Haley Jones is doing her best to stay in the moment.
The 2021 Final Four Most Outstanding Player and national champion has a chance to do something special one last time. Stanford is projected as a No. 1 seed for a third straight Women’s NCAA Tournament. The senior would love nothing more than to reach a third Final Four and go out on top.
But no matter when Jones’ illustrious college career comes to an end, she’ll be ready for what’s next.
Jones will be one of the first names off the board in April’s WNBA draft. She’s also dipping her toes into another future career, launching a podcast with The Players’ Tribune called Sometimes I Hoop. The podcast allows Jones to shine a light on her fellow basketball stars through conversations about their experiences on the court and interests away from the game. She’s already interviewed players like Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark.
FTW had a chance to chat with Jones about the podcast, her own hobbies, March Madness and more.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
What made you want to launch your own podcast?
The Players’ Tribune reached out to me with the opportunity to be their first collegiate host for a podcast. So, kind of a hard opportunity to turn down, especially when I want to get into this world of sports broadcasting. So it seemed like the perfect partnership to get into, and if I can just bring more attention to women’s basketball in any facet that I can, I’m more than down to do it. So that was kind of how the podcast came about.
Are you a journalism major?
So my major is communications, but I chose [it] because it’s kind of a broad major that allows you to make it your own. So I’ve taken a lot of classes of journalism, I’ve got to do some public speaking courses, I’ve got to do some film and media courses. But my actual major is under communications.
How did you land on "Sometimes I Hoop" as the podcast name?
“Sometimes I hoop” has been my Instagram bio for a few years now. I think maybe after we won the tournament my sophomore year, I made it “sometimes I hoop.” And I started it just kind of as a joke, like that kind of sounds cool. And then the more I thought about it, it really encapsulates who I am. I think that a lot of times for people they have difficulty when I say “sometimes I hoop.” They’re like, “Oh, well, you don’t take basketball seriously” or “you’re not grinding every day.” In reality I am. I work just as hard or harder than the next person. Basketball is something that I love to do and I put my all into it, but it’s also not all that I am. And so “sometimes I hoop” encapsulates that I am a basketball player, but that’s not who I am as an entire person. It’s something that I do. It’s not who I am.
So that’s kind of where “sometimes I hoop” originated from, and then The Players’ Tribune thought it would be a great idea to coin that as a podcast name. And so, on the podcast, we talk about basketball as that theme as what brings us together and where it’s taking you, what your origins are, but we also talk about who they are as people, what their passions are outside of basketball to kind of shed a light on these women’s basketball stars as people.
Do you have a favorite interview yet?
[There’s] an episode that I did with my mom, and it’s The Black Mama Network. My mom and some of the other Black moms across women’s college basketball have created a network of moms that have a group chat. And so we go behind the scenes of it, and it’s very entertaining. It basically became a little round-table talk that I got to host. So that was really fun.
Up until now, every episode has brought something different. My first episode was with Aliyah Boston, which was really fun because she’s one of my best friends. And so I feel like there was great flow there. I think the one with Flau’jae [Johnson] was really fun just because it’s so much vibrancy to her and she has such a huge passion with music that she’s really taken to the next level, being on America’s Got Talent, signing record deals and all this stuff. So having her freestyle the podcast was really cool and listening to how her music passions impacted her recruiting process was really interesting and something that I don’t think a lot of people go through or really know about.
Are you musically inclined?
Oh my gosh, I’m tone deaf. Can’t rap. I can’t dance. I think I can sing, but I just turn up the music so loud in my car that I feel like I’m harmonizing. But the second you turn it down, it’s all bad. But music is a big part of my life just because my family is always playing something on the speakers in the house, and different genres of music definitely represent different moods for me. They have ties to different experiences that I’ve had, where I wake up and I hear my mom blasting some Kirk Franklin and I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be cleaning day today.’ Or like, I walk downstairs and I hear some Jill Scott playing and she’s baking, I’m like, ‘Oh, Dad, what’d you do to piss her off?’ So different things represent different experiences and moods that I’ve had, but no, I wish I was more inclined and I could sing or something.
What are some of the things you like to do aside from hooping, or do you have time?
Yes, I make the time. There isn’t much, but I make the time. I do a lot of things. I’m really the type of person where I just like to do new stuff. So whether that’s trying a new restaurant…my mom’s the best chef I know, so I just started cooking and baking more. Trying new recipes, bring them to the locker room. My teammates will be honest with me about how it is, my roommates are honest with me.
So trying new things in that sense. Going to new places around The Bay, day trip, a road trip. Exploring new music, making somebody a playlist, going on a hike. Really just doing anything. I love trying new things, going to new places, just hanging out with friends. That’s what I really love to do. My family only lives an hour away, so I can go home if I want to. My teammates want me to go home more even than I do because then they get a home-cooked meal. So we’re at my house pretty often having my mom cook us something.
How does 2023 Stanford compare to last year's Final Four squad, and how do you finish the job this time?
I think with every Stanford team there’s similarities. We’re still returning a pretty good amount of the core. We lost three starting guards which was a lot, and they brought a lot more to the team than just scoring. It was their defense, their competitive drive, all that different stuff. But I think that’s picked up. We haven’t really dropped off in that sense. But I think for us, what we need to do is not rely on our talent that we have. I think that’s kind of been a disappointing theme for us this year is that we have so much talent as a team that sometimes we’re just like, “Oh, we’re going to pull it out no matter what. We’re better.” But in reality, it just doesn’t come down to that. Its people have a target on our back.
So we have to understand that every single league game that we had, or every tournament game is going to be every team’s national championship game. They’re going to come out with that energy. And so we need to meet them there and surpass them and come out with that same aggressive mentality to come out on top. So I think this year, as we head down this final stretch where it’s really one and done, it’s coming out every game playing it like your last, not leaving anything where you look back and be like, “Oh, I wish I did this. I wish I dove on the ground. I wish I boxed out.” It’s you’re playing every game like your last really. And for me, it’s the case now that I’m a senior.
Are you going to miss this or are you ready for the next chapter?
I think I’m gonna miss it, but I’m also ready for the next chapter in a sense, like, I’ve done my four years. So I’m excited for the next chapter. But I’m also trying to still stay where my feet are, right? I don’t want to take a single moment for granted here, because I’m never really going to be in another situation like this. Once you turn pro your teams aren’t like they are now where we’re going to the dining halls together, we’re biking after practice, we lift together, we’re together on the road, we’re roommates. You just get so close, and it’s such a different environment than anything else.
So I’m definitely trying to really enjoy my last month here, enjoy being with my teammates, enjoy the experiences. My last run. Freshman year, the [NCAA] tournament was canceled and at that point I was injured. So for two tournaments, I’m 2-for-2 on Final Fours, 1-for-2 on national championships. So I’m trying to go for a third this last one. It seems like the only way to go out.
