The Crossover continues its celebration of the 20th anniversary of the EuroLeague with Joe Arlauckas hosting one of the top gunners in the competition since the moment he arrived, Jaycee Carroll of Real Madrid.
A two-time continental champion, who has been repeatedly voted as the EuroLeague’s best pure shooter by the competitions general managers, Carroll recounts his unique path to stardom from his native Wyoming to the most-crowned team in European basketball.
Carroll’s success is even more remarkable because he didn’t play any sports for two years in his late teens while serving as missionary in Chile for his church.
EuroLeague fans got their first look at Carroll’s talent when he joined Real for the 2011-12 season and was the competition’s fifth-best scorer at 14.2 points per game.
But, it was at the end of that season when Carroll realized that playing for Real was all about winning titles.
Titles would come but not before Carroll and his teammates suffered crushing championship-game losses in 2013 and 2014, the first after leading Olympiacos Piraeus by 17 points and the second in overtime to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Real’s perseverance was rewarded in 2015, when Carroll’s team-high 16 points — including a memorable 100-second outburst of 3 three-pointers after Olympiacos had gone in front after halftime — led to a runaway 78-59 victory for the team’s first EuroLeague crown in 20 years.
It more than balanced out for Carroll and Real in 2018, when they overcame a ton of injuries and 0-1 deficit by blowout in the playoffs to win the EuroLeague again in Belgrade.
With a one-hour format of exclusive one-on-one interviews, The Crossover with Joe Arlauckas goes well beyond the playing court with each podcast to delve into the life experiences that have made his guests protagonists and legends of the EuroLeague.
This season, he is also reviewing the EuroLeague’s modern history in its 20th season of this century by talking to the legends who have made the competition more popular than ever.
