Former CBA star Jordan King shining in second year at Siena
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. (BVM) — Jordan King was one summer away from taking a much different path in his basketball career. After finishing his senior season at Christian Brothers Academy (CBA), the interest for the star guard wasn’t where he had hoped.
“I thought I would pick up an offer from a low Division I, or something from a Division II, or even have some interest from a Division III,” King said. “Nothing really connected with me.”
Without the college basketball offers King had hoped for, the three-year varsity starter decided on a year at prep school. That plan would change after a summer on the AAU circuit.
“I went out and had a good weekend out in Pittsburgh and Coach Harley [Fuller] was actually there watching my game,” King said. “After that weekend I got a call from Coach and he offered me this spot for the one walk-on year.”
For King, the opportunity to play basketball at Siena and stay close to his family and friends was one that he couldn’t pass up. With the Saints not having enough available scholarships until the following year, the incoming guard would have to play his first season without one.
In his freshman season with the program, King would make an appearance in all 30 games, averaging 4.7 points before the pandemic ended the Saints’ season early. With his first year behind him, King went into a much different offseason using his walk-on mentality.
“Knowing college basketball, the scholarship is never guaranteed the next year, so I had to come in and I worked really hard in the offseason after this freshman year,” King said.
“I studied a lot of film. Just knowing what I had to do to get better, you know to perform better. I was in the weight room a lot, so just getting stronger had me more confident that I could play at this level.”
Without the ability to workout at the facility due to the pandemic, King had to stay in shape at home. Practice on his backyard hoop had to make due until he got the chance to get back to a more normal routine.
“I think the first time I actually got in a gym was in June,” King said. “The first two months it was just me going into my basement. I had a couple of dumbbells down there and I would do little lifts like that just to maintain my strength.”
Even with a much more difficult offseason, King’s work would pay off early on, as the rising sophomore would take over the starting spot held by recent Georgetown transfer Donald Carey.
With an uptick in minutes, the sophomore guard is off to a hot start for the undefeated Saints. His offseason work isn’t going unnoticed by his head coach either, who says you can look at King and notice a major difference.
“I think he understands what’s needed of a Division I college basketball player in our system being able to do a multitude of things,” Siena men’s basketball coach Carmen Maciariello said during a Zoom call with the media. “He can shoot the ball, he can play off the ball screen, he understands the spacing, he understands how hard he has to guard. I think he has done a great job in the weight room, especially in the summer during Covid and everything else going on.
“He can guard a little more and absorb some contact, he can get to the rim and now finish a little better… He’s hungry, he’s competitive, and he loves to play and he loves to compete and those are the guys we want to recruit.”
After averaging 21.5 points and 4.5 assists in the Saints’ most recent pair of road wins against Rider, the 6-foot guard was awarded MAAC Player of the Week honors.
✌️ weeks
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4⃣ different #SienaSaints honored @SienaMBB has swept the @MAACHoops Weekly Awards for the second straight week, with @JKing241 chosen as the #MAACHoops Player of the Week and @colingolson selected as the Rookie of the Week❗️📰 https://t.co/FVUe1mupJH pic.twitter.com/V0KvHxdfVi
— Siena Saints (@SienaSaints) January 18, 2021
Even with the recent honor and team success, King is looking for more than just individual awards in his sophomore campaign.
“One of my goals was to get MAAC Player of the Week and I just accomplished that, but I can never be satisfied with that,” King said. “I still have a lot of work to put in and just the overall team goal, we want to get that MAAC Championship. We want to go to the tournament.”
