win for the Bulls.
Jones constantly improved, scoring 18.1 points with 5.6rebounds and 3.9 assists his sophomore year. The Florida native not onlyimproved his scoring, but started dishing out the ball more while grabbingalmost six rebounds, a relatively high number for a guard. USF focused their game around Jones, whichultimately led to one of the greatest seasons in USF history in 2009-2010.
As a senior, Jones was listed in the preseason All Big Eastteam and scored 21.4 points per game while also once again improving hisrebounds to 6.1 and assists to 3.6. Jones had several clutch performances togive the Bulls back to back wins against the #17 Pittsburgh Panthers, scoring37 points, and #8 Georgetown scoring 29. He scored a season high 46 points against the Providence Friars, and waseventually named to 1st team All-Big East and winning the leaguescoring title.
After his junior year, Jones declared for the draft and wastaken 25th overall by the Memphis Grizzlies who immediately tradedhim to the Dallas Mavericks for cash considerations. During his rookie season,Jones only scored 2.3 points per game while averaging just over seven minutes,and was eventually sent down to the D-League Texas Legends. He returned to theteam only to suffer from a foot injury, and miss the rest of the year. The Mavericksended up winning the NBA title, to make DoJo the first Bull to get a ring. Sofar this year, Jones has only averaged 0.8 points in 2.4 minutes per game, buthe should receive more minutes throughout the year with the Mavericks agingteam as he proves his value to one of the best teams in the league.
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