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Who is Jason Preston? He is former blogger Piston Powered, of course, and a great Detroit Piston fan.
He is also the junior junior guard of the Ohio Bobcats and an NBA prospect, and one of the main reasons why the champion of the Mid-American Conference tournament Ohio is a popular choice on Saturday night against Virginia’s fourth division at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana (7:15 am, TruTV).
“They are going to write a film about his life,” Ohio coach Jeff Boals told Yahoo Sports recently. “This is the American dream.”
So how did Preston go from blogger to star on the court?
If you don’t know its history, here is the version of the cliff notes:
He grew up as a Pistons fan in Orlando in the 2000s, thanks to his mother, rooting for the Goin ‘to Work team led by Chauncey Billups – also known as the last Pistons team to win a playoff game (2008).
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Preston and his mother, Judith, were very close. When she died of lung cancer, he was just 16 and the soft-spoken young man withdrew. He tried to cope with the trauma of his love of basketball, but as a senior 1.80m and 140lbs point guard, he averaged two points per game at competitive Boone High School in Orlando. He scored 52 points in total that season.
With no university frenzy, Preston – nicknamed “Big Red” for his fluffy red hair – saw the proverbial writing on the wall. Good thing he was prepared and knew what he wanted to do.
During his first year, when he turned 17 in August 2016, the FanSided Piston Powered network allowed him to join the site as a writer, where he wrote for about six months on breaking news, analysis and game coverage (you can check out its author page, although if you’re stimulated by Stanley Johnson’s memoirs, it may be best to avoid it).
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He wanted to stay in the game and enrolled in Central Florida to become a sports journalist.
But that summer, a friend asked him to fill a spot during an AAU tournament at the last minute, and Preston agreed and was noticed.
“Everyone was playing 40 minutes per game,” Preston told ESPN this winter. “It was another opportunity. I didn’t have a chance at school, I was just another pitcher. I played a lot with the ball (in AAU tournaments).”
He decided to suspend college and attend Believe Preparatory Academy in Tennessee, which had five different teams. Preston, now 1.80 meters and 187 pounds, won more runs as the season progressed and gained a little interest from schools by visiting the Maryland-Eastern Shore campus. But he didn’t have any major films.
At the end of the season, during an eight-hour bus ride, Preston asked the coaches for all his films, recorded his own clips with his phone, and sent them to a friend to create the mix.
The highlights went to Twitter and were noticed by Bo Ryan’s son Will, an assistant in Ohio.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Now a junior, and playing for his second head coach at Boals, Preston’s story went nationally viral in November, when he led Ohio to an almost-then-No turn. 8 Illinois, losing 77-75. Preston managed 31 points (13 of 23 shots), six rebounds, eight assists and zero turnovers against Illini and point guard Ayo Dosunmu.
For the season, he averaged 16.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 7.2 assists, and was called the “poor man’s LaMelo Ball” by an NBA scout, because of his size and playing ability – and cool hair to pull out. He is a candidate to be drafted in the second round if he declares himself in favor of the draft, but a major NCAA tournament can help his inventory.
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He led Ohio to three big wins at the MAC tournament last week in Cleveland, averaging 22.7 points, and setting the stage for a potential race at the NCAA tournament, where scouts and fans will be watching.
Now, the former Pistons blogger can help his team become the third consecutive Ohio Bobcats team to win at least one round in the NCAA tournament (2012, defeated Michigan and South Florida; 2010, stunned Georgetown).
Who knows … maybe he’ll even become a Piston in the future.