CULTURE III

MEET JOSH CHRISTOPHER, JALEN GREEN AND SHARIFE COOPER—THE THREE-HEADED SNAKE AT THE CENTER OF THE RED-HOT HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL SCENE. REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS, THEY ARE ALL ALREADY CERTIFIED STARS, AND THE BEST IS STILL YET TO COME. YES INDEED.

SHINE LIKE THIS

ALREADY A CHAMPION AND THE HIGHEST-RANKED RECRUIT EVER TO COMMIT TO AUBURN, SHARIFE COOPER IS HUNGRY FOR MORE.

ALEX SQUADRON

SHARIFE COOPER is nowhere to be found. It’s a Saturday afternoon in midAugust, a day before the SLAM Summer Classic at Dyckman Park, and the players are cruising through NYC on a double-decker bus.

But Cooper isn’t there. He’s slipped away from the group and crossed the bridge into New Jersey for a workout. He spends hours training and then casually rejoins the bus as it makes a stop in Times Square, like he was never gone.

The moment is a microcosm of what Cooper, a star in the Class of 2020, has been doing for the last several years. With no one watching, he’s quietly adopted a work ethic unlike most in the world of basketball, at any level. And it’s paid off.

He guided McEachern (GA) to an undefeated season and a state title in 2018- 19, averaging 27.2 points, 8.1 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 4.3 steals. He became just the third junior—along with LeBron James and Greg Oden, who both went on to go No. 1 in the NBA Draft—to win USA Today’s Boys Player of the Year and the first to be named MaxPreps Boys Player of the Year. He is the highest-ranked recruit ever to commit to Auburn.

As a kid, Sharife would watch his older sister Te’a, a former McDonald’s All-American now hooping at Baylor, work on her game. He’d sit on the sidelines, restless and annoyed that he wasn’t allowed to join. He begged for an opportunity. “I wouldn’t let him,” his dad, Omar says. “He was too young, too little. So when he got his chance, he’s like, I’m not looking back. I want to go.”