CINCINNATI, Ohio — The Baylor Bears are celebrating the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship, and they couldn’t have pulled it off without an assist from Ohio.
MaCio Teague had already made a name for himself in Cincinnati high school gyms, but was able to show up on the national stage as well.
What You Need To Know
- MaCio Teague, a Walnut Hills High school graduate in 2015, helped Baylor win a national championship in basketball Monday night
- Teague scored 19 points in the championship game against Gonzaga
- Teague’s high school coach, Ricardo Hill, was able to be at the game in person
- His former teammates said it was special watching him perform on the national stage
Ricardo Hill, the basketball coach for the Walnut Hills Eagles had the opportunity to watch his former player MaCio Teague make history.
“Never had a national champion and it’s just an incredible feeling for us,” Coach Hill said.
Teague scored 19 points against Gonzaga to help his team hoist the trophy. He had a special message to Coach Hill after winning.
“Coach Cardo, I appreciate all you did for me in high school, giving me the confidence to do the things that I do today,” Teague said. “A lot of that goes unnoticed to people but it definitely means something to people like me.”
The dominant performance isn’t suprising to many, especially his former high school teammates.
“It was just amazing to see him out there, doing great,” Marquis Austin, a 2014 Walnut Hills graduate and Teague’s former teammate said. “I just want to see MaCio be great at everything that he does because he deserves it. Like I said, he was always the last one in the gym shooting, he’s always been a fierce competitor. So it just makes me proud seeing him as a teammate, as a friend, as a brother. That’s big.”
For Robby Perry and Caleb Tregre, both members of Teague’s 2015 class, they reminisce about the days in the gym.
“Everyone looked at him as the first look,” Tregre said. “If we needed a bucket, it was MaCio. But it’s not surprising to see him being in that type of spotlight and putting up the amount of points that he had because he works at his craft.”
They say watching him Monday night was something they’ll never forget.
“Now we’ve watched him for two years at Asheville, two years at Baylor,” Perry said. “And he’s been all over ESPN, we’ve seen him on Instagram, Twitter, all these magazines. But I think last night was just a totally different stage.”
“To see him do it last night and get that championship, hold that trophy up, it was, like I said, it was proud to see man,” Tregre said.
Hill said being there in person was the cherry on top.
“It was just rewarding to see how, when he first came as a skinny little kid and now to look at him, he’s buffed up,” Hill said. “And I mean, scoring 19 points in a national championship game in front of the entire world, it’s just huge.”
Now, his former teammates and coach are celebrating for him too.
“We’re all lucky that we get to tell all our friends and family, like hey, we know MaCio,” Perry said. “That’s my guy.”
