Before heading to play in SEC, Cedar Grove standout has unfinished business
Manny Green has lived with the disappointment of last year’s state championship loss for almost a year. He has replayed the last few minutes of that game hundreds of times in his mind and never wants to experience it again.
“I’ve used that as motivation to get better,” Green said. “I put that in my heart and I’ve used that with my drive to put in more work and get better.”
Green, a 6-foot-7 senior at Cedar Grove High School, has no reason to blame himself. He helped carry the Saints to the Class 3A championship game. He scored 13 points and gave his team a chance to win its first state title since 1997, losing 39-38 to three-time state champion Sandy Creek.
Although the bad taste lingered — and still does — Green moved on. “It started the next week after we lost,” he said. “We started right back to work.”
The work is showing. The Saints are ranked No. 6 in the state and are coming off a 53-46 Region 5 victory over No. 5 Douglass last week. Green had 14 points — one of three Cedar Grove players in double figures — and five rebounds. The victory was the sixth consecutive for Cedar Grove (12-6, 7-0) and put the Saints in line to win another region championship.
“I’ve been working on my pace and watching a lot of film from the past season,” Green said. “I look at how I’m playing, how I’m rebound, how I’m cutting. I want to know how to play off the ball, learn my different reads and see how my defensive game has gotten better.”
Green has the physique to play tough, as well as the speed and motor to play at a high pace. He can run the floor and has shown the ability to finish at the rim, as well as the consistency to be effective from the midrange — his favorite shot — and beyond.
“That’s the sweet spot,” he said. “That’s like second-nature.”
The 4-star recruit signed with Tennessee over other suitors such as Georgia Tech, Auburn, Cincinnati, South Florida and California.
“Manny has an impressive mentality and a clear love for the game to go along with a natural physicality to what he does on the floor,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “He is part of a successful high school program that preaches toughness and togetherness, two things we really value.”
Green said, “I really like the culture that coach Barnes has built and the way my game fits their game more than any team I’ve seen.”
Last season, Green averaged 18.9 points, the second most in DeKalb County, 7.7 rebounds, shot 65% from the field, 56% on 3-pointers, 3.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocks. He was the AJC’s Class 3A Player of the Year.
Barnes sees a high upside with Green, who is averaging a DeKalb-best 22.9 points as a senior.
“Manny has a great build that we will continue to develop and he has really blossomed offensively but still has (an) upside as both a shooter and a playmaker,” Barnes said. “We are pleased not only about who Manny is now as a player, but also about who he can become down the road.”
But Green’s first goal is to help his team get back to the playoffs and complete the task they started last year. It hasn’t been easy. Coach Camden Terry’s team is young, with only three seniors on the roster. Six of the seven losses have come against to state-ranked competition — Class 2A No. 4 Columbia, 5A No. 2 Alexander, Private No. 1 Holy Innocents’, Private No. 10 St. Francis, 6A No. 2 Grayson and 5A No. 1 Gainesville, against whom they were tied in the fourth quarter.
“That tough schedule helped us a lot going into the new year,” Green said. “It let us see what we needed to work on, going against the top-ranked teams in the country. We got back to film, got back to practice and got back to work.”
About the Author
Stan Awtrey has been covering sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1977. He currently writes about high school sports, Georgia State University athletics and golf.
