Villa Rica High School
Villa Rica High School is a high school located in Villa Rica, Georgia, United States. The athletic teams are known as the Wildcats.
Athletics
Villa Rica High School has a rich history of athletics, seasoned in baseball, basketball, and football.
Football is the prominent sport at Villa Rica. It had one state championship in football in 1986, and many well-fought seasons to try to get back to that level, including 1998, in which Villa Rica went 10-0 in the regular season. Many athletes have come out of Villa Rica High School's program, such as Everette Hickman, Pop Johnson, Pooh Cox, Pat Skinner, Paul Skinner, Tavarreus Pounds, Eric Thompson, Sergio Jones, Chris McCoy, Clark Cleveland, Randy Carden, Gene Wallace, Herman Weaver (NFL punter), Steve Woodall, Zay Foster, Ken Shackleford, Omar McLendon, Justin Tidaback, Austin Bonds and Jae Crowder (NBA forward). These football stars led their teams to successful seasons while earning All-State or All-Area awards.
On October 16, 2009, VRHS inducted three players into the first ever VRHS Football Hall of Fame. Awards were given posthumously to "Tiny" Cole and Holmes Garrett, and were received by sister Barbara Cole Helton and daughter Sheila Garrett Maciejewski. Present to receive his award as a Hall of Fame player was the legendary player Harold "Cotton" Meeks, a 1954 graduate of VRHS who played under Coach Sam MacIntyre. A large plaque will also reside in the halls of VRHS with the names of these first Hall of Famers, as well as future inductees.
In 2010-2011, the Villa Rica High School men's basketball team had a great season, finishing at (25-6-0). The team was led by the "Big 3," Sharod Drayton, Orlandis Hill, and Dee Thompson. The "Big 3" led the team to a AAAA Region Championship and to the Georgia State Tournament. Out of many teams in Georgia, the 2010-2011 Villa Rica Wildcats were ranked no.36 in the entire state of Georgia. Orlandis Hill was the Most Valuable Player on the team finishing the season, averaging 24.3 ppg, 1.8 apg, 4.7 and 4 rpg. He also received many college offers. Dee Thompson was named as Co-MVP of the team, finishing the season averaging 16.2 ppg, 8.6 apg, 5.4 spg, and 11 rpg. Thompson also received many college offers. Drayton finished the season averaging 17.4ppg, 6.2 apg, 9 spg, & 2.3 rpg. The Big 3 and the rest of the 2010-2011 Wildcats holds the best Villa Rica High School basketball team in school history.
During the 2013-2014 basketball season, Villa Rica High School retired the jersey No.33, worn by James "Hollywood" Bailey. The jersey was retired in the 2013-2014 season, worn by Tovi "Franchize" Bailey. Both Villa Rica High School legends come from the same family of great athletes. Along with Cleveland’s foreward Jae Crowder.
Crowder was not heavily recruited out of high school, although he had some offers in football. He committed to South Georgia Technical College, a college in Americus, Georgia. He later transferred to Howard College for his sophomore season. After his junior college eligibility ended, he transferred to Marquette.[1]
South Georgia Tech In his only season with South Georgia Tech, he led the Jets to their first-ever NJCAA national tournament appearance in his freshman season, under head coach Steven Wright, with the team finishing with a 21–7 record.[2] He was named Georgia Junior College Athletic Association Player of the Year that season.[3]
Howard College In his sophomore season with the Howard Hawks in 2010, Crowder was not only named Junior College Player of the Year but also helped the team win its first-ever NJCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. In the final game he registered 27 points and 12 rebounds in an 85–80 overtime victory against Three Rivers Community College. He averaged 18.9 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.4 steals per game as a sophomore while shooting 46.0 percent from the field and 76.0 percent from the free throw line.[2]
Marquette Edit After his season with the Howard Hawks, Crowder transferred to Marquette University, selecting the Golden Eagles over UNLV, Georgia Tech, Texas Tech and Illinois State, among others.[3] He averaged 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds in his first season with Marquette.[4] Some basketball statisticians believe Crowder was statistically the best all-around player during the 2010–11 season.[5] On January 1, 2011, Crowder recorded a career-high 29 points and 8 rebounds in a game against the West Virginia Mountaineers.[6] On March 30, 2012, Crowder was named East Perfect Player of the Game in the Reese's College All-Star Game.[7]
For the 2011–2012 season, Crowder averaged 17.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.[2][4] Crowder led Marquette to a second-place finish in the Big East, as well as their second consecutive Sweet 16. Jae was named Big East Player of the Year.
