Noble's Trey Hoops: Driven Athlete of the Month – Presented by Landers Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM of Norman

By John Tranchina

While his last name may make one think he was a natural to excel at basketball, the truth is, it took a lot of hard work for Trey Hoops to become a contributing player for Noble High School.

In addition to working hard to improve his game, Hoops has endured conflicts with past coaches at Noble before gaining the confidence of current coach Chad Byrd when he took over last season and earning a spot in the lineup this year as a senior.

“Sophomore year, I was playing sophomore JV, I was overlooked by the coach,” Hoops recounted. “He didn’t believe in me, he didn’t think I had any potential at all, and so over the summer, I worked on my skills, I went to Summer Pride, and I tried to get better and get stronger. And then when basketball season came around (junior year), I really focused on just becoming a better team leader and trying to be active and trying to get better with team chemistry, hang out with friends, not just inside of school but also outside of school, and I think that’s probably what helped me a lot.”

For his part, Byrd has been impressed with the work ethic and resilience that Hoops has demonstrated.

“Trey, over his four years of basketball, has faced adversity, not getting any real playing time until his junior year,” Byrd said. “He loves the game but had to work hard to develop his skills. Trey has done everything necessary to see minutes on the floor this season.”

It helps that Hoops loves the game, not playing any other sport and focusing solely on basketball. He refused to get discouraged, even when he wasn’t seeing any game action.

“I think basketball has been my number one thing since Day One,” Hoops said. “I’ve always dreamt of playing pro basketball, I never thought, ‘This isn’t for me.’ I went through the adversity. I’m not going to let the coaches sway my decision, they’re eventually going to see the potential that I have and I know that work comes off the court.”

His example as somewhat of a role model for the younger players, as well as his natural personality, has helped the 6-foot-9 Hoops thrive in a leadership role this season.

“I want them to have a way better start, start that work now, be better now, because sophomore year, I had a lot of potential but I didn’t play at all,” Hoops said of his approach to mentoring. “We have a good freshman group and they have a lot of potential, so I don’t want them to waste that. And I also feel like, they’re going to be where I’m at in a couple of years.”

Through Feb. 15, Noble was 10-13 and ranked No. 20 in Class 5A, and Hoops is relatively pleased with how things have gone so far.

“There’s always room for improvement, let me just start there,” Hoops said. “We had a great supporting group, we had more seniors than we did last year, so it was a little different, but I think the season has gone by good.”

 

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