| No. 11 – Minnesota Golden Gophers | |
|---|---|
| Position | Power forward |
| League | Big Ten Conference |
| Personal information | |
| Born | July 20, 1998 |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Listed weight | 290 lb (132 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | |
| College | Minnesota (2017–present) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Isaiah Washington (born July 20, 1998) is an American college basketball player for the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference. Currently a freshman point guard, he previously attended St. Raymond High School for Boys in The Bronx, New York, where he was ranked among the top players in the state and was named Mr. New York Basketball.
In high school, Washington drew attention for his trademark finger roll layups, for which he helped coin the term "jelly." With his friends, he formed a group called "Jelly Fam," which other players could join by performing the move and sharing it through social media. It has gained popularity in the basketball community across the United States.
Early life
editWashington was born on July 20, 1998 to mother Sarai Gray, and he has one brother, Josiah, and a sister, Marianna. He first picked up a basketball at age two.[1] Washington grew up in the projects in Harlem. He took interest in basketball at a young age, practicing for several hours at the local Dunlevy Milbank Children's Center while in elementary school and earning the nickname "Dimes" for his passing skills.[2][3] He often trained by shooting hoops in the dark, and he quickly developed as a player at Milbank.[3] Milbank head coach Roosevelt Byers said, "By the sixth grade, I realized that he had the potential to be special. By the eighth grade, he was ready to play against any high school kid in the country."[2]
High school career
edit| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isaiah Washington PG |
The Bronx | St. Raymond (NY) | 6 ft 0.3 in (1.84 m) | 161.3 lb (73.2 kg) | Sep 11, 2016 | |
Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN:
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| Overall recruiting rankings: Rivals: 62 ESPN: 68, 5 (NY), 16 (PG) | ||||||
Sources:
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College career
editJelly Fam
edit"You gotta get in the air, float, kick your legs open, flick it with some English, use different angles off the glass, stuff like that. Left hand, right hand, reverses—there are a lot of variations to it."[4]
—Washington on how to perform a "jelly" layup.
At a young age, Washington developed a modified finger roll layup known as the "jelly." He claimed to invent the move while trying to imitate Michael Jordan's free-throw line dunk in the 1988 Slam Dunk Contest. Because he was not able to dunk, he attempted to emulate Jordan's layups and eventually created his own move.[4] He viewed it as an alternative for basketball players who could not dunk but wanted to make the spotlight.[2] Anwar Hannon, an employee at Milbank Center, began yelling "jelly" when Washington performed the move in eighth grade, encouraging him to continue doing it.[3]
While attending junior high school, Washington created a group known as "Jelly Fam" with his friend Ja'Quaye James, who later played basketball at Teaneck High School in Teaneck, New Jersey.[2] The group, which was based around the layup, quickly gained popularity after they began calling each other "Jelly Fam" on Instagram.[2] It later expanded to include multiple other players, with its early members being top high school recruit Jahvon Quinerly and Ole Miss player Milicia Reid.[5] According to Bleacher Report, the movement has become "synonymous with basketball and street culture."[6]
References
edit- ^ "Isaiah Washington". GopherSports.com. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|website=(help) - ^ a b c d e Danois, Alejandro (November 28, 2016). "Jelly Fam: Welcome to the New Hoops Phenomenon". Bleacher Report. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|website=(help) - ^ a b c Fuller, Marcus (July 24, 2017). "Isaiah Washington, with Jelly Fam brand in tow, gives Gophers basketball a recruit like none other". Star Tribune. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ^ a b O'Donnell, Ricky (November 7, 2017). "How a New York City high schooler made 'the jelly' the coolest move in basketball". SB Nation. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|website=(help) - ^ Merrion, Christina (November 6, 2017). "Isaiah Washington And The 'Jelly Fam' Keep Taking Basketball By Storm". Uproxx. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|website=(help) - ^ "Jelly Fam: a NYC Basketball Revolution". Bleacher Report. November 1, 2017. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|website=(help)