(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
Once the buzzer sounded after the Arizona State women’s basketball team’s loss to Washington on Feb. 12, defeat and disappointment settled into the minds of the Sun Devils.
Freshman point guard Jaddan Simmons had put together her worst performance of the season, shooting 0-for-9 from the field, scoring four points total along with three turnovers in the 50-35 loss. However, there were bigger things than basketball on her mind.
Simmons had just lost her grandmother, Marilyn Diane Hairston, the week leading into that game. The two were very close and even shared the same birthday on Sept. 19.
“She just keeps it real,” Simmons said. “She’s just always honest and she’s very funny. You just have to meet her. I have this video of her singing and dancing at Christmas.”
Simmons’ grandmother was sick, preventing her from traveling and seeing her granddaughter play in Tempe. She watched Simmons play throughout high school and would watch all her college games on TV.
Despite the loss both on and off the court, Simmons did what she has done throughout this entire challenging and bizarre season – she picked herself up, relied on her support system and believed in herself. And she flat-out balled.
Just two days later, she rose to the occasion against Washington State, scoring a team-high 15 points and four assists in ASU’s 67-61 win. Down the stretch, Simmons scored eight of the team’s last 12 points, including six clutch free throws to help seal the victory.
“Just losing her, it did take a toll [in the] first game,” Simmons said. “We played Washington, our first game without her watching. It was a little tough, but I just knew in the back of my head, [I] had to bounce back for her for that Washington State game, so that game was definitely for her.
“I just know that she wouldn’t want me to just be down and negative.”
After the Washington State game, ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne was amazed to see the freshman rebound in that fashion.
“We needed to step up for Jaddan on Friday night,” Turner Thorne said. “But just to show you how resilient this kid is to come back here on [a] Sunday afternoon and be back to her old self – it’s just incredible. I don’t know a lot of people who can do it.”
Simmons did not recover from this personal loss all by herself, as her mother, Tiffany Simmons, gave her guidance after the Washington game.
“All of our kids have been raised with their grandparents,” Tiffany Simmons said. “Family is number one to them. It was hard on her (Jaddan) … I could tell she was still grieving, and I told her after that, she needed to go out there and play for Grammy. And that’s why I think her Washington State game just showed a bounce back, which I was so happy for her.”
The impact of family in Jaddan Simmons’ life and basketball career cannot be understated.
Her mother had attended almost all of her games at Desert Financial Arena, as well as Jaddan’s aunt and cousins. Even her father, Jason Simmons, who is currently the defensive pass game coordinator/secondary coach for the Carolina Panthers, made trips to see her play.
Jaddan has plenty of Sun Devil blood that runs in the family. Her father was a star cornerback at ASU (1995-1997) and was named second-team All-Pac-10 in 1997, the same year that ASU went to the Rose Bowl. He wound up being drafted in the fifth round of the NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers and played 10 years in the league.
Tiffany Simmons met Jason while attending ASU, and several other members of Jaddan’s family also went to Arizona State.
Yet when it came down to Jaddan’s decision on which school to attend, the family factor did not play as much of a role as some might expect.
“They did not tell me, ‘Commit to Arizona State,’” Jaddan Simmons said. “That never came out of their mouth. They honestly didn’t even know I was committing, it just happened. I went to camp, and I just had a great time. It just felt right, so that was my choice.”
Added Tiffany Simmons: “No pressure was ever put on Jaddan. I knew once we took her down there she would love the campus, as me and her dad both did, but that was all her. That was all her and coach Charli and (assistant) coach Jackie (Moore).”
The freshman season Jaddan envisioned while at Turner Thorne’s summer camp quickly changed focus, however, when COVID-19 struck the world.
Despite the circumstances, Jaddan looked at this year through a positive lens necessary to persevere.
“‘On to the next one, let’s go’ has been my mindset,” Jaddan Simmons said. “A bunch of teams are dealing with this, so just having that mindset – game gets cancelled, okay let’s go have a good practice … You never know, so just having an uplifted spirit has just helped us all.”
COVID had a positive impact on Jaddan’s growth as a player, with online classes giving her added time to “go straight to the gym and just work”.
But things didn’t start off all that smooth at the beginning of the season as she struggled to shoot the ball, going 6-for-20 from the field in her first three games, not to mention experiencing some early fatigue on the court.
“I was just out there trying to keep up,” Jaddan Simmons said. “I even told my Dad after the game, I was like, ‘Wow, I was tired.’
“One of the first three [games I] got my shot blocked, [and] somebody said ‘Welcome to college basketball’ so I just thought that was funny. Just had to step it up.”
It wouldn’t take Jaddan long, however, for her to adjust quickly to the college game heading into Pac-12 play.
She averaged the second-most points (11.3 ppg) and minutes (30.8 mpg) on her team in 15 Pac-12 games, along with a final points per game total of 10.8 for the year. Jaddan also entered rarified air as the first ASU freshman to average double-digits in scoring since Jill Noe in 2002-03.
As the season progressed, her ability to attack the basket, draw fouls and make winning plays for her team became her calling card. Jaddan went to the line an astounding 64 more times and had 27 more assists than any other Sun Devil.
“My favorite thing is just passing, getting my teammates looks,” Jaddan Simmons said. “Sometimes [I] have to step up, hit shots and all that, but my favorite thing is assists. I’m happy to be first in that category, because I know it’s not just me that’s doing that. My teammates have to hit shots, so I think assists is the number one thing for me.”
This immediate bounce back had come as no surprise to Tiffany Simmons and her husband, who have ingrained this mindset of perseverance in Jaddan from the beginning.
“She never could quit. I mean that was the one thing we taught her,” Tiffany Simmons said. “This is what you’re going to do and we [are] going to put this time and effort and energy into it. You gotta do it, and she just always has.”
Turner Thorne has also praised Jaddan for stepping up and shining amid the freshman-heavy roster.
“She’s becoming a better leader,” Turner Thorne said. “She’s a little quiet, so as a freshman she’s learning to assert herself. She’s obviously one of our top go-to scorers and one of our best defenders, and I think she’s had an unbelievable freshmen year.
“Obviously we love the ball in her hands. She’s just a big-time player. There’s no other way to say it.”
Tiffany Simmons says that Jaddan has been the quiet leader since high school, doing all the action while someone else does the talking. Now, she has been able take on a similar role, learning and growing from veteran presences like junior guard Taya Hanson and others.
“She literally came to ASU at 17 years old, so she’s young,” Tiffany Simmons said. “She’s got a lot of growth and she’s coachable. She wants to learn, and that’s I think the great thing about her. She doesn’t think she knows it all.”
The future of the program will run through Jaddan Simmons, who aspires for herself and the team to take a leap.
“The leadership role just has to grow,” Simmons said. “I mean I’ve been told that since high school so I’m just going to keep working on it to get better at that.”
While ASU’s season ended in a loss to Houston in the WNIT consolation bracket, the team will be returning its starting lineup and almost all of its current roster for next season. Third-leading scorer Eboni Walker, valuable bench piece Sydnei Caldwell and freshman Keeli Burton-Oliver reportedly have entered the transfer portal.
Still, with the addition of a pair of elite recruits and the comfort of a full and normal offseason to prepare, the Sun Devils look to rebound in a major way in 2021.
For Jaddan, she has three years left and plenty of room to develop. While a Pac-12 title or deep NCAA tournament run would be nice, her sights are set on the ultimate goal: professional basketball.
“She’s a humble kid,” Tiffany Simmons said. “She doesn’t like attention. This is just her passion. She wants to go to the WNBA.”
