Oak Hill Academy coach Steve Smith has sent special players to Kentucky

Keldon Johnson was the last Oak Hill Academy player to shine at UK and is now "playing lights out" in the NBA. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Former Oak Hill Academy (Va.) coach Steve Smith sent some terrific players to the University of Kentucky before his retirement after the 2021-22 season and will have Chris Livingston joining coach John Calipari’s team next season.

The first player he sent to Kentucky was Ron Mercer, who was on  UK’s 1996 national championship team and 1997 team that lost to Arizona in the national title game. He was the Naismith Player of the Year at Oak Hill.

“He had a great career at Kentucky winning one title and probably should have won the second one,” Smith said. “He got in foul trouble in the final against Arizona or I still think they would have won.”

“But he had a great career and was a lottery pick (in the NBA draft). Unfortunately he had knee problems that cut his pro career short. He lives in Nashville now and plays golf all the time. If I do move that way I plan to play golf with him a lot.”

Before Livingston, the last Oak Hill player to come to UK was Keldon Johnson — who is developing into a star for the San Antonio Spurs after being a late first-round draft pick.

“Keldon had a great career at UK and is playing lights out in the NBA now,” Smith said. “I knew he would be really good but I did not know that he would be this good this quick. He’s going to sign a big contract soon.”

“He plays so hard. He is not worried about points. He is going to score, rebound, defend because he wants to be a good player. HIs effort and attitude makes him a success.”

Johnson got to play in the last Olympics and Smith believes that helped his development.

“He also got to play a lot right away in the NBA and is playing for a great coach. I really believe he has a chance to be a special player in the NBA,” Smith said.

One of Smith’s favorite players at Oak Hill was Cliff Hawkins, a defensive whiz for coach Tubby Smith.

“He truly loved playing defense. He would get mad if he did not get to guard the best player on the other team no matter what size he was,” Hawkins said. “He could take a team totally out of its offense because he got after it every possession.”

Hawkins played at Oak Hill with Steve Blake (Maryland) and Ron Slay (Tennessee).

“That was probably one of my best teams and we did not have a guy over 6-7,” Smith said. “We were undefeated that year because we just really guarded people. It was the best defensive team in my 39 years at Oak Hill and that was mainly due to Cliff. Then he did the same thing in college for Tubby.”

Other players Smith sent to Kentucky were Rajon Rondo, Doron Lamb,  Jules Camara and Rashaad Carruth.