BC Interruption’s 2021-22 Male Rookie of the Year is Jaeden Zackery

The Boston College men’s basketball program went through a tumultuous offseason in 2021. Jim Christian was fired before the end of the regular season, almost all of the Eagles’ top producers transferred out of the program, the head coaching hire of Earl Grant seemed to come out of left field, and Grant had to scramble to recruit players to fill out the roster. The 2021-22 season seemed to be set-up for disaster, which made what Jaeden Zackery did even more impressive.

Zackery was inserted into the line-up immediately as a starter for all 33 games after being recruited out of JUCO program Chipola College, where he lead his team to a NJCAA Final Four appearance. When out on the court, though, the freshman looked like a veteran despite his immediately high workload. He slotted in nicely as the SG next to the experienced PG Makai Ashton-Langford having his own stellar season. Those two, along with Makai’s brother DeMarr Langford Jr., were the stars of a Boston College team that defied expectations and pushed its way to the quarterfinals round of the ACC tournament. Zackery was 3rd on the team in PPG, 2nd in APG, and tied the Boston College freshman program record in steals with 57.

Highlights from Jaeden’s season include this shot against Miami in the ACC quarterfinals. Though BC ended up losing the game, it was huge in keeping the Eagles’ tournament upset hopes alive deep into the last seconds of the game:

Here’s a beautiful and-1 from BC’s eventual win in Clemson:

A gorgeous alley-oop to DeMarr Langford Jr.:

We can’t wait to see what Jaeden can do for his next year at the Heights!