McEachern’s boys basketball team, ranked No. 1 in three national polls, will not be playing in the GEICO High School Nationals after all, coach Mike Thompson confirmed Friday morning.
McEachern, originally seeded No. 2 for the April 4-6 event in New York, won’t have all of its players available, and the players and coaches agreed to pull out.
Star point guard Sharife Cooper, named this week the Gatorade boys state player of the year in Georgia, is scheduled to participate in the USA Basketball Junior National Team mini-camp in Minneapolis that week. Senior wing Isaac Okoro, who has signed with Auburn, has the USA Nike Hoop Summit in Portland the following week.
‘’Our kids have got a couple of other things out there that maybe somebody planned for them and things they’ve got to do,’’ Thompson told AJC.com. ‘’Instead of trying to go with the guys that could go – and they [the tournament] were going to let us play regardless of who we brought; they felt we deserved that – we’ve been on the mantra all year long that we’re a team, not one person. If one couldn’t go or two, they [players and coaches] didn’t feel like any of us should go. We made that decision in the end. We just decided it was time to let that loose and celebrate what we have accomplished.’’
That would be a 32-0 record and Class AAAAAAA championship. It was McEachern’s first state title in boys basketball. McEachern is ranked No. 1 by MaxPreps, BlueStar and the Prep Circuit Power 50 but No. 2 in USA Today and in the Ballislife.com Fab 50 behind La Lumiere School, an undefeated team out of Indiana. La Lumiere is the No. 1 seed for the GEICO tournament. McEachern was already on the GEICO draw and would’ve played Sunrise Christian of Kansas in the opening game on April 4.
It’s possible that McEachern could retain one of those No. 1 rankings, as the Indians have beaten teams in the tournament while winning the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla., and the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions in Springfield, Mo. But Thompson said he wasn’t counting on that possibility.
‘’I really wouldn’t want that,’’ Thompson said. “We earned what we did [the current No. 1 rankings] with our production during the year, but if you’re going to be a national champion, you need to go win that tournament.’’
Thomson defended Cooper and Okoro against any criticism that they were putting individual needs over that of a team. He said both played almost every minute of 32 games and were a little beat up and wanted to be fresh for their showcase events next month.
‘’This wasn’t a decision where Isaac or Sharife said, ‘I’m not going, coach,’ ‘’ Thompson said. “It’s something that was planned for them where they had someone saying you need to do this. I don’t want people to think they were selfish guys. They and Jared [Jones, who has signed with Northwestern], they constantly have people nipping at them and have events they need to go to. They have to decide what’s productive for their career. I know it’s tough on them.’’
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