Aiming for first state title, McEachern has emerged as best public high school basketball team in America

Last season the McEachern (Powder Springs, Ga.) boys basketball program reached new heights, climbing as high as No. 6 in the national rankings before falling in the state quarterfinals to Norcross.

The loss marked a bitter end to a season in which the Indians lost just three games. They entered the state tournament as favorites to capture the program's first state title.

The day after after the 20-point defeat, star junior guard Sharife Cooper pinned a tweet that remains at the top of his timeline to this day.

we will be back ..

— Sharife Cooper (@CooperSharife) March 1, 2018

McEachern has bounced back stronger in 2018-19. The Atlanta-area school is ranked No. 2 in the nation with a 27-0 record and tournament titles at the prestigious City of Palms Classic and Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions.

But this group has always bounced back, especially when knocked down the hardest. Right from the beginning.



McEachern's resolve began when its core members were in the second and third grade.

Omar Cooper, Sharife's father, took him and his brother Omar Jr. to the local Powder Springs recreation basketball league. He wanted to keep the boys together on the same team.

Organizers agreed with the understanding that he wouldn't have any say over the rest of the roster.

The rest of the roster ended up being the core of McEachern's current team: Isaac Okoro, Alyn Breed, Quinton McElroy, Jerod Bush and Noah Greene.

These were the kids nobody wanted on their teams. The group responded then, just like the Indians have now from last year's bitter loss, going 8-0 and winning the rec league title.

Omar Sr.'s young bucks weren't done yet. They competed in a bigger tournament with other local champions from neighboring counties.

The rejects won that title too.

"I remember the team we were playing was an AAU team led by Anthony Edwards and he was well-known in the area back then too," Omar Cooper said. "This was a major championship game though and my kids trailed by 18 points at the half so for motivation I told them that I would make them into an AAU team if they came back to win the championship game, and they did just that.

"That was really the first time I saw Sharife take over in the second half and we ended up coming back to win. Me being a man of my word, I created the AAU team AOT, standing for Athletes of Tomorrow."

The AOT Running Rebels won their division in the highly competitive Nike EYBL last season, finishing 13-3 in the regular season behind the bulk of the current McEachern team plus players like Brandon Boston (Norcross) and Jared Jones, among others.

But the focus now is capturing McEachern's first state championship as it enters the state tournament as favorites once again.

McEachern begins its quest Friday against East Coweta (Sharpsburg, Ga.).

The Indians overcame a 15-point halftime deficit against Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia) at the Cancer Research Classic in early January.

There were also three wins in three nights at the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions in Missouri before flying to Springfield, Mass., to win a fourth game in five nights against Rancho Christian (Temecula, Calif.) at the Spalding Hoophall Classic

McEachern owns an 8-0 record against teams who have been featured in the Top 25 at some point this season, with its signature win coming in a 50-29 dismantling of No. 6 Mountain Brook (Birmingham, Ala.) at the City of Palms Classic.

The final chapters of this story are yet to be written, with potential state and GEICO Nationals championships on the horizon for this talented group.