PRIORITYONE BANK ALL-METRO BASKETBALL TEAM 2022

(Top 4 Teams Listed at the bottom of the page)

Robert Wilson spent 23 years at The Clarion-Ledger/Jackson Daily News as a sportswriter with more than half of those years covering high school sports, mostly in the Metro Jackson area. He helped choose the All-Metro teams in various sports for more than a decade. Wilson rebirthed this team with the Priority One Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard All-Metro Jackson Boys and Girls Basketball Teams with 20 players and a Coach and Player of the Year on each team. These are the third annual teams. With the help of high school and college coaches, Wilson selected the best players and best coaches for the 2021-2022 season from Hinds, Madison and Rankin Counties. The boys story and teams run today. The girls story and teams ran yesterday.

By Robert Wilson

Jackson Prep’s Tim Wise and Madison-Ridgeland Academy’s Josh Hubbard – this year’s Priority One Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Boys Basketball Coach and Player of the Year respectively – are two of the best at controlling a game.

Wise, who is in his fifth season at Prep and has 14 years of college coaching experience at Millsaps College, knows how to control the pace of a game from the sidelines with his offensive and defensive schemes and his players do a great job of following his instructions for amazing results.

Hubbard, MRA’s 5-foot-11 junior guard, could take over a game with his uncanny ability to make long range 3-pointers, cat-quick acceleration to basket, rare jumping ability for breath-taking dunks and high-flying rebounds and a superb vision for see his teammates and opponents for dazzling assists.

Wise led Prep to a 29-7 record, a MAIS Overall championship and a Class 6A state title. It was the first boys Overall crown at Prep since 2012 and the second since a three-peat from 1996-1998. It was the first boys state title since back-to-back titles in 2012-2013 and the third since 1998.

Hubbard averaged 28.8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals and led MRA to a 33-7 record, a MAIS Class 6A state runner-up finish and an Overall semifinal finish. He broke a 42-year-old record when he became the MAIS career scoring leader, finishing the season with 3,233 career points.

Wise, a 55-year-old Memphis University School and Millsaps graduate, wasn’t expected to finish with the gold ball this season. MRA, Jackson Academy and Parklane Academy were the favorites in Class 6A and MRA and Greenville Christian were the favorites for the Overall title. Wise returned four starters from last year’s 15-13 team.

His team, led by 5-foot-7 senior guard Cam Brent (a member of the third team All-Metro Jackson), continued to improve as the season went on. Prep almost pulled off a big upset when it lost to defending MAIS Overall champion and seven-time state champion MRA 53-52 Jan. 11 at MRA. But on January 28, Prep shocked the MAIS world. Prep jumped out to a 13-point lead after the first quarter and held off MRA 38-34 to end MRA’s 44-game winning streak against MAIS teams. MRA had not lost to an MAIS team since Simpson Academy defeated MRA in the 2020 Overall semifinals and hadn’t lost a regular season MRA game since Prep won 61-44 Feb. 4, 2020 at Prep. It gave Prep’s players much needed confidence that they could beat the defending Overall champions.

“MRA has a great team, but we didn’t flinch,” Wise said after the game. “We have talented and experienced players and I’m proud of the way our guys played.”

That confidence continued in the state tournament. Prep defeated MRA 65-60 in overtime in the state title game when junior guard Luke Segrest scored a career-high 30 points, 23 more than his average and double his career-high, and Brent made 11 of 12 free throws in the final 1 minute, 39 seconds of overtime. It ended MRA’s seven-year state title run.

Prep had two wins over the defending Overall champion but needed to climb another mountain before it got to the championship game. Greenville Christian – which lost in overtime to MRA for the Overall title last season – was Prep’s opponent in the Overall semifinals. All five starters were back, including this year’s Mississippi Gatorade Football Player of the Year DJ Smith, possibly the most talented two-sport athlete in Mississippi. Greenville Christian came in with a 26-3 record and riding a lot of momentum and confidence. Smith was averaging 32.5 points in the playoffs and Greenville Christian had won 19 consecutive games.

