COLORADO SPRINGS, Col.– It didn’t take long to identify the best player on the floor at the first day of tryouts for the team that will represent the United States in the U16 Americas tournament next month in Argentina.
Trent Jr., a 6-5, 190- pound rising junior guard from Apple Valley Minn. High School is a strong, talented wing with a 6-6 wingspan who can run the floor, make plays off the ball hit open mid-range jumpers, shoot threes and finish — a must for an American team that has never lost a game at this level in international competition but will face road games against smaller, but dangerous guard dominated, zone capable teams from Canada, Puerto Rico and Argentina.
Trent gave coach Don Showalter and USB basketball youth personnel director B.J. Johnson a preview of coming attractions when they traveled to Houston April 25 to watch the second weekend of Nike EBYL competition.
“I know the coaches at Apple Valley,” Showalter said. “They don’t embellish their players. The assistant coach there has worked my camp in the past and when he said to me in February, “Listen, I think Gary Trent is a kid worth looking at, I knew he must have been a serious talent.”
Showalter found out just how spectacular when he and Johnson watched Trent, who plays for Howard Pulley, put on a shooting clinic, making his first eight three point attempts in a game against Texas Elite. Trent scored 36 points on 10 for 15 shooting and was 8 for 12 from beyond the three point arc.
“He can get 30 and you don’t even notice it,” Showalter said.
Trent is coming off a Minnesota Class 4A state championship in March– the school’s second since 2013 –when Apple Valley defeated previously unbeaten Champlain Park, 64-61, in a revenge game, something his former teammate point guard Tyus Jones never did.
Jones, a 2-14 Duke signee who was voted the Most Outstanding Player for the Devils, who won the NCAA tournament last spring last spring in Indianapolis. His younger brother Tre is also here trying out as a point guard.
“A lot of people question the talent of players from our state, he said. “So we’re here with a chip on our shoulder to show people we can play.”
Trent played in the same high school backcourt as Tyus Jones, who also played for USA basketball on the U16 and U 18 teams that won gold medals in 2012 and 2014, as a ninth grader, then rose to become a star as a sophomore when he averaged 21.3 points in leading his team to a 30-2 record. .
Trent is blowing up on the recruiting scene. He already has seven offers, including Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, Minnesota and Texas Tech. Duke, Arizona. Purdue and Wisconsin have also shown interest. He grew up in Columbus until he was 11 before the family moved to Apple Valley.
Trent’s success should come as no surprise.
He is following in the footsteps of his father Gary Trent Sr., who was a 6-8 power forward who played for Ohio U. and for the North team in the 1993 Olympic Festival team that finished 4-0 can won the gold medal. Trent Sr. went on to play for nine years in the NBA with Portland, Toronto, Dallas and Minnesota. He also competed overseas in Greece and Italy.
Gary Sr. has had a huge influence over his son. “My dad gave me everything I know,” Trent said. “Without him, I wouldn’t be where I am today. It’s funny. He was a big man. I was a guard. it’s crazy but every move I make– the pull u— that’s from him.”
Trent began learning the game in kindergarten.
When I was five years old, we actually went to the track,” he said. “I would dribble around. Every 100 meters, I would get down and do 10 pushups and 10 sit ups. So that’s 160 in a mile.”
Trent decided to honor his father by wearing Gary’s Sr.’s old No. 2 on the back of his jersey. “It started in high school,” Trent said. “I saw 2 was available and a jumped at it.”
Gary Trent Jr.’s blossoming high school profile only figures to grow. All five starters are back at Apple Valley, including a seven-footer Brock Bertram re back from a team that was ranked 14th in the country. And there is already talk about Trent attending Ohio State because assistant coach Jeff Boals played with his father is almost like a second father-figure to Gary. But first things first.
Team USA’s U16 team is in desperate need of a knock shooter to go with the enormous length at this camp.
And Trent appears to be the perfect candidate..
. . .
Team USA U16s will have size and length, but will be missing one of its best big man when 6-10 Marvin Bagley from Corona del Sol High in Tempe, Ariz. pulled out of the trails because his father said he did not want his son going to Argentina without family members accompanying him. . . . Trent is not the only player at the trials with pedigree. Charles O’Bannon Jr., a 6-5 guard from Bishop Gorman in Vega, is the son of Charles Sr., who played on UCLA’s 1995 national championship team. . . FIBA is talking about changing the calendar and moving the U17’s from August to the middle of July, which would conflict with major summer travel team events. That will hurt the talent pool. The two finalists for the event’ Caracas, Venez. and Mexico. New York City had no candidates at the trials. When the team, which leaves for Greece June 26, is practicing, students in that city will still be in school or taking Regents exams.
