Tuscola’s Jalen Quinn set to stay home after commitment to Loyola Chicago
TUSCOLA, Ill. (BVM) — Jalen Quinn is one of the top Class of 2022 prospects in the state of Illinois. As one could imagine, he had many top-level college basketball programs showing interest in him.
With 15 Division I offers, Quinn’s final three choices were narrowed down to local schools, not necessarily by design. Earlier this year, Quinn decided his college basketball future would be at Northwestern, DePaul or Loyola Chicago.
For the Tuscola senior, the latter of those three was always a lead consideration.
“The first time Loyola ever contacted me was going into my junior season,” Quinn said. “Coach Moser saw me and really liked my game. He gave me a scholarship and they’ve been in the mix for a long time.”
Of course, the Ramblers are coming off plenty of success. After a surprise Final Four run a few years back, Loyola Chicago had another successful season in 2020-21 that saw them reach the Sweet 16 by knocking off in-state foe and No. 1 seed Illinois.
“It was really cool to see a team I had a scholarship from beat one of the top teams in the country in Illinois,” Quinn said about Loyola’s success last season. “They want to get to the NCAA Tournament and not only get there but win games as well. They want to win and they expect to win.”
However, often times success in college basketball brings about change. For the Ramblers, this offseason followed suit, as the tremendous job Porter Moser had done at Loyola Chicago earned him a head coaching opportunity at Oklahoma.
“When Coach Moser left, it was weird obviously, and something I wasn’t used to,” Quinn noted.
While a major coaching shakeup may change the minds of many recruits, for Quinn, it didn’t. The continued winning culture and eventual hiring of Drew Valentine as head coach — an assistant at Loyola Chicago since 2017 that Quinn had already built a strong bond with — led the Tuscola senior to officially commit to the Ramblers.
Committed 🐺 @rtpgfx pic.twitter.com/BzF1xEJo0G
— Jalen Quinn (@jalen_quinn) August 16, 2021
“The culture they have at Loyola, a winning culture, and the relationship I have with Coach Valentine is one of the best I’ve ever had with a coach,” Quinn added. “He’s there for me on and off the court and we can talk about things, not just about basketball. I know they want to develop their players and they genuinely care about their players. The whole time, they were making me a priority and that was something that I really took into my commitment.
“The relationship I have with them is really genuine. I remember going on my visit, having lunch with them and it was easy to talk to them and get along with the coaching staff. Loyola’s culture the past couple years has been at the top and I think it’s something that’s only going to improve with Coach Valentine.”
By the time Quinn joins the Ramblers’ program, he hopes to repeat the success of those before him by winning the Missouri Valley Conference and making a deep NCAA Tournament run.
“I’m just going to do whatever I can to help the team win, I’m going to try to be a positive influence and just be a leader when I get there,” Quinn said.
At every level he’s played at, Quinn has proved those essential qualities time and again. In part, it is due to the immense talent and passion the 6-foot-3 point guard has for basketball, which he developed in his first days of playing.
“I was always just really competitive,” Quinn said. “Basketball was that sport for me where I could just go out and run and try to win a game for my friends. That’s what set basketball apart from others, it was a fast-paced game, I was athletic for my age and it felt really easy and natural for me to play basketball.”
Through the years, watching NBA players like Chris Paul, Quinn has developed a strong play-making ability, and one of the top skills any point guard can have on the floor: making each of his teammates better anytime he is out there.
Growing up also playing youth and middle school basketball, a lot of Quinn’s development can be attributed to his time playing on the AAU circuit. Initially, Quinn competed with Illinois Irish — now MidPro Academy — and Indy Heat. Now, he plays with the Illinois Wolves.
“I definitely think AAU was a big positive for me,” Quinn noted. “AAU is what really opened my eyes up and showed me what I needed to do to get better in order to play at that next level. At an early age, there were definitely some big ups and downs to get used to, but over the course of the years, I definitely got better. Overall, AAU was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”
By the end of his middle school career, the now 17-year-old realized he had potential to play perhaps beyond just high school.
“I think my seventh and eighth grade year is where I really took that big leap where I really figured out how much I love basketball and that I want to do that at the next level.”
Now, as he prepares to finish his high school career, Quinn is again looking at the opportunity to play at a higher level after his time at Loyola.
“Professional basketball has been my goal since I’ve started high school,” the Tuscola senior said. “I think when I get to college at Loyola, I’m going to have all the resources and tools I need to get to my max talent and really pursue my dream. I just need to put in the work over time and be super disciplined with everything I do. I think there’s definitely a possibility for me to go pro after college, and I just have to work and be patient.”
Strengthening Quinn’s case is what he did with the Illinois Wolves this summer, helping them win the Under Armour Association championship in July.
“The Illinois Wolves were kind enough to let me go and try out and I made the team,” Quinn said. “Ever since then, it’s just been about getting better with them. Going into 17U, we really struggled at the beginning, but we just got better over time and put a chip on our shoulder, trying to prove the doubters wrong. For me, it was really easy playing with my teammates and getting recruited because we all had no ego and all wanted to perform the best for each other. This summer we were super successful.”
Before any of his future dreams and goals can be accomplished, Quinn has one more year of high school basketball at Tuscola. After a learning year in his freshman season where he still helped the Warriors to a regional championship, the point guard began breaking out as he felt more comfortable in his sophomore campaign.
Also playing football and baseball until his junior year, Quinn decided to put all his focus on the hardwood, and it certainly paid off. In a shortened season, Tuscola went 13-5 as Quinn averaged 24.5 points per game. The continued success the Warriors have had continues to grow a winning culture amongst the program.
“I think we’ve definitely turned the culture of Tuscola basketball around,” Quinn mentioned. “[Last year] was tough going up and down with whether or not we were going to play. Fortunately, we were able to get a shortened season and that was better than nothing. We had a really great group of guys and we took full advantage of it. Every practice and every game, we really just laid it out on the line knowing nothing was guaranteed. We were just all playing for each other and had a really good season.”
Quinn enters his senior year as one of the highest-upside basketball prospects in Illinois. His future may take him to heights most can only dream of, but one of the things most important to him is finishing off his high school career the right way, and leaving a legacy at Tuscola for years to come.
“All my goals are team-oriented, I just want to win,” Quinn concluded. “I want to win a conference championship and going into the postseason, I think we will have a really good chance.
“Coach [Justin] Bozarth always talks about leaving the place better than what you found it at, and I think that’s what I’ve done over my last four years. Hopefully people can say that I was a player that was really skilled and was always working to improve, was a good teammate and good leader; those are the types of things I want people to talk about when I leave. That’s kind of the legacy I hope I’ve left.”