Prep senior forward Walker Craddock tied his season high with 16 points with 8 rebounds and 1 blocked shot, senior forward Lampton Moore had a career-high six blocked shots, Segrest had a game-high five assists and Brent controlled the tempo with his ball-handling as Prep surprised Greenville Christian 41-23.

Prep’s defense limited Smith to 11 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with 2:15 to play. Prep limited Greenville Christian to just 16.3 percent shooting from the field and held Greenville Christian to a season low in points.

And then there was the Overall final against arch-rival Jackson Academy, which had upset MRA in the semifinals. Wise stayed up most of the night, studying film on JA, figuring out a way to win this last game. Even though he knew JA very well, he wanted to go over everything to make sure he and his team was ready for a team Prep had beaten two consecutive times this season and five straight over the past three seasons.

Prep jumped out to a 12-point lead after the first quarter and rolled to a 43-32 victory over JA and the Overall title. Brent led the Patriots with 10 points, 6 assists, 6 steals and 6 rebounds.

Said Wise: “What began last May with spring practice that followed with June and 24 summer games at four team events to August and September, with physical and basketball development, as a precursor to the five-month enjoyable grind of team practice and game competition, our guys stayed the course with our journey, fortunately, ending with us competing and winning the last game of the year.”

Wise credits his senior leadership – he has seven seniors on this team – for much of the success this season.

“The sense of purpose brought forth within our team members, as a whole, is to be recognized,” Wise said. “Embracing a culture of our core values, the seniors led the way in those characteristics of unity and passion, servanthood and humility – within a spirit of gratitude.”

“These men had great resolve throughout the year to trust the process, as they genuinely cared for each other, celebrated selfless acts on and off the court, and found true value with the intensity of our efforts, regardless of the ups and downs of a 35-game season.”

Wise also credits his assistant coaches, Zach Allison and Bruce Robinson, for his success this season.

“I would like to thank Coach Robinson for his encouragement to our players,” Wise said. “I have an appreciation to Coach Allison for his attention to detail in practice preparation and game planning, and for his consistent work ethic in player and program development.”

“Coach Wise has been a large part of my success,” Brent said. “His mind for preparation and game strategy is unmatched. He believes in his players and puts them position to thrive. I would say the combination of a coach that builds off the foundation of fundamental principles and hard work combined with my leadership and determination was a recipe for success.

“It was almost like a perfect mesh. He wanted an offense that could both run and score fast against certain teams, and then slow it down when we wanted to. And with my ball handling ability and scoring we were able to do both unlike any other team.”

After playing basketball and golf at MUS and Millsaps (he still holds the Millsaps school career record with 552 assists), Wise was an assistant coach for long time MUS coach Jerry Peters and head coach at St. Benedict Catholic School and Cordova High in Tennessee and an assistant coach for John Stroud at Millsaps. He replaced Stroud as head coach at Millsaps in 2003. Wise was the head coach at Millsaps for 14 seasons with his best season in 2008 when he led the Majors to 28-4 record, an NCAA Division III Tournament Elite Eight appearance and a No. 6 national final ranking.

“Coach Peters taught me to pay attention to detail,” said Wise, who was an assistant for Peters for 11 years and Stroud for five years. “Always be prepared for every situation and that there was a right way to do everything on the court, including one way or form to shoot a free throw and how to put on your socks. Coach Peters was a John Wooden disciple. He taught me that the game is about the players. Do not overshadow or think that you as a coach are bigger than the game. Have humility and integrity.

“Coach Stroud taught me how to make in game adjustments. He was as special situations expertise. Coach Stroud taught me when it was time to get off the horse – move on because what you are doing isn’t working.”

Wise was inducted into the Millsaps Sports Hall of Fame in 2012 and is the third winningest men’s basketball coach in school history. He also had roles as athletic director and assistant AD and in business operations and fund raising during his career at Millsaps.

Wise has been married to the former Rachel Cook of Memphis for 28 years and they have three children, Luke, 25, Anna, 23, and Allison, 20.

Hubbard – rated as the No. 1 player in Mississippi and the No. 35 point guard in the country in his class by ESPN – was terrific all season long. He scored in double figures in every game this season despite seeing various defenses trying to slow him down. Hubbard has scored in double figures in 70 consecutive games dating back to early in his sophomore season (he scored 7 points against Kirk Academy when he played only a quarter).

