Rashaad Trice was asleep on the bus when he was frantically woken up.
The OPRF junior guard woke from his nap to see something he never expected: Trice was included in an Instagram post from Golden State Warriors guard and two-time NBA MVP Steph Curry.
“I kind of freaked out. I don’t even have words to explain the emotions in my head,” Trice said of his reaction. “It was crazy, it was crazy.”
Less than a week earlier, Trice had participated in the Chicago leg of Curry’s Underrated Tour, which aims to give “high school basketball players whose talents and abilities are overlooked … a chance to showcase themselves. To show coaches and scouts from around the country they’ve missed something.”
Curry’s posts, which went out to his more than 29 million Instagram and 14 million Twitter followers, announced the eight boys and eight girls selected as finalists from the February showcase. After the same process happens in Dallas, Washington and Los Angeles, Trice and 63 other competitors will travel to the Bay Area to compete for one boys spot and one girls spot in Steph Curry’s Under Armour Select Camp.
Curry, who was lightly recruited in high school and whose NBA potential was questioned coming out of Davidson, is someone Trice admires.
“He just amazed me, especially because I’m a huge LeBron (James) fan, and what he did to the Cavs year in and year out, I was like ‘I can’t be mad,’ it was so amazing,” Trice said after OPRF’s 48-40 Class 4A regional semifinal loss to Lane. “To have somebody that high-caliber of a player take the time to post on Instagram and say, ‘Congratulations on making it,’ that was humbling.”
Trice said the camp evaluators emphasized the importance of intangibles, both for moving on to the next round of the camp and for playing at the next level.
“There’s a lot of good competition there: You saw kids who could jump out the gym, shoot the lights out and play defense,” Trice said. “So you’ve got to find the little things that can make you stand out, so I thank God I was able to do so.
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“We did a lot of drills to make sure our chemistry was right: the ability to talk, listen and attention to detail. Because in college, those little things are so important.”
OPRF coach Matt Maloney said opportunities like the Underrated Tour camp can help Trice take the next steps in his high school career and beyond.
“Hopefully Rashaad uses this as a springboard to have a very good senior season,” Maloney said. “Because he definitely showed flashes. He had 16 (points) against Morton for us. Hopefully that will get him to have the opportunity to play beyond high school as well.”
OPRF was shorthanded against Lane. The Huskies played without one of the state’s top junior prospects in shooting guard Isaiah Barnes.
Though the team’s season ended early, the Huskies will return plenty of talent. Barnes will be back, as will junior guard Josh Smith, Trice, and sophomores Demetrius Dortch and Eric Locke.
“It just shows how much they wanted to play, how much we all wanted to play,” Smith said of the team’s fight against Lane. “How much this game really meant to us, how much we wanted to advance. The offense couldn’t make adjustments fast enough, but they played hard. I’m proud of everyone I played with.”
Jakub Rudnik is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press