Brooks: Here Comes 'Chucky'

BOULDER - Perhaps her passion for defense is traceable to her brief career - eight or so years, by her count - in youth football.

"I just liked contact and liked getting to hit people," said Janeesa Jeffery, whose mark later in life will be made under the nickname of "Chucky" and by dribbling a basketball (or making a steal) rather than smacking a ball carrier.

Chucky is that rarest of college basketball players: A freshmen who would rather play defense than shop for jeans. Well, maybe.

But her passion for 'D' and affinity for the game became apparent almost from the instant she stepped onto the court this summer with her future teammates on the Colorado women's basketball team.

This is how senior guard Bianca Smith remembers it:

"When we played pick up with Chucky, it was like she'd been here as long as I had - the passes she made, the things she saw, the way she played with us and how we could read her and she could read us. It was amazing to me . . .

"You expect (a freshman) to come in and make mistakes; she came in like she owned the place. It was like, 'I'm here and I want you guys to know that I'm coming to win. I'm not coming to settle. I'm coming to play and make a difference.'

"I think that was one of the biggest things I was excited about, having Chucky come in with an attitude of winning. I think that's what we need."

Fifth-year Buffaloes coach Kathy McConnell-Miller will echo that. Her overall CU record is 52-71, with a 19-15 mark in 2007-08 the jewel of her Boulder tenure.

But, with incoming players such as Jeffery, the Malcolm-Peck twins (Meagan, Brenna), Melissa McFarlane and Kailah Bailey, McConnell-Miller believes a corner is waiting to be turned.

Of that fivesome, which swells her roster to 14 players, she believes Jeffery, a 5-foot-10 guard from Sierra High School, and Meagan Malcolm-Peck, a 6-2 guard/forward from Horizon High School, can contribute right now.

Jeffery drew interest from virtually every Big 12 Conference school and UCLA, then settled on CU rather than Kansas State because she wanted to play close to home and believed the academics were stronger in Boulder than Manhattan, Kan.

Signing her was a coup for McConnell-Miller, who can gush now (and does) about Chucky's ability: "Her whole mentality is, 'I'm going to do whatever I can,' (and) whether that's play 40 minutes, or come off the bench and play 25, you're going to see a player who is passionate about what she does and a player that makes us better immediately."

Whether she's underselling her offensive abilities or not, Jeffery says her shooting isn't what she or her coaches would like it to be. That's not evident from her high school numbers, particularly the 22.1 points she averaged.

But her other stats - the 12.9 rebounds, 4.9 steals, 4.6 assists and 3.0 blocks - might be more satisfying because they primarily speak to her defense (all but the assists).

She fell in love with 'D' as a fledgling hoopster. She didn't have much of a jump shot, wasn't yet adept at driving to the basket and needed to do something to get noticed.

"I was a freshman and didn't start, so I had to earn my spot," she said. "So defense was where I was getting it. That's where my spark came from. The defense came before the offense.

"I'm not much of a shooter; driving to the hoop mostly (is her strength). I can handle the ball and play inside and out, but I really like to play defense."

Her offense, though, is coming along. Her outside shot still needs fine-tuning, so she spent long summer hours on the court shooting 100 balls at each of five spots around the three-point arc.

"My shot is starting to improve," she said. "The coaches are helping me adjust . . . so I'm not so much pushing it as shooting it. The position of my hands on ball . . . they're helping me with that and I'm trying to get accustomed to it so that it's more natural."

Despite Jeffery's analysis of her offense, McConnell-Miller must think it's not that bad: "I think she could play anywhere in the Big 12 . . . anywhere in the country. She's athletic, she can shoot - it's not her first thought - and she can put the ball on the floor.

"And defensively, she adds a totally different dimension, as do some of our other freshmen."

With Chucky, it seems it always comes back to defense. "She loves defense," junior Brittany Spears said. "Everybody likes playing offense, but not her. She talks about loving to play defense."

Smith said Spears and Jeffery share that love: "She reminds me of Spears, how she can get out in the passing lanes . . . sometimes you think that's going to be the perfect pass, and there's Spears, poking it out and stealing it for a layup. Same way with Chucky.

"Offense is everybody's favorite part of the game, but when you have a player who loves defense, it fuels the rest of the team to want to play defense - especially when it's a freshman.

"Her defense is going to fuel her offense. If we're having a rough game, I think we can put on the press and look to Chucky to get a couple of steals and turn the whole thing around. I think she's going to uplift us on the defensive end."

Spears, who led the Buffs in scoring (18.3), rebounding (7.8), steals (1.9) and blocks (1.1) last season, should get a lift from Jeffery being on the court with her.

She called her new teammate "a quick learner . . . she'll take pressure off of a lot of people. She's smart; she'll do a lot for us."

Jeffery's nickname has nothing to do with defense or athleticism. When her mom was pregnant, the family was told to expect a boy, and "Charles" - her grandfather's name - was ready to be welcomed into the world.

Oops. Instead, Chucky, not Chuck, arrived in Colorado Springs. When she arrived at CU 18 years later, the fit was near-perfect.

"I didn't feel out of place at all," she said. "When I first meet people I'm shy anyway, but I loosened up and warmed up quick to everybody here.

"My coaches and teammates have a lot of confidence in me, so I think I can excel in this conference. And as a freshman, that's really exciting to me."

Lots of basketball, as much defense as she could ever crave, awaits.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU