
Gary Trent Jr. said Coach K had the best story. (Photo: adidas)
Ever wonder what goes on when college basketball’s most elite coaches are inside the friendly confines of high school basketball’s most elite prospects?
Well, wonder no more.
Each week we’ll catch up with an elite hoops prospect who’s recently entertained a flurry of coaches for in-homes and have them hand out some of the most telling, albeit random, awards based on the visits.
This week we caught up with Prolific Prep’s (Napa, Calif.) Gary Trent Jr., a five-star shooting guard who is ranked No. 8 overall in the ESPN 100 and recently signed with Duke.
Before he made his decision, Trent hosted the Blue Devils, UCLA and Michigan State.
Here’s who won what.
And the award for Best Story goes to… “Coach K! He told me a story about how he once had to tell Kobe Bryant to stop shooting the ball so much when he was coaching him at USA Basketball. That was pretty crazy to me. Coach K is Coach K, but Kobe is Kobe too. That was a good story.”
And the award for Best Presentation goes to… “It’d have to be Michigan State. They showed me what I could do for the university and what the university could do for me. Then after that they showed me highlights of Denzel Valentine and then they compared them to highlights of me. They felt like I could have the type of impact. That was big.”
And the award Biggest Appetite goes to… (Laughs) “Oh it’d have to be Coach D from Michigan State! He ate all of his food on multiple trips. That’s a big and hungry man so I’m sure he enjoyed his food on the visit. That’s my man.”
Follow Jason Jordan on Twitter: @JayJayUSATODAY