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COLUMN: The Cooper Neese Origin Story
Every great legend has that one moment that made everything about his future become clear; the point of origin that can be brought up as a metaphor for everything he went on to become.
For Superman, it was learning he could fly. For Michael Jordan, it was hitting the game-winning basket from the baseline in the 1982 national championship game.
Cooper Neese is not a legend. He can't fly and he won't become the next Michael Jordan. But he's pretty darn good. And after Saturday's Putnam County championship game, he's got a pretty good origin story.
Neese, a freshman at Cloverdale who is years away from growing even the peachiest fuzz of facial hair, hit the championship-winning shot against North Putnam.
More than that, he knew he would hit the championship-winning shot. It's what budding legends do.
The play, "baseline," isn't new. Cloverdale coach Pat Rady said he's been using it since 1978. (He ran in earlier in the game. Greencastle ran it earlier in the day against the Clovers.) But the player is.
Baseline is a de facto isolation. To the Clovers, it means, "everyone get out of Cooper's way, stand on the baseline and let Cooper score."
"In my mind it's really not an iso because I have teammates that will pass me the ball," Neese said after the game, "and when we need a bucket, there's anybody out there that can get a bucket. I'm not the only one who's going to do it this year."
Cloverdale got the ball, tied at 58 with 14 seconds remaining. Everyone got out of Cooper's way and let him score.
It was his moment. The whole fourth quarter, when he scored 14 points to help bring his team back into the game, was his moment.
When his teammates were backing away, passing up open shots or missing free throws, Neese was busy making four-of-seven shots and sinking five-for-five at the line.
He wasn't alone. Junior Marquise Moore had nine points in the quarter, making three-of-four free throws, and his superb defense was vital. Junior Brantson Scott didn't attempt a shot in the second half, but he brought in six rebounds in the fourth.
But Neese had the ball, and he wanted it. Earlier in the day he scored eight points in the fourth quarter and made six free throws down the stretch to beat Greencastle. His shot wasn't falling, so he found a way.
With the championship on the line, he found his shot.
His defender, NPHS senior Bennett Hazelgrove, fought to stay in front of him for 10 full, isolated, man-to-man seconds.
Then Neese made one extra jab, regained his balance and launched a shot. As the ball left his hand, only one thing was going through his head.
"It's going in."
It went in.
"When you have a freshman hit a one-footed runner, from 18 feet, after a shot-fake, with a kid in his face ..." North Putnam's coach, Lukas Haworth, trailed off for a moment, then continued. "That's a tough shot for anybody. I think he showed today that he's definitely matched everything that people have been talking about."
Just five games in, Neese has already done a lot of impressive things in his career. He put up 36 in the season-opener. He's been in double-digits every game.
The Clovers are 5-0.
But there's always one thought that keeps coming back. Every 3-pointer he hits coming around a screen and every time he drives to the basket pump-fakes and draws a foul, there is one ever-present thought.
You can try to block the idea out, but the crowd won't let you. His play cries out, "Star. Clutch. Legend?" But everyone in the arena knows the chant of the prescient Cloverdale Cheerblock.
"He's. Our. Freshman."
He's also a county champion. That's a good place to start.