College Awards & Honors Second-team All-American – AP, TSN (2012) Third-team All-American – NABC (2012) Big East Player of the Year (2012) All-Big East First Team (2012) NABC Junior College Player of the Year (2010) NJCAA Men's Division I champion (2010)
NBA Draft After finishing his college career, Jae Crowder decided to enter the 2012 NBA draft, where he was projected to be a second round draft pick.[8] Crowder was taken 34th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers; however, a draft night-trade with the Mavericks sent him to Dallas, along with 24th overall pick Jared Cunningham and 33rd overall pick Bernard James, in exchange for 17th overall pick Tyler Zeller and Kelenna Azubuike.[9][10] He was officially signed on July 20, 2012 on a non-guaranteed two-year contract, like all second round draft picks.[11] His Marquette teammate Darius Johnson-Odom was also drafted with the 55th overall pick.[9]
Dallas Mavericks (2012–2014) Rookie season Due to his strong showing in NBA Summer League and preseason games, he was described as "the steal of the NBA draft",[12] averaging 11.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.9 steals, 1.6 assists and 0.8 blocks in 22 minutes per game in the preseason[13] and 16.6 points, 1.6 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, 2.0 steals and 41.7 percent shooting in Summer League, where he was also voted into the All-Summer League team.[14] This strong showing raised expectations in the young player, as he was viewed as possibly the Mavericks' new franchise player and possibly a future All-Star.[15][16]
His stellar play earned him a spot in coach Rick Carlisle's rotation.[17] He debuted in the season-opening win against the Los Angeles Lakers. After Dirk Nowitzki missed most of the early season with an arthroscopic knee surgery and starting small forward Shawn Marion was also injured, Crowder became the team's starting small forward. With Marion and Nowitzki's returns, Crowder's minutes decreased. His contribution started to dwindle a bit starting around the all-star break, when he admitted that he hit the "rookie wall".[18] The Mavericks were never able to recover from Nowitzki's injury and missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, with Crowder averaging 5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in 17.3 minutes.
2013–14 season On November 5, 2013, Crowder scored a then career-high 18 points in a 123–104 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.[19] On February 27, 2014, Crowder was assigned to the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League.[20] He was recalled by the Mavericks on February 28, reassigned on March 1,[21] and recalled again on March 2.
2014–15 season On June 10, 2014, the Mavericks exercised their team option on Crowder's contract.[22] With the offseason additions of forwards Al-Farouq Aminu and Richard Jefferson, Crowder's minutes subsequently dropped to start the 2014–15 season, falling out of coach Rick Carlisle's frontcourt rotation.[23] On November 9, 2014, he scored a season-high 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting in a 105–96 loss to the Miami Heat.[24]
Boston Celtics (2014–2017) On December 18, 2014, Crowder was traded, along with Jameer Nelson, Brandan Wright, a 2015 first-round pick, a 2016 second-round pick and a $12.9 million trade exception, to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Rajon Rondo and Dwight Powell.[25] On January 12, 2015, he scored a then career-high 22 points in a 108–100 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.[26] On April 14, 2015, he hit an off-balance fall-away two-point shot from deep on the right wing with 0.8 seconds left, lifting Boston to a 95–93 win over the Toronto Raptors.[27][28] After averaging just 3.6 points in 10.6 minutes per game with Dallas to start the 2014–15 season, Crowder became an important role player for the Celtics in Brad Stevens' rotation, and subsequently lifted his averages to 9.5 points in 24.2 minutes per game.
On July 27, 2015, Crowder re-signed with the Celtics to a reported five-year, $35 million contract.[29][30] On December 18, 2015, he scored a career-high 24 points in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks.[31] He topped that mark on January 4, 2016, scoring 25 points in a 103–94 win over the Brooklyn Nets.[32] On January 13, he tied his career high of 25 points in a 103–94 win over the Indiana Pacers.[33] On March 14, he was ruled out for two weeks with a right ankle sprain.[34] He returned to action on March 31 against the Portland Trail Blazers after missing eight games.[35]
In the Celtics' season opener on October 26, 2016, Crowder scored 21 points in a 122–117 win over the Brooklyn Nets.[36] He appeared in the team's first four games of the season, but then missed eight straight games with a sprained left ankle.[37] He returned to action on November 19, scoring nine points in a 94–92 win over the Detroit Pistons.[38] On March 17, 2017, he recorded season highs with 24 points and 12 rebounds in a 98–95 win over Brooklyn.[39] On March 26, 2017, he set a new season high with 25 points in a 112–108 win over the Miami Heat.[40] In Game 1 of the Celtics' Eastern Conference semifinal match-up with the Washington Wizards, Crowder scored a playoff career-high 24 points, helping the Celtics win 123–111.[41]
Cleveland Cavaliers (2017–present) On August 22, 2017, Crowder was traded, along with Isaiah Thomas, Ante Žižić and the Brooklyn Nets' 2018 unprotected first round pick, to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Kyrie Irving.[42] Eight days later, the Celtics agreed to send the Cavaliers a 2020 second-round draft pick via the Miami Heat to complete the trade.[43]
On November 4, Crowder scored a season-high 17 points with seven rebounds to help the Cavaliers snap a 4-game losing streak in a 130-122 win over the Washington Wizards.
External links
Coordinates: 33°43′41″N 84°56′46″W / 33.728°N 84.946°W