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SEC Sports
ATHENS ā Auburn will have the best player on the floor Tuesday night when it plays host to Georgia in menās basketball (7 p.m., SECN). And that player ā point guard Sharife Cooper ā hails from McEachern High in Powder Springs.
In fact, Cooper is one of five very good Auburn players from Georgia, three of them McEachern graduates. Babatunde Akingbola, a 6-foot-10, 245-pound sophomore forward, and Dylan Cardwell, a 6-11, 250-pound freshman, also are from McEachern.
JT Thor, a 6-10 forward averaging 9.3 points and 4.4 rebounds, graduated from Norcross High. Jaylin Williams (a 6-8, 230-pound graduate of Brantley County High) is averaging 10.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
But Cooper not only is the best player at Auburn; heās arguably the most valuable player in the SEC. Coming into the Georgia game, heās averaging 21.3 points, 8.2 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound guard is making a good case to be named SEC freshman of the year.
āHeās our quarterback,ā Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said of Cooper. āWe just saw four great quarterbacks play in the AFC and NFC championships and I donāt think any of those teams are there without their quarterback. So, obviously, he makes a huge difference for us.ā
Cooper certainly made a difference for Auburn the last time it played Georgia. In only his second game for the Tigers ā he was deemed ineligible by the NCAA until Jan. 9 ā Cooper scored 28 points in 34 minutes and added 12 assists and two steals as the Tigers throttled the Bulldogs 95-77 on Jan. 13 at Stegeman Coliseum.
Auburn is 4-3 since Cooper was activated, but two of those losses came to then-No. 6 Alabama in Cooperās first game and to No. 2-ranked Baylor this past Saturday. The other one was a two-point loss on the road at Arkansas.
Ever since witnessing Cooperās dominating performance in Athens, Georgia fans have wondered why Cooper is playing for Auburn and not for the home-state Bulldogs. They can rest assured, it was not for lack of trying.
āGeorgia very actively recruited Sharife; Coach Crean did a good job,ā McEachern coach Mike Thompson said Monday. āHe was here a lot, talked to him a lot, had him over there. I think what it boiled down to was my guys had always talked about how they all wanted to play together. When Akingbola and Isaac (Okoro) went to Auburn, I think that swayed Sharife quite a bit.ā
Crean agreed. In fact, he downplayed Georgiaās level of pursuit.
āWe were never really involved with him other than some contact and evaluation,ā Crean said through a spokesperson Monday. āWith all the connections to Auburn, we always felt he was going to Auburn.ā
Background is important here. Georgia already had a point guard in Sahvir Wheeler, a sophomore who is currently fourth in the nation in assists per game (7.4). The Bulldogs also signed 4-star guard K.D. Johnson of Southwest DeKalb out of Virginiaās Hargrave Prep. But they wouldāve taken Cooper in a snap.
And Auburnās ties were strong. Akingbola and Okoro played with Cooper on McEachernās undefeated state championship team of 2019, along with Cardwell. Cooperās father, Omar Cooper, coached all of them on the Athletes of Tomorrow AAU team.
Okoro, a 6-5 guard, was also a 5-star prospect. He averaged 12.8 points and 4.4 rebounds for the Tigers last year but followed Georgiaās Anthony Edwards as a āone-and-doneā freshman. He was selected with the fifth pick of the 2020 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
According to Thompson, Okoro is central to establishing the pipeline from McEachern to Auburn. He credits Pearlās dogged recruiting efforts for that.
āBruce was here all the time,ā said Thompson, who will retire after this season following a 39-year-career in high school coaching and teaching. āHe was the first one to recruit Isaac. He went to Argentina to see Isaac play when Isaac was on the USA team and he was the only one to do that. Thatās what sold Isaac on Auburn. He was the only one down there watching games. I know that went a long way toward convincing Isaac thatās where he needed to be.ā
The truth is, Pearlās recruitment of the state of Georgia has probably been more damaging to UGA basketball than any other single coach. And itās a big reason the Tigers have won six of the last seven games in the series.
Going back to when he was at Tennessee ā where he was fired amid an NCAA investigation and left under a three-year, show-cause order ā Pearl has long raided the Peach State for basketball talent. McEachernās Trae Golden was at the center of Pearlās controversy up on Rocky Top.
And Pearlās tenure at Auburn hasnāt been without issue. In November, the Tigers self-imposed a postseason ban this season as part of a federal investigation into bribery charges brought against former assistant coach Chuck Person. The decision was made, Auburn officials stated, āin light of the ongoing matter that surfaced in fall 2017.ā
Person, former Auburn star who joined Pearlās staff as an assistant coach in 2014, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to steer players to a financial adviser and funneling money to playersā families. The FBI alleged that Person provided $11,000 to one playerās family and $7,500 to another.
However, to date, Auburn has never shared publicly the contents of the Notice of Allegations it reportedly received from the NCAA, despite fielding numerous open-records requests. ESPN recently filed a lawsuit for failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.
Pearlās dicey history with the NCAA precedes his time at Tennessee. The accusations have been many; but the convictions few.
āI donāt know anything for myself, but Iāve heard all the rumors and things on social media,ā Thompson said Pearlās recruiting tactics. āHe skirts that line about as good as anybody does.ā
The bottom line, Pearl is still coaching and still signing some of Georgiaās best players, many of them from Greater Atlanta. In the November early-signing period, Auburn inked Jabari Smith, a 6-10 forward from Sandy Creek High in Tyrone and another 5-star prospect. The Bulldogs, in dire need of an athletic big man, finished second in that pursuit.
Meanwhile, Georgia has not been totally shut out of McEachern. The Bulldogs are currently holding a commitment from Cameron McDowell, a 6-5 guard from McEachern who holds a 3-star recruiting rating in 247Sports.comās composite rankings. Thompson said McDowellās commitment to UGA is āsolid.ā
āHeās a good one,ā he said. āI think heās going to be able to help them.ā
Thompson believes Crean is doing a good job at Georgia and eventually will get the program turned around.
āI think heās helped the recruiting situation at Georgia,ā Thompson said. āI think heās out and about and recruiting the best kids in the state a little bit more than the past coaches there. Since Iāve been coaching ā and thatās been a long time ā heās one of the better choices Georgia has ever made from a basketball standpoint, in my opinion. Getting Anthony Edwards in there was huge; and heās going to continue to get some good kids in there. Itās just a matter of getting all those kids heading in one direction.ā
Donāt expect Pearl to provide any pointers.
