Dave Boling: Hard-working Isaac Jones has gone from pipe-supply company to supplying WSU with an inside presence ahead of NCAA Tournament opener

OMAHA, Neb. – Isaac Jones’ whole life has been navigating through portals.Not just the one that accommodated last year’s transfer from Idaho to Washington State.He’s been through other, strangely existential portals, the kind that transmuted his life in fantastical ways.In less than 10 years, he’s gone from being a chubby 5-foot-7 kid who got cut from his eighth-grade team to being a high-flying, 6-9 all-conference player who has helped lift his Cougars into the NCAA Tournament.Oh, it wasn’t a direct route. The matrix glitched a time or two, especially when he shot up 4 inches after having given up the game and worked for a year at a pipe supply company in Tacoma.And there was the time when he was not only the best player on his junior college team, but he also volunteered to do the team’s laundry.If the journey provides the experiences to shape the outcome, Jones is finally where he belongs – at the highest level.“He’s an unbelievable story,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said. “I haven’t been around a guy that’s more humble.”Jones made first-team All-Pacific-12 Conference with performances like his 26 points and 11 rebounds at USC, and 24 and 13 in an upset of No. 8-ranked Arizona.Without Jones, the Cougars would not be opening up the NCAA’s against Drake on Thursday evening.As a kid, his Orting (Washington) High team struggled to win, and although he grew to 6-4 by the time he graduated, nobody wanted him. Nobody except Puget Sound Pipe and Supply (“Quality pipes, valves and fittings since 1917,” according to the website). And they didn’t care about his low-post skills.“We’d get an order and I would pack it and get it on the truck to get it shipped off,” he said. Did he think the pipe-supply business would be his life’s calling? “Well, I definitely thought I was done with basketball.”He was 18, and something funny happened. He grew 3 more inches. As he got more interested in basketball, basketball got more interested in him.Getting on the team at Wenatchee Valley College, Jones ended up leading his conference in scoring at 25.3 a game.Smith said the Cougars were late to start recruiting him and Jones went to Idaho because he had developed a closer relationship with the staff.“He’s a big relationship guy,” Smith said, appreciating that quality in him. “It’s just our fortune we got him one year; would have loved to have him two. … We’re really thankful to have him.”Jones has a nice inside game, using either hand, cashing in on short jumpers and baby hooks from either side. He showed his capacity to evade double-teams in the conference semifinals against Colorado when a wing came down to trap him and he spun quickly to the baseline for an unimpeded dunk.Yes, that’s the most conspicuous part of Jones’ game. The dunk. One hand, two hands, over people, looking down at the basket. He’s doesn’t gloat or posture afterward; he lets the result speak for him.After his growth spurt, when he discovered the joy of flight, he found his Basketball Jones.“That’s what brought the joy back to me,” he said. “It’s addictive.”Cougars assistant Jeremy Harden coached Jones at WVC and at Idaho, and has seen every stage of Jones’ career – after the pipe supply interlude.Asked of the message of Jones’ improbable journey, Harden said it’s all been about “hard work and work ethic – everything he’s achieved has been earned. He’s an unbelievable athlete and an incredible kid.”The fans can see the “unbelievable athlete” part of Jones, but what makes him such an incredible kid? What don’t fans get to see? Who is he when he’s not taking flight toward the rim?Harden thought a few moments and started laughing.“Here’s an example: At Wenatchee Valley, he would come an hour before practice and get all our clothes in the drier, and stay an hour afterward for another hour to finish up.”Like a work-study program? “No, he wasn’t getting paid for it.”Why then? “We had a couple managers who weren’t getting it done. He knew somebody needed to do it.”No money? “No money. Nothing. He saw it needed to be done.”Seriously? “That’s the kind of person he is.”A couple of times. A short period, what? “For two years.”Yes, incredible is the word for it. We may assume he doesn’t have to do the laundry anymore at WSU.But it’s clear that Jones would be willing if needed. He’s done practically everything else for the Cougars this season.

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