By Ryan Canner-O'Mealy, Special to SI.com, RISE
Dennis Murphy has been coaching basketball for 35 years, including the last 19 as head man at South Medford, and had never seen anything quite like he did this year.
Murphy witnessed overflowing crowds, autograph-seeking fans and national media descend on Oregon's basketball courts to check out some of the best hoops in state history.
The reasons for this rock concert atmosphere can be summed up in five words: Kyle Singler and Kevin Love. Singler, a 6-foot-9, 210-pound Duke-bound small forward, is rated the nation's No. 6 recruit in the Class of 2007 by RISE and is unlike any player the town of Medford had ever seen before.
"I've never had a kid this good and won't have another one again," Murphy says.
Amazingly, Singler wasn't even the best senior in the state. That honor belonged to Love, Lake Oswego's UCLA-bound power forward who's rated the nation's No. 2 baller in the Class of 2007. Together they carried Oregon high school hoops to unprecedented levels. Local fans loved that their state had more players in the Top 10 of national recruit rankings than hoop mecca New York City had in the Top 100.
Before the season started, South Medford sold out all of its reserved season tickets in less than an hour. Every home game was played before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 2,000. And in anticipation of the last home playoff game of the year, fans started lining up at 8:30 a.m. for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
"We got to play on a level we never played on before," Murphy says. "It was exciting because the community really embraced us. It was a real special experience I'll cherish as long as I live."
Meanwhile, up north in Lake Oswego, coach Mark Shoff was experiencing the same thing with Love. "I compare what Kevin and Kyle did for Oregon to what Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did on the national scene when they played in college and the NBA," says Shoff, who has coached at Lake Oswego for 12 years. "When we played in the Les Schwab tournament with South Medford, people waited four hours to watch our games. That's what Kevin and Kyle did."
So it was practically predetermined that South Medford and Lake Oswego would meet again in the state finals this year. As juniors, Love's Lakers got the best of Singler's Panthers in the Class 4A state title game, 59-57.
This year, Singler got even. He led South Medford to a 58-54 win in front of a sold-out crowd of 9,087 at the University of Oregon's McArthur Court in the Class 6A finals. Love scored 37 points, but Singler's 18 were good enough to help the Panthers earn the coveted crown. "It's definitely a much sweeter feeling having to beat the best," Singler says.
Singler's team may have won the ultimate prize, but Love cleaned up the postseason awards. The 6-foot-10, 255-pounder won National Player of the Year honors from Gatorade and Parade as well as the Naismith Trophy and Morgan Wootten Award as the nation's top baller. "People are going to say he was the best ever to come out of Oregon," Shoff says. But while Love won all the national awards, he fittingly had to share Oregon Player of the Year honors with Singler.
Love averaged 33.4 points, 16.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and three blocks per game as a senior, while Singler went for 28.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists. Love ended his career as Oregon's all-time leading scorer with 2,628 points. Singler, meanwhile, finished sixth in state history with 2,207 points.
Before all the hype and accolades, Love and Singler first squared off in a state tournament in seventh grade. Both were exceptional players back then, but neither had any idea it was the start of a classic rivalry.
"I knew he was going to be good," Love says. "I just didn't know he was going to be that good."
In addition to extraordinary talent, both players have bloodlines working in their favor. Love's father, Stan, played four years in the NBA, while Singler's father, Ed, played quarterback at Oregon State and his mother, Kris, played basketball for the Beavers. Both players also have a basketball IQ that's off the charts.
But for all the similarities between Love and Singler, there are some obvious differences. Love is the ultimate low-post threat who thrives close to the basket and is considered one of the best passing big men to come out of high school in years. Singler, on the other hand, is an ultra-versatile small forward who can do it all. He can score from anywhere while racking up plenty of rebounds and assists.
Despite the fact that they're such different players, they're constantly being compared to one another. That got tiring to both players, and the close friends drifted a bit as seniors to carve out their own identities.
"Kyle and I in the past year have kind of gone our separate ways," Love says. "We've been compared so much, I think we've gotten sick of it. But when we see each other, we're having fun, joking around, laughing."
To Shoff, it was just a reflection of both players' competitive nature and will to win. "They grew apart, which I think was a way of saying, 'I want to beat you in the worst way,'" Shoff says.
That desire has manifested itself in the weight room and gym, where both players spend countless hours improving their games. "We kept each other honest, we kept each other working," Love says. "Great players make other great players. You've gotta think in the back of your head that somebody else is working as well."
"Kevin's driven me and I would think I've driven him," Singler adds.
But Murphy thinks both players would have been just as great without the other one.
"Even though they're different types of players, my take is that both of them are very competitive and very talented," Murphy says. "They really want to excel and are hard workers and are driven by who they are."
As Love and Singler take their games to the next level, it's clear who they are -- the two best players in Oregon history.
And for Shoff, Murphy and the thousands of Oregon basketball fans who were along for the ride, it was a trip they'll never forget.
