Keith Jennings

Keith Jennings
Player information
Full name	Keith Russell Jennings
Nickname	Mister
birthday	November 2, 1968 (51 years 304 days)
place of birth	Culpeper , Virginia , United States
size	170 cm
position	Point guard
college	East Tennessee State
Clubs as active
1987–1991 ETSU Buccaneers ( NCAA ) 1991 Jacksonville Hooters ( USBL ) 1991–1992 Brandt Hagen 1992–1995 Golden State Warriors 1995–1996 CB Estudiantes 1996–1997 Denver Nuggets 1997–1999 Le Mans Sarthe Basket 1999 Real Madrid 1999–2000 Fenerbahçe Istanbul 2000 Saint Petersburg Lions 2000–2001 Strasbourg IG 2002–2003 SLUC Nancy 2003–2004 Strasbourg IG 00000 00000 00000
Clubs as coaches
2007–2008 ETSU Buccaneers ( AC ) Since 2009 Bluefield Rams ( NAIA ; AC) 0

Keith Russell "Mister" Jennings (born November 2, 1968 in Culpeper , Virginia ) is a retired American basketball player . After studying in his home country, where the 1.70 m tall player won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award for best college basketball player under six feet , and auditioning in a summer league, Jennings began his professional career in 1991 with Brandt Hagen in the German basketball league . Then he made the leap into the highest endowed professional league NBA at the Golden State Warriors . After 1995 he played mainly in Europe and there especially in France , where he ended his active career in 2004. He then returned to his home country, where he worked as a high school coach and assistant coach for university teams.

Career

Jennings received a study place at East Tennessee State University , where he played from 1987 for the college team Buccaneers in the Southern Conference of the NCAA . The Buccaneers weren't a particularly successful basketball team and had last won a championship in the Ohio Valley Conference in 1968, when Jennings was born . With the help of Jennings, among others, they won the championship tournament of the Southern Conference in his sophomore year and defended this title twice in the following years. Jennings won the first two coaching awards for Player of the Year at the Southern Conference. After participating in the round of 16 in 1968, the Buccaneers qualified with the championship wins for the first time again for the national NCAA finals , in which, however, they were eliminated three times in the first round. When they first participated in 1989, they were placed at the bottom of the seeding list in the regional group and were then closer to a historic surprise than any other team, with the Oklahoma Sooners to eliminate Mookie Blaylock, the top-seeded team in the first round . After a 17-point lead by the underdog in the first half, the highly favored Sooners only took the lead in the last two minutes and were ultimately able to save the game with a point difference over time.

Although the Buccaneers had achieved nothing special at the national level, Jennings, who was nicknamed "Mister" during college season and was an outstanding long-range shooter, was named "Second Team Consensus All-American" in his senior year in 1991, among the ten best college -Basketball player of the country chosen and awarded the "Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award" for the best college basketball player under six feet (1.83 m). In contrast to all other excellent All-Americans, Jennings was not selected in the entry draft of the NBA's highest endowed professional league . After the end of his active career in 2004 Jennings was' jersey number with the Buccaneers "retired," that is blocked for further allocation, and he (2013 in the "Athletics Hall of Fame" German  Athletes Hall of Fame ) of his Alma Mater added.

After finishing his studies in 1991 Jennings tried to be recommended for the NBA through the summer league United States Basketball League at the Jacksonville Hooters . After this initially failed, he played in his first season as a professional for Brandt Hagen in the German basketball league . In the 1991/92 season , the Hagen team reached third place in the northern group with a slightly positive season record and were eliminated in the first play-off round for the championship against TTL Bamberg . Then Jennings managed to jump into the season squad of an NBA club and he played under Don Nelson in the NBA 1992/93 with the Golden State Warriors. At that time it was a completely unknown career path that an American basketball player made the leap into the NBA after finishing college via the German league. After Jennings had only been used in eight games in his first NBA season, he was used in almost all season games in the 1993/94 NBA and also in his only three play-off games for the Warriors, which, however, was in the first Eliminated without a win. In his third season, Jennings was a member of the Starting Five in a good quarter of the season's games and achieved over 20 minutes of playing time per game, but the Warriors' season balance slipped significantly and with 26 wins of the season they only achieved half as many wins as in the one Preseason, so that the play-offs in the NBA 1994/95 were clearly missed.

