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There is nothing “mid” about this Major. Entering his junior year Jeremy Major is on pace to become Pepperdine’s all-time leader in career assists, and if he gets hot he might also end up #1 in career steals. He was named to the WCC All-Freshman team in 2014, and last year he helped the Waves to a winning record and an appearance in the postseason for the 1st time in more than a decade. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Jeremy about starting as a freshman and all the veterans he will have coming back this season.
You grew up in Pasadena: what made you choose Pepperdine? It was in California: most of my family is out here so they can come to my games and can support me. I wanted to be close to my mother and now she is only about a 45-minute drive away. When I took my official visit I felt they were a great group of guys: it is like a brotherhood and we all get along with each other.
You play for Coach Marty Wilson: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have ever learned from him? He is very intense and pushes me to do my best. A lot of coaches are content but he expects a lot out of us. He is all about heart and is known as an aggressive guy so he has taught me to never settle for less than my all.
In 2014 you became the 1st Pepperdine freshman to start every game in almost 30 years and finished the year by being named to the WCC All-Freshman team: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? I came here during the summer and we had a lot of older guys on the team, so I wanted to prove myself at workouts and practice in order to gain their trust as an 18-year old PG. Once my coaches and teammates told me that they had trust in me it made everything much easier, and that year was a big step for us.
Last November you scored a career-high 21 PTS (9-13 FG) in a win over Fresno State: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? I had not felt that way since high school, which made it fun. It is hard to have that kind of night in D-1 basketball. I was having a lot of fun and there were several of us who finished in double figures, and I look forward to having more games like that this year.
As a sophomore you were #3 in the WCC with 1.6 SPG: what is your secret for being a good defender? I am not the biggest guy but I am 1 of the quickest guys so I just try to anticipate. We watch a lot of film and learn a lot of our opponents’ tendencies. Sometimes you get beat so it depends how you adapt to the situation.
In the 2015 CBI you scored a team-high 9 PTS in a loss to Seattle: what did you learn from that game that you think will help you this year? It was a tough game for all of us. We were down in numbers due to some injuries, so while we were happy to make the postseason we let it slip away from us. We will just use it as motivation this year: we have a lot of veteran leaders who know what to expect. We cannot have games where we slack off and do not give 100%. We do not have time to wait around and let things happen so we will take more initiative and have a lot more passion because we are running out of time.
You are on pace to become the school’s all-time leader in career AST: what is the key to being a good PG? I watch a lot of film. As a freshman I had to react because everything was happening so fast on the court but I have been able to slow things down a lot. I try to see the floor and know when to spoon-feed certain teammates and get the shooters the ball as best I can. My cardio is a lot better this year so I think I can last longer and wear my opponents down: hopefully I can get a lot more assists in transition.
Your non-conference schedule includes a game in November against UCLA: will it be extra-special for you because you will have a lot of family/friends in attendance? UCLA is a local team so I have told my family/friends about it, but they can come catch me at Pepperdine anyway. It is more of a big deal for my teammates because we want to beat a Pac-12 team so we will give it our all. A lot of my friends live out of state so I am sure they will be watching on the Pac-12 Network.
You return each of your top-7 scorers from last year: how crucial will all of that experience be to your team’s success this year? Luckily a lot of us have been playing since we were freshmen, so our coaches expect a lot out of us, as we do of ourselves. It is a long season: everyone is amped up in the beginning, but after your body starts to ache it takes a good team to stick with it and take advantage of their experience. The past 2 years we have dropped a couple of games late in the season, so we will make sure that does not happen this year.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? Our biggest goal is to win our conference: we were right there last year and we obviously want to get to the Big Dance. We were happy to make the CBI but we have worked hard all summer to get to the NCAA tourney, so now it is time to just go out there and perform.