Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (3) and the Greeneville Greene Devils took on the Jackson South Side Hawks in the TSSAA Class 3A state championship at Murphy Center on Saturday, March 19, 2022, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Greeneville boys won 77-48. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY MIKE BLACKERBY
Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s high school basketball career was the thing of legends.
Despite all of his staggering accomplishments, you still get the feeling that the Greeneville standout is just getting warmed up.
After his stunning growth and development at the high school level, Gillespie’s trajectory moving forward in college at Belmont appears limitless.
The 5Star Preps Boys Basketball Player of the Year for the second season in a row, the 6-foot-1 senior guard leaves one of the top legacies in Tennessee prep history.
Gillespie led the Greene Devils to back-to-back state championships – first in 2A two years ago and then this past season in 3A.
He finished his Greene Devils career with a school-record 2,129 points.
Gillespie was named 2021-22 Mr. Basketball in Class 3A. He was a Mr. Basketball finalist as a junior.
He won two state tournament MVP awards.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie (3) and Greeneville topped South Side in the TSSAA Class 3A State Championship at Murphy Center on March 19, 2022, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Photo by Danny Parker)
Greeneville coach Brad Woolsey said Gillespie certainly did his part, but he was also surrounded by great teammates.
The Greene Devils were a combined 88-18 over the past three seasons.
“When you think about his legacy you think about a couple of things,” said Woolsey.
“One, he has the God-given ability but he put in a lot of hard work to get where he is.
“Two, he was just a good teammate and a good kid to coach. The success we had, a lot of it was our kids willing to play for each other.”
Gillespie put up prodigious numbers as he led Greeneville to a 31-6 record and a 77-48 drubbing of Jackson Northside in the 3A state championship game.
He averaged 27.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 3.0 steals a game while shooting 40.4 percent from 3-point range and 78.5 percent from the foul line.
Gillespie averaged 26.3 points a game during his MVP performance at the state tournament.
Individual accolades are great, but Gillespie said it was all about the team.
“What I’ll remember is really just how close of a team we have,” said Gillespie.
“We’re all close and we all grew up together. It’s really just about championships.”
Gillespie said he has nothing but fond memories of playing basketball at Greeneville, save for one thing.
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The Greene Devils were denied the opportunity to play in the state tournament during Gillespie’s sophomore season when COVID cut the year short.
“I really wish we could have played that tournament,” said Gillespie. “If we could have played we might have gotten three (state championships) in a row.”
Gillespie and fellow senior Reid Satterfield both scored more than 2,000 points during their careers and were the cornerstones for Greeneville’s memorable run.
“Kobi and Reid did a great job of feeding off each other,” said Woolsey.
“It was just beautiful to watch them in sync when they played together.”
Now the focus for Gillespie moving forward shifts to Belmont.
He aims to be an even better player in college.
“Being a point guard I need to talk more and work on my leadership,” said Gillespie.
Woolsey said he has no doubt that Gillespie will be a star in college.
“When I look at what he can do, he’s explosive and he can score at every level,” said Woolsey.
“At Belmont he’ll have a chance to really grow and thrive there. Ultimately I know he would like to play professional basketball for a living, and I think that’s a real possibility.”