After Jennings initially got no new contract in 1995, he played in the 1995/96 season with CB Estudiantes from Madrid in the Spanish ACB league . Estudiantes achieved a very good fourth place after the main round and moved into the play-off semi-final series against defending champions FC Barcelona , who were only just defeated in five games. Jennings was the winner of the three-point throwing competition as a participant in the All Star Games of the Spanish League . The following season Jennings made the jump back into an NBA season squad and he was awarded a contract with the Denver Nuggets. After an injury, however, he was the entire 1996/97 season on the "Injury list" of the Nuggets, without having played in a championship game. For the following season 1997/98 Jennings went back to Europe and played in the French LNB Pro A at Le Mans Sarthe Basket. However, 18 wins in 30 main round games were only enough for seventh place, so that they eliminated in the first play-off round against the second-placed team and later champion ÉB Pau-Orthez . In his second season with the West French, Jennings rose to just under 20 points per game, making him the top scorer in the French league, and was named Most Valuable Player in the top French division, but 19 wins of the season were only enough for a slight improvement to sixth Main round table position. In the first play-off round, however, this time they could prevail against the third-placed team Cholet Basket . In the play-off semi-final series, however, they had to admit defeat to the record champions and reigning runner-up ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne .

After his successful seasons in France Jennings got another contract in Madrid in 1999 in the Spanish ACB league. This time, however, he was used by the “Royal”, the record champions Real Madrid, at the start of the season. Real, who had remained without a significant title in the previous year, attacked the Serbian World and European Champion Aleksandar Đorđević shortly after the start of the season , so that there was no more place in the squad for Jennings. Jennings, however, replaced his injured compatriot Mark Miller at Fenerbahçe from Istanbul . At the beginning of the 2000/01 season he got a contract with the Lions from Saint Petersburg , which had been founded solely for the purpose of being the only Russian team to take part in the "breakaway" EuroLeague 2000/01 . The Russian federation, which was initially loyal to the competitions of FIBA Europe , refused the Lions to participate in the Russian championship. But the Lions' success in the Euroleague was also manageable and Jennings left the club after only five appearances in the first leg of the preliminary round. Jennings returned to the French league and played from December 2000 in Alsace for Illkirch-Graffenstaden Basket from Strasbourg . The team lost after the fourth main round place in the semi-final series against ASVEL; an experience Jennings had had two years earlier at MSB in Le Mans . After a year of contract, the club released him from his contract in December 2001 and Jennings played in the 2002/03 season for league rivals SLUC from Nancy . However, Nancy was eliminated in sixth place in the first play-off round against his former team MSB. For the 2003/04 season, the almost 35-year-old Jennings was then again committed by Strasbourg IG, who had only achieved relegation as the bottom of the previous season by increasing the league. As seventh of the topped up league, however, they returned straight to the play-offs, in which they failed at defending champion ÉB Pau-Orthez.

After 2004 Jennings returned to his home country and worked as a basketball coach, particularly in secondary schools. For the 2007/08 season he returned to his former college to add a degree to the course he had started. He also worked as an assistant coach on the staff of his former college team Buccaneers. He then went back to a high school before becoming an assistant coach at Bluefield College in 2009 , whose university teams only participate in the NAIA , which is less important from a sporting point of view .

Web links

• Bluefield College Athletics | 2013-14 Men's Basketball Coaching Staff: Keith Jennings - Coach profile on the website of the Bluefield College ( English )
• Keith Jennings - Strasbourg - Joueurs - Pro A - player profile on the websites of the French LNB ( French )
• Keith Jennings - player profile on basketball-reference.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 2013-14 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Media Guide: Coaches Player of the Year. (Flash animation) Southern Conference , p. 82 , accessed February 1, 2014 (English). 
2. ^ Braden Gall: NCAA Tournament's All-Time Biggest Upsets and Closest Calls. AthlonSport.com, March 26, 2013, accessed February 1, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Diane Pucin: Blaylock, Sooners Survive A Scare. Philadelphia Inquirer : philly.com, March 17, 1989, accessed February 1, 2014 . 
4. ↑ Steve Rushin: Hey, Mister. Sports Illustrated , January 28, 1991; accessed February 1, 2014 . 
5. ↑ NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book - Award Winners: Division I Consensus All-American Selections - 1991. (PDF (238 KB)) National Collegiate Athletic Association , October 31, 2008, p. 137 , accessed on February 1, 2014 (English) . 
6. ↑ Jason Gardner Wins Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award. University of Arizona , April 16, 2003, accessed February 1, 2014 (media info; see list at bottom of message). 
7. ↑ ETSU proclaims Keith "Mister" Jennings Day. East Tennessee State University , November 27, 2004, accessed February 1, 2014 (media info). 
8. ↑ ETSU athletics announces 2013 Hall of Fame inductees. East Tennessee State University , February 27, 2013, accessed February 1, 2014 (media info). 
9. ↑ ACB.COM: Keith Jennings. Liga ACB , accessed February 1, 2014 (Spanish, player profile). 
10. ↑ Keith Jennings - Turkish Basketball League Player: 1999-2000 Season. TBLStat.net, accessed on February 1, 2014 (English, seasonal statistics). 
11. ↑ JENNINGS, KEITH. ULEB , accessed February 1, 2014 (English, player profile).