Coach Vic's Corner is a weekly series featuring interviews with some of Central Ohio's greatest basketball players in history. Coach Victor Dandridge talks with some of Ohio's legends on the hardwood.

Coach Vic's Corner continues with an interview with Hamilton Township and Ohio University legend Gary Trent. After a storied career at Hamilton Township in the early 1990s, Trent moved onto Ohio University, where he dominated from 1993-95. 

Trent was named the MAC Player of the Year as a freshman, sophomore and junior at Ohio. Drafted No. 11 overall in 1995 by the Milwaukee Bucks, Trent played in the NBA from 1995 until 2004, playing alongside legends like Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki and Tracy McGrady in his career.

Trent is also the father of Prolific Prep senior guard Gary Trent Jr., who is regarded as the top shooting guard in the country, as he is signed to play next season at Duke. 

Let's take a look at what the "Shaq of the MAC" had to say on a variety of topics.

What is the greatest game you can recall from your high school career?

I would say my greatest game in high school was against Toledo Libbey. It was a home game. I had like 37 points, 14 rebounds, 10 blocks and 12 assists. We won. I would say that was my greatest game. It was versus an inner-city school. We only had two brothers on my team. It was a great experience for my teammates. At the same time I knew what time it was.

Who was the best opponent you faced in high school?

For the most part there were not a lot of great post players in high school in Columbus. So I would say that the best two opponents that I faced were Dezjua Townsend (Whetstone) in the tournament at the fairgrounds and Shaun Haghn from Canal Winchester. I didn’t guard either of them as they played a different position. I did play against a lot of cats from the City in the P.A.L (Police Athletic League)

Who was the hardest player for you to guard?

To be honest with you most post players in high school are not that developed unless you get out on the circuit or played in the big time leagues or went to the big time camps! I didn’t play any games against any of the good true post players. Me being at the top of the food chain as a post player, I was the best post player that was out there. So I really can’t come up with a name. I wish I had gotten the chance to play against Ed Jenkins, Samaki Walker or Antonio Watson - people of that caliber, but I didn’t get that chance. So I don’t have anyone I can name as top post player I faced in high school.

Who guarded you better than anyone else?

To be honest there wasn’t a hardest person guarding me in high school. Every night I faced double or triple teams. In high school if you’re a standout player like Dez Townsend, Tony Rice or any type of great guard, you are going to get double and tripled team. There is no one person guarding you! In a 32 minute game I was averaging 32 and 17 so, there was nobody guarding me. Plus I shot 81 percent from the floor. So who’s stopping me? Nobody. There was nobody to guard me.

Is there a particular play or moment from high school that you can recall like it was yesterday?

The particular play that I remember the most was I never finished the last game of my senior year. I went up to dunk the ball. I dunked it so hard I broke the rim. They didn’t have a replacement rim. We were down by 15 with about a minute to play, so OHSAA declared them a winner and I had a technicality loss.

What was your signature move?

When I was in high school I didn’t have any signature moves. In fact I didn’t have any moves. That’s probably why I shot the percentage that I did from the floor. Everything was offensive rebound, dunk, fastbreak dunk, layups, get the ball and take a dribble or two and dunk! I had dunks and powerful layups! That is all I had.

If you could change anything from your high school days what if anything would that be?

If I could change anything about my high school days I would have been more academically focused and taken school more seriously to understand the importance of it. And the importance of how it affects the outcome of my life and peoples' lives overall. I would have been more focused on the academic side to better understand what testing meant and all of those things. From a basketball standpoint, I wish I would have had a player development coach who would have been teaching me moves and teaching me ball handling skills, teaching me dribbling. You know I never ever played basketball on a team until the 10th grade. That was the first time I ever played with officials and referees. Then I played my final two years so I actually only played three years of organized ball before college.

What would you change about today's high school game?

If I could change anything in today’s high school game, I would add a shot clock. All of this dribble dribble dribble pass with no intention to score. Just to pass to avoid the other team having the ball. Passing with no intention of scoring due to a lack of coaches training and developing. I would say add a 35 second or 40 second shot clock because everybody may not be as skilled. But definitely I would like to see a shot clock added. Not everybody is going to college. In fact the majority are not going to college so most don’t feel like that is a necessity for preparation, but at the same time you make people perform better when you make them perform under tougher circumstances, I feel.

In the prime of your high school career how would you fare against today's top high schoolers?

I think that today’s high school players are way longer, more skilled and more athletic because they are introduced to the game way earlier because everyone knows the benefits of it. Everybody is trying to find the next LeBron so people are doing videos and player development of kids at 5 and 6 years old. Whereas 20 or 25 years ago parents weren’t doing that. My parents weren’t doing that. My generation didn’t go through that. So it is fair to say that kids get to watch instructional videos, YouTube everybody has resource to pick up on training tips that my generation didn’t have access to. I think it gives them an advantage over most of the players of my generation. But no matter how much the game changes, aggressiveness, hard work and effort cannot be replaced by anything. So I think I would still perform at a high level. I would still be what I am. In my generation I was a standout so I feel like I would still standout due to the fact that what made me a success are still vital parts of the game. Which was being very athletic. Which was being very strong. Which was being aggressive. Which was playing with a lot of effort. So by those things never changing in any sport, I feel like I would be just as successful in this generation as I was in my own.

What advice would you give to today's high school players?

The best advice I could give high school players of today in any sport is No. 1, to stay on top of your academics! Because if you try to go anywhere in life that is the first thing that will hold you back. Your academics, your GPA, or your SAT/ACT Score. You have to stay academically focused. That’s the most important thing because there will be one day when you no longer play sports anymore. So I would say that is the most important! Secondly, stay working on your craft. Always find a reason, always find a way and always find the time. If you want to be great at it, if you want to be good at it, if you want to be successful at it, you have to log the hours and put the work in. If you don’t want to work at and put the hours in then don’t expect to be worth anything!

Thanks Gary!