PLEASANT HILL – When Ryan Svenson began imagining prep basketball matchups for the “Return of the Mac,” one came to mind immediately.
Luke Jackson and Maarty Leunen will return to their old stomping grounds – this time as coaches – to headline an eight-game prep slate on Dec. 6 at McArthur Court. Jackson will lead Pleasant Hill up against Leunen and Ridgeview at 4 p.m. when high school hoops returns to Mac Court for the first time in more than a decade.
“It made sense to have two of the last legends of Mac Court, who are both high school coaches, face off, and I was lucky enough to get them on board,” said Svenson, who runs Pure Focus Sports, which is organizing the event that will continue into the following weekend as well.
Although the Billies are in Class 3A and the Ravens are in 5A, both former Ducks were quick to sign up.
“Ridgeview is a big school, and we are 3A, so that is a challenge, but sometimes it is good to get tested even if you don’t come away with a win,” said Jackson, who is starting his second season as head coach at Pleasant Hill. “We are small and have a younger group, so I think it is going to be tough, but this is really about the kids and giving them a cool experience. It will be fun to face off against Maarty, so I thought, ‘Why not?’”
Leunen’s initial response to Svenson?
“I said ‘Heck yeah, let’s make it happen’,” he recalled. “Obviously, Luke and I played a lot of games there and Luke was a legendary player and has great respect throughout his Oregon history and professional days and now he has a lot of coaching experience. I know we are 5A and they are 3A so on paper it should seem like we will beat them, but I know Luke will have something up his sleeve. It will be a fun game.”
It will be one of eight games on the day designed to honor Mac Court, the home of Oregon basketball from 1927 until Matthew Knight Arena opened in 2011.
“A lot of games and practices there, a lot of great memories,” said Leunen, a three-year starter who played at Oregon from 2005-08 while earning all-Pac-10 honors as a senior. “I haven’t been back in about 17 years. I went back and played with the guys the year after I graduated, but I haven’t been back since.”
Jackson, a two-time, all-Pac-10 selection who played at Oregon from 2000-04 and still ranks second in school history with 1,970 points, visited Mac Court a couple of years back as an assistant coach when Pleasant Hill practiced at the gym.
“It still smells exactly the same, like the Great Depression, popcorn, and an old leather boot,” Jackson joked. “Mac Court is a special venue and it will be fun to be back in there, so I am looking forward to it. It will be a great experience for these kids. Anyone that went to a game there felt like they were part of the game, so this will be a really fun thing.”
The scoreboards have been removed, and the top two levels of seating will be off-limits because they are now used for office space. Otherwise, the old arena should still look and smell familiar to fans.
“When you get on the floor and look up, minus the scoreboards they took out, it looks exactly the same,” Svenson said. “When you are in the lobby, everything looks pretty much the same as it did in 2011.”
Adding to the intrigue of the game is that both coaches will have sons on their team.
Gavin Leunen is a 6-foot-8 junior for Ridgeview, ranked as one of the top players in the state in his class. Leunen’s son, Prestin, will be on the freshman team this year for the Ravens.
“That is going to be surreal,” said Maarty, who is in his third season as coach of the Ravens after playing professionally overseas for more than a dozen years. “I realize more and more every day that I am getting old. I have a junior, and he will play at Mac Court, where I played, and now I get to coach. It is crazy to think how time flies, and in a way, it will be a full circle to be back in Eugene and relive old memories at Mac Court. Obviously, my son did not see me play there, but it will give him a glimpse of the atmosphere. It won’t be a sellout, but some of those feelings you got when the place was sold out and you were playing No. 1 UCLA will come back.”
Pleasant Hill freshman Cole Jackson will make his high school debut for the Billies in the game.
“It will be special, that’s a full-circle moment,” said Luke Jackson, who was a first-round pick by Cleveland in 2004 and spent four years in the NBA. “It will make me feel old, but I’ve always felt like Oregon should utilize Mac Court for things like this. I’d love to see some state tournaments there. It is a great venue, and it allows for a really nice experience. I grew up watching 3A state basketball tournaments there for years, so it is nice that we are being allowed to use it. I think it will be cool.”
Although Leunen and Jackson never teamed up at Oregon, they got to know each other when Jackson would return home to work out in the offseason during his time in the NBA. The two faced off one time when they were both playing in Italy. They have also run into each other on the summer basketball circuit as both have a freshman and Jackson’s youngest son, Calvin, is in sixth-grade while Leunen’s youngest son, Bryson, is in fifth-grade but plays on some sixth-grade teams.
“Our kids are similar ages and now that we are both coaching in high school, we will cross paths more often,” Leunen said.
In an ironic twist, both Jackson and Leunen are coaching rival high schools to their alma mater. Jackson led Creswell to the state title in 2000 while Leunen was a state champ with Redmond in 2003.
“Return of the Mac” will cap off with a boys basketball matchup between Thurston and Sheldon at 8:30 p.m.
“It is going to be cool to play at Mac Court,” Thurston coach Blaine Liberatore said. “I have so many memories in that place, it was one of the coolest venues that I have ever seen a basketball game at.”
Liberatore grew up in Toledo and would visit Mac Court for the 3A state tournament every year as a kid before later returning as a coach.
“In the mid-90s, Toledo was always a top-five team so I always got to watch them there and still remember when we were No. 1 in state and lost to Marist,” he said. “In 2008, I was an assistant at Thurston when we finished third at state. So many memories in that place with the Ducks like Aaron Brooks’ game-winner and when Luke Jackson scored 30 points in a row in the NIT. So when Ryan called to ask if we wanted to play at Mac, it was a no-brainer and facing Sheldon made the most sense. That will be a fun challenge in a cool atmosphere. I get goose bumps thinking about playing there.”
Swenson tried to create matchups that honored the legacy of Mac Court which is why he has Jackson and Leunen facing off and South Medford playing Lake Oswego to bring back memories when Kyle Singler and Kevin Love faced off for state titles in 2006-07. Sheldon and Thurston were paired up with the hope that two local teams will bring a large crowd to cap off the day.
“There are a bunch of good games,” Liberatore said. “Ryan put a really good schedule together.”
There will also be games the following weekend including a few local teams playing on Dec. 13 at Mac Court. Creswell’s boys will take on Trinity Lutheran at 10 a.m. on that day followed by the Pleasant Hill girls facing off against Bandon at 11:30. The Springfield girls will play Crook County at 2:30.
