Derrick Jasper

Derrick Jasper
College	UNLV
Conference	MWC
Sport	Basketball
Position	Guard
Jersey #	5
Class	Senior
Height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight	213 lb (97 kg)
Nationality	USA
Born	April 13, 1988 (1988-04-13) (age 23) San Leandro, California
High school	Paso Robles, Paso Robles, California

Derrick Lamar Jasper is an American basketball player for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels who is from San Luis Obispo, California. He is listed as a point guard, but he is versatile enough to also play the shooting guard and small forward positions.

High school

Jasper was ranked in the top 40 in many national rankings, Japser was a consensus 4 star prospect. He was also the 5th ranked point guard in the class of 2006 by Rivals.com. He attended Paso Robles High School. After getting offers from schools such as Memphis, Washington, and Illinois, he decided to play at the University of Kentucky. He joined Jodie Meeks, Perry Stevenson, and Michael Porter as Kentucky's 2006 recruiting class.

Kentucky

As a freshman, he was chosen to start as Tubby Smith's point guard over junior Ramel Bradley. He ended up starting the final 27 games of the 2006-2007 season. After the 2006-07 season, Jasper thought about transferring but new coach Billy Gillispie convinced him to stay. Over the summer he had microfracture surgery performed on his left knee and ended up missing the first 10 games of the 2007-2008 season. When he returned to action, he was the Wildcats' sixth man until freshman star Patrick Patterson would go out for the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his ankle. After Patterson's injury, Jasper would take his place in the lineup. His final game with the Kentucky would be played in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament vs. the Marquette Golden Eagles.^[1]

UNLV

In May 2008, rumors circulated that Jasper was transferring from Kentucky to a school closer to his Paso Robles, California home. The schools that were named as his possible destinations were UNLV, California, and UCLA. This proved to be true when he asked for his release from the team in June. Jasper said "My transfer is no indication of my experience here, I like the direction they're headed in, it's just that I would like to attend a place closer to my home." Jasper ended up transferring to UNLV to play for head coach Lon Kruger. He said he liked how he fit in with the team and how Kruger motivated his players. He sat out the 2008-2009 season because of NCAA transfer rules. He is currently starting at guard for the Runnin' Rebels a and has led the team to wins against #16 Louisville and #15 New Mexico.^[2]

References

1. ^ "Derrick Jasper Stats". online database. espn. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/gamelog/_/id/31682/derrick-jasper. Retrieved 10/24/2011. 
2. ^ "Derrick Jasper Stats". online database. espn. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/gamelog/_/id/31682/derrick-jasper. Retrieved 10/24/2011. 

Persondata
Name	Jasper, Derrick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1988-04-13
Place of birth	San Leandro, California
Date of death
Place of death