Call him Uber X-man JACKSON BACK IN ACTION
LOS ANGELES — Xavier’s Matt Stainbrook stands 6-10 and spends most of his time playing around the basket. But he can also really drive.
When Xavier coach Chris Mack gives the Musketeers days off, Stainbrook has been driving a taxi for Uber. He drives around in a gold 2004 Buick Rendezvous, picking up fares from the mobile application-based service.
“I’d describe it as the most typical oldperson car you could have,” said Stainbrook, who will start for the No. 6 Muskies as they face No. 2 Arizona in a West Region semifinal on Thursday. “It’s big. It’s boxy. It’s very bland. Tan inside. But it fits me in it and it fits some passengers in it. It’s been kicking for, I think, 190,000 miles now.”
Stainbrook was an All-Big East second team selection this season after averaging 12.1 points and 6.9 rebounds. His brother Tim was a sophomore walk-on until Stainbrook handed the scholarship off to him.
“I started driving just because I switched my scholarship to my little brother, just in order to pay some expenses of rent, utilities, food, stuff like that,” Stainbrook said.
Stainbrook is done with his undergrad studies and pursuing an MBA. He estimated that Tim’s cost of attendance for school is about three times what his is now. So by passing the scholarship to his brother, the family is getting more value.
It’s more than tough to keep a low profile when you are 6-10 and weigh 270 pounds. Plus Stainbrook wears thick glasses off the court and goggles on them. And the Xavier team is pretty well known in Cincinnati.
“I’d say about one out of two people that I drive recognize me in some way,” he said. “Like ‘hey, I know who you are’, and stuff like that.”
Though he didn’t get into driving for Uber for anything other than financial reasons, he finds it therapeutic in a way.
“It’s relaxing. It sort of gets your mind off basketball because, I’ll tell you, the majority of the time you’re thinking about basketball or school,” Stainbrook said. “So when we have an off day and I get to drive, that is usually the time I drive.
“It sort of relaxes you. You get to talk to people who don’t always want to talk basketball all the time, so it’s a change of pace.”
SHAKE IT OFF
The last time Arizona and Wisconsin were in the West Regional in greater Los Angeles, there was an earthquake. The players are hoping it doesn’t happen again.
“I was rooming with Elliott Pitts and . . . he was like shaking the bed,” Arizona’s T.J. McConnell said. “I was like, ‘Elliott, can you stop doing that?’ And he put his hands up and the room was still shaking. So I got up and ran to the door and put my hands (on the sides). I heard that’s what you’re supposed to do. It was crazy. I’ve never experienced an earthquake, and I hope I don’t have to experience it ever again.”
Added teammate Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: “I was laying down, and I thought something was going on in the other room because my bed started shaking. I got up so fast and ran downstairs.
“I don’t know. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Top-seeded Wisconsin’s Traveon Jackson will play on Thursday when the Badgers face No. 4 North Carolina in a West Region semifinal. Jackson was the team’s starting point guard until breaking his foot against Rutgers in the Knights’ Jan. 11 upset. He missed the last 14 regular-season games and three in the Big Ten Tournament. He was cleared to compete when the NCAA Tournament began but didn’t feel comfortable playing and missed the subregional wins over Coastal Carolina and Oregon.
“I’m here to help. I’m here to be an addition to the team,” said Jackson, who was averaging 9.4 points and 2.9 assists before he got hurt. He will likely come off the bench.