From Prolific Prep star to Texas floor leader, the Oakley guard is helping write one of March Madness’ best stories
By Rick Manahan
For Full Court Dream
There are some players you cover, and there are some players you come to know.
For me, Jordan Pope has always been the second kind.
I have known Jordan since he was a 15-year-old sophomore at Prolific Prep, and it has been one of the real pleasures of my basketball life to watch him grow from a talented young guard into the point guard now leading Texas on one of the best runs in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Jordan is in his second season at Texas after spending two years at Oregon State, and the Longhorns — under first-year head coach Sean Miller — have gone from the First Four to the Sweet 16, becoming one of the biggest stories of March. Texas beat NC State in the First Four, then knocked off BYU and Gonzaga to advance to the regional semifinals.
And honestly, I am not surprised.
Because long before the big shots in March, before the television cameras, before the tournament headlines, Jordan Pope was one of those kids who just never stopped working.
That is what I remember most from his Prolific Prep years. If there was extra time after practice and a chance to get back in the gym and put up more shots, Jordan was there. He was not one of those players who only loved the spotlight. He loved the work. He loved getting better. He loved being in the gym. That consistency matters, especially when you are trying to become a high-level guard.
Jordan’s path at Prolific Prep was also unique because in three years he played for three very different coaches: Joey Fuca, Mark Phelps, and Billy McKnight. Each brought a different basketball language, a different teaching style, and a different way of seeing the game. Jordan learned from all of them, and each season you could see him adding something new to his game — more poise, more shot-making, more control, more understanding of what it meant to lead. That adaptability helped shape the player Texas has today.
He also benefited from something every young player needs if he is serious about growth: great teammates.
At Prolific Prep, Jordan got better every year because he was surrounded by high-level talent and high-level expectations. He shared the gym and the road with players such as Jalen Green, Nimari Burnett, Nate Bittle, Adem Bona, Mouhamed Gueye, Stefan Todorovich, and Milos Uzan. Being around that level of talent forces you to raise your own standards. It forces you to compete every day. It forces you to learn how to be sharp, how to be professional, and how to carve out your role on winning teams.
Jordan did exactly that.
His Prolific Prep teams reached three straight GEICO Nationals, though of course the 2020 event was canceled because of COVID-19. Even so, that run says a lot about the level Jordan was competing at and contributing to as a young player. Prolific Prep was playing in every major event — HoopHall, Chick-fil-A Classic, and the other elite showcases that define national high school basketball — and Jordan was always a key piece of why those teams won. That history also helps explain why the moment does not look too big for him now. He has been living high-pressure basketball for a long time.
I was fortunate to travel with Prolific Prep during those years as team photographer, and those road trips tell you a lot about a player. You see how they handle flights, hotels, packed schedules, national attention, and the pressure that comes with representing a nationally ranked program. Jordan was always mature. He was always professional. He was always about the team. Those things do not always show up in a box score, but they matter, especially for a point guard.
That is why what he is doing for Texas right now feels so fitting.
In Texas’ 79-71 NCAA Tournament win over BYU on March 19, Jordan scored 11 points, reaching double figures again in a major tournament game. Two days later, in the Longhorns’ 74-68 win over Gonzaga, he was even bigger, scoring 17 points and hitting a clutch three-pointer late after rolling his ankle in the second half. In that game with 2:31 left, Pope buried a three from the top of the key to push Texas ahead 69-64, a sequence that became one of the defining moments in the win.
That is what veteran guards do in March. They settle games down. They make winning plays. They hit shots when the season is on the line.
And Jordan has always had that in him.
One of the things I remember best from his early Prolific Prep days was how close he was with Jalen Green during Jordan’s first year in the program. It was fun watching them together in practices and games. Jalen was already a star, already carrying that national reputation, and I think being around that work ethic and that standard helped sharpen Jordan’s own approach. Jordan saw what it looked like to chase greatness every day, and he embraced that same grind in his own way. Over time, he built himself into the player he is today.
That growth has been real.
Pope returned this season for his second year with the Longhorns after playing at Oregon State from 2022 to 2024, and he entered the year having already built a strong college résumé with more than 1,300 career points and nearly 100 career starts. Jordan is an Oakley, California native and a veteran guard whose career three-point shooting has hovered above 37 percent.
So while some fans may be surprised that Texas has come from the First Four to the Sweet 16, I do not think Jordan Pope’s emergence in the middle of it should surprise anyone who has known his story.
This is not some sudden March breakout from nowhere.
This is years of work. Years of travel. Years of learning from different coaches. Years of competing against elite teammates in practice. Years of showing up when there was extra work to be done. Years of preparing for this kind of stage.
And now he has Texas in position to do something truly historic.
No First Four team has ever won the NCAA championship. A few have reached the Final Four, but none has finished the job. Texas is now in the Sweet 16 and will face Purdue on Thursday, March 26. The Longhorns have already become the sixth team since the First Four began in 2011 to make it this far, and Sean Miller has made it clear he does not see this group as a Cinderella story.
Wouldn’t it be something if Jordan Pope — the point guard from Oakley, California, the kid who kept coming back into the gym for more shots, the player who grew up through the Prolific Prep grind — helped lead Texas to the first national title ever by a First Four team?
That would be one of the great stories of this tournament.
But no matter what happens next, I know this much: Jordan Pope is a special person. He always has been. And I know his biggest fan, his mother Chantay, is watching down from heaven and is incredibly proud of the young man her son has become.
This March run may be happening on the biggest stage of Jordan’s life so far.
But for those of us who have known him since the beginning, it feels like something that has been coming for a very long time.
