Get to know: Spartan center Jack Bakken

Jack Bakken is a center on Mountain Brook High School’s basketball team. In this interview, he shares some of his basketball memories and what he loves about the game. 

Q: Introduce yourself.

A: Hi, my name is Jack Bakken. I'm a senior at Mountain Brook High School, and I'm a center.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about basketball?

A: My favorite thing about basketball is definitely the fast pace of the game, just because, whether you make a mistake, you can move on next play or do something good, move on next play. And, it's just that continuous, just fun, competition.

Q: What are your goals for this season?

A: My goals for this season—for the regular season—is just to get better each day, help lead my team to improve until we get to the post-season, and make a deep run and just max out.

Q: What is your earliest memory of basketball?

A: I'd say my earliest memory was probably YMCA league when I was really little. My mom was the head coach, so I remember running around, dribbling and shooting, passing with my teammates in that gym. 

And, I don't remember this, but my family has some pretty funny pictures of me dribbling—or, not dribbling, just bouncing a ball—around in a diaper. So, that's pretty funny, even though I don't remember it.

Q: What’s the most impressive thing you’ve done on a basketball court?

A: The most impressive thing that I've done on a basketball court, there's two things I'm between. One, like, a pin block, because that just, like, feels amazing and looks cool. But then, also, I've had some really nice assists that you just can't help, but just go, like, “Oooh.” Like, that's probably the top two most impressive things.

Q: What is your favorite sports team? Why do you root for them?

A: The team I root for the most is probably Alabama football, Alabama basketball, because my dad played there. Both my parents went there, so I've been rooting for them since I was little and it's obviously nice to root for a winning culture. 

I don't watch too much NFL or NBA, a little bit here and there, but I definitely watch Alabama football, college football and, like, college basketball the most. So, I definitely say Alabama.

I grew up a [University of North Carolina] fan because that's where my grandfather went. UNC basketball is definitely fun to watch too, so definitely one of those two.