By: Annie Xu

After being at the top of the UCLA basketball team, Jamie Jaquez Jr. is back at the bottom, in the big leagues. But Jaquez isn’t scared. He knows he’ll be able to prove to people that he can play this sport well. No matter what his team needs, he’s willing to do it, “with sweat dripping and body parts freely sacrificed to whatever piece of hardwood beckons.”

What makes him think he can be drafted into the NBA? He brought UCLA to a Final Four as well as two third rounds. Jaquez ended his career with 1802 points. This sets him firmly in eighth place in UCLA’s all-time scoring leaderboard. Jaquez himself said that he felt “really ready.” This is coming from a player that is known to be humble.

One NBA executive who saw Jaquez work had some remarks. The NBA executive said that Jaquez “played really hard, he competed his ass off, he made smart decisions with the ball.” This same executive said that he thinks that Jaquez could be picked between #17 to #25 in the first round.

What is he motivated by? Jaquez just wants to “try his best to make an extended family proud.” He isn’t motivated by money.

Jaquez said that he thinks “it’s just great for a guy like myself to represent a group that really hasn’t seen the light in the NBA, and I think it’s just because a lot of Mexicans don’t play basketball.” Jaquez said that he is trying to inspire a new generation. Many Mexicans don’t play basketball, simply because of their average height. The average height of a Mexican man is 5 foot 6.5 inches. This is not too short, however, the average height for NBA players was 6 foot 6 inches. Almost a whole foot taller.

If Jaquez is selected in the first round, he’ll be the first Bruin senior to achieve this feat since Darren Collision in 2009.

While the news of getting into the NBA is exciting to Jaquez, as expected, he is a bit sad to leave his sister at college. He had an overlapping year with her. While she was a Freshman in UCLA, Jaquez was a Senior at the College. Nonetheless, Jaquez is still very excited and confident coming into the NBA.

Jaquez said it himself, he’s “back at the bottom,” and “a rookie now.” While he’s a rookie now, there is no doubt he’ll be back up at the top soon.