Hubbard scored a season-high 42 points and scored his team’s first 20 points against Adams County Christian School this season. He scored 40 points, including a season-high eight 3-pointers, against Gulliver Prep, Fla., in the Junior Orange Bowl Classic in Miami during the Christmas holidays. Hubbard made 16 of 24 shots from the field, 8 of 13 from 3-point range.

Hubbard was named the MVP of the tournament and averaged 35 points and led MRA to three victories and the championship.

Hubbard faced box-in-one, double teams and face guarding during this season.

“I tried to find different ways to speed teams up when they tried to slow us down,” Hubbard said. “It was kind of like a puzzle for the teams that attempted to do it. We handled the situations well most of the time.”

“Hubb averaged close to 30 points a game despite having all kinds of defenses thrown at him trying to stop him,” said MRA coach Richard Duease, the winningest high school basketball coach in Mississippi history with 1,774 victories in 47 seasons. “He had to carry us most of the year. Hubb is a special player who is going to play at a high level in college. He was really too unselfish this year and should have taken more shots. Hubb’s shot selection was better this year. His ability to get to the rim was better this season. In a one-on-one situation, Hubb is hard to stop.”

Hubbard, who has drawn comparisons to NBA stars Monta Ellis and Devin Booker from Mississippi by opposing coaches, scored a career high is 46 points against MHSAA Class 6A Gulfport as a freshman when he made nine 3-pointers, including two in the last 17 seconds to win the game.

Gulfport High coach Owen Miller believes Hubbard should be considered one of the top players to come through Mississippi since Ellis, who was the National Player of the Year at Lanier 15 years ago. Miller knows about Mississippi high school basketball. He was a high school teammate at Gulfport of Chris Jackson, now named Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who many consider the best player in Mississippi history.

“Hubbard is a super talent, really fast and physical and can shoot it,” Miller said. “The thing that impresses me the most in Hubbard’s body language and demeanor. He keeps his emotions intact. Most kids with his talent are not like that and he’s just a junior. When you have high major (Division I) talent and you combine that with being a good teammate who is coachable, you have the makings of a special player.”

Hubbard worked out with Abdul-Rauf last summer in Gulfport.

“He helped me realize how there are levels to the game,” Hubbard said. “Mahmoud put in a lot of work for the career he had. He gave me advice and motivation about my game and the potential I had.”

Hubbard, who has started since the eighth grade, became the leading career scorer in MAIS history Feb. 23 when he passed Ken Coghlan, who scored 3,168 points from 1977-1980 at East Rankin Academy. Coghlan, who is now retired after being an attorney in Oxford, was at the game when Hubbard broke his record. Hubbard scored 31 points in a win over Tunica Academy in the first round of the Overall at MRA.

If Hubbard continues his pace next season, he could become Mississippi’s all-time career leading scorer. Robert Woodard has the record with 4,274 points from 1982-86 at Houlka High. Monta Ellis is second with 4,167 from 2001-2005 at Lanier High.

Hubbard has increased his scoring average every season,15.3 points in the eighth grade, 18.2 as a freshman, 24.3 as a sophomore and 28.8 as a junior this season. He made 108 3-pointers this season and 332 for his career.

“Josh has the potential to play in the NBA,” said Coghlan, after watching Hubbard play for the first time in person. “I’ve seen and played a lot of basketball over the years. He’s got a long way to go to get there, but he has the tools. Josh has beautiful, natural shooting motion, he’s strong and can jump out of the gym. Josh has an all-around game, he can shoot, pass, rebound and defend. He doesn’t force things. Josh lets the game come to him. He stays within the offense.”

“I improved on slowing the game down and being smarter in the game,” said Hubbard, about his improvement since last season. “My IQ for the game has increased with my speed getting faster as well.”

Hubbard has offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley, LSU, University of Houston, and University of New Orleans. He hasn’t set up any visits or has a timetable about when he will decide on where to play in college.

“My goals are to get wiser at the game, to learn more things and get better at what I’m doing,” Hubbard said. “My goals are to get the team focused and prepared to win a championship.”