MILWAUKEE, WI - He’s helped lead his Michigan Wolverines to Monday night’s NCAA Championship, but this Milwaukee native is no stranger to the spotlight.
From hitting two notable game-winning shots in high school, once as a freshman at Rufus King High School to doing it again as a senior at La Lumiere in Indiana—then, most recently, as a college freshman with a 30-foot buzzer beater that advanced Michigan to the Sweet 16. It's clear, Jordan Poole is the kind of shooting guard you want with the ball when the game is win or bust.
“I’m just really happy for Jordan [and] the way he’s handled himself,” Coach Jim Gosz said. “I think Jordan’s going to hit the big shot, I just know it’s going to happen.”
Jim Gosz coached Poole at Rufus King in Milwaukee for nearly all of Poole’s high school basketball career. Gosz said he and his current students, like sophomore Jordyn Robinson couldn’t be more proud as Poole puts Milwaukee on the map in the middle of March Madness.
“I am very inspired by him,” Robinson said. “[To see] somebody who played on the same gym [and] who walked in these same hallways doing big things [and now he] has the opportunity to play in the National Championship game.”
And in that National Championship game, Poole and the Michigan Wolverines will face off against Villanova —a team many consider to have the advantage. But, Poole’s dad who’s cheering his son on from the sidelines in San Antonio said never underestimate the underdog.
“Michigan’s going to shock everybody,” Anthony Poole said. “Everybody’s counting on Villanova to win, but Michigan has a good defense and when they’re hitting their shots, they’re very hard to beat."
