By: Colby Wilson, Associate Director of Athletics Communications (Exclusive for LetsGoPeay.com)
As you've likely heard, we don't have any live-action contests to cover at LetsGoPeay.com right now. What we do have is free time; oodles and oodles of free time. Enough free time to swap oodles of emails with various people who would know to create a snapshot of the 10 best players in Austin Peay men's basketball history. Entering the home stretch, we see a Clarksville native who stayed home and made all his dreams come true.
Trenton Hassell could've gone anywhere and done anything he wanted to do after graduating from Clarksville High School. He had his pick of programs across the country.
He elected to remain in Clarksville, near his family and friends, to represent the hometown university. He bet on himself that it wasn't the size of the school that mattered, it was what you did while you there that would get you to the next level.
Hassell was extraordinary during his Austin Peay career. A three-time first-team All-Ohio Valley Conference choice, Hassell was the league's Newcomer of the Year in 1998-99, beginning a three-year career that ended with his number 44 hanging in the Dunn Center rafters by averaging 17.8 points and 9.3 rebounds. He became more involved in ball distribution as a sophomore, posting 18.1 points, 7.4 boards and 5.2 assists in his second all-league season.
A Playboy Preseason All-American going into the 2001-02 season, Hassell kicked things off as MVP at the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska and earning ESPN.com National Player of the Week honors. From there, Hassell put up big numbers (21.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists) and brought home a passel of awards—OVC Player of the Year, Tennessee Sports Writers Association Player of the Year, NABC All-District for a second time and joined Charles "Bubba" Wells as the only men's basketball player in Austin Peay history to earn the OVC's Most Outstanding Male Student-Athlete honor.
In just three seasons, Hassell put together numbers that still resonate at Austin Peay. He finished with 1,626 points (11th all-time) and 685 rebounds (13th), numbers that would've been buffeted by a fourth season had Hassell taken another season in Clarksville.
A 2001 graduate, Hassell became the highest-picked player in Austin Peay history (No. 30 overall) in the 2001 NBA Draft, beginning a nine-year NBA career with the Bulls, Timberwolves, Mavericks and Nets that saw him earn a reputation as one of the league's toughest defenders.
