Coaches Confidential: Who’s the toughest star you’ve coached against?
In The Oklahoman’s previous high school basketball survey, coaches looked toward the future and named the best players they expect to face this season.
For this survey, they reflected on the past.
Who is the toughest player you have ever coached against, and why?
The Oklahoman posed this question to boys basketball coaches across the Oklahoma City metro area and granted them anonymity to respond.
Here are their answers.
Trae Young, Norman North Class of 2017
“I mean, obviously the first name that comes to mind for me is Trae Young. He was just different. I remember how we couldn’t do anything with him as a sophomore, then he turned around and averaged like 40 points in his senior year. He is who he is for a reason. We may not see someone replicate his senior season for a long time.”
CJ Nickson, Weatherford Class of 2025
“I haven’t been coaching for long, but CJ Nickson is going to be special. We played against Weatherford last year and we just had no answer for the guy. He’s a hell of an athlete all around and his motor just gives him a competitive edge that I don’t see in most players at his age.”
Shake Milton, Owasso Class of 2015
“Shake Milton, the guard in the NBA right now on the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was always a problem whenever we saw them in tournaments or I saw him in the AAU circuit. He was one of the first guards that I saw score at will, in any way he wanted to.”
Josh Richardson, Edmond Santa Fe Class of 2011
“An underrated name I like to remind people about is Josh Richardson. Not only was he a sniper, he’d go on the other end and lock up your best player while scoring 30. He was one of those guys that I always knew was going to be somebody.”
Josh Jacobs, Tulsa McLain Class of 2016
“I’m going to have to say the Las Vegas Raiders’ running back Josh Jacobs. He was at Tulsa McLain when we played him in the semifinals and they they ended up beating us in the semis. He was super athletic, man, and that made McLain so tough. That’s one player I like to mention because he was definitely like that as a hooper, too.”
Stevie Clark, Douglass Class of 2013
“I’ve seen a lot of kids throughout the years, man. Stevie Clark is probably one of the best players I’ve seen that was a high school player. Let’s just say, he didn’t miss a lot of shots whenever he played against us back in the day. He got to his spots with ease and when he got going there was no stopping him.”
JV Seat, Edmond Memorial Class of 2022
“The first person that comes to mind is JV Seat from Edmond Memorial a couple of years ago. He gave us fits whenever we matched up across him.”
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma Christian School Class of 2007
“I think the obvious choice would be a player like Blake Griffin when he was at OCS. He’s by far the best player I’ve seen in my time in coaching because his dominance would demoralize you. He’s one of the only players other than Trae Young and maybe Stevie Clark that I saw put fear into players. But Blake was a different kind of player at that point. He was just a manchild on the court and brought a different type of energy to high school basketball that I don’t think I’ve seen yet to this point.”