A left-handed version of Allen Iverson. The best point guard in Oak Hill Academy history.
Both tags have been heaped on senior Brandon Jennings, who will appear in Bristol Friday night as the Warriors meet The Miller School of Charlottesville in an 8 p.m. game at Virginia High.
While this edition of Oak Hill basketball won’t win a national championship, Jennings isn’t the reason why.
The 6-foot-2 Jennings, who will play at Arizona next year, is averaging a staggering 35.3 points and 7.1 assists per game for the 20-3 Warriors, who have needed all his production.
Coach Steve Smith tossed senior wings Malik Story and Willie Warren off the team just before the season started, leaving Jennings to carry most of the load.
Although losses to former No. 1 St. Benedict’s (N.J.), Richmond Benedictine and Houston Yates dropped Oak Hill from No. 1 to No. 19 in USA Today’s prep top 25, Jennings has played as well as any player in the school’s history.
That’s saying a lot, considering the program can boast of alums the caliber of Carmelo Anthony, Rod Strickland, Calvin Duncan, Jeff McInnis and Josh Smith—just to name five. Oak Hill has won seven national championships since 1992 for coach Steve Smith.
Yet Smith, who just this decade can claim to have coached point guards like Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics) and Ty Lawson (North Carolina), has no qualms about Jennings’ talent.
“For us, the two years he’s been here, he’s been as good as anybody,” Smith told the Roanoke Times on Jan. 12. “Maybe better.”
Jennings and the Warriors usually put on shows at VHS, where they have never lost, dating back to 1992. The Miller School owns an 11-2 record, meaning Oak Hill will have to play well.
If recent history is any guide, Bristol fans can count on the Warriors’ No. 3 playing like the No. 3 he’s said to emulate.