Broken Wrist Doesn't Break Season
March 29, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Never has a basketball player looked forward this much to shooting an airball.
That’s what Carson Vincent is expecting two months from now, when he gets to fire with his right hand again, just like he has most of his life – until breaking a bone in his right wrist during a 7 on 7 football drill at the end of last summer.
It’s incredible how much would’ve been lost if the Ovid-Elsie senior hadn’t been unknowingly tough and uncommonly flexible.
Vincent played a full season of football not knowing how badly he’d injured his wrist. Once he learned of the break in late November, he decided to play on – learning to shoot with his left hand and finishing his career as the Marauders’ second-leading score all-time while leading them to their best season in 25 years.
And the 6-foot-5 forward saw a clear parallel in the shared team and individual successes.
“It’s the same answer for both,” Vincent said. “Individually I wasn’t doing it for me; I was doing it for the team. I knew they wanted me out there, my family wanted me to be out there, and I wanted to be part of everything.
“The reason the team did well is we all wanted each other to be successful, to win a championship, to see each other happy.”
Ovid-Elsie finished 18-5 this winter, first in the Tri-Valley Conference West and as a Class B District champion. The league title was the program’s first since 1984, and the District its first since 1994.
Individually, Vincent began the winter coming off an all-state season as a junior, when he averaged 17.7 points and eight rebounds per game and set a school record for field goal percentage at 60.8.
With only 20 percent mobility in his dominant right hand, he was forced to become ambidextrous. “Amazingly” – to agree with coach Josh Latz’ description – Vincent upped his scoring to 20.4 points per game, grabbed 7.7 rebounds and added 2.1 assists, a block and a steal per game – and broke his school record by making 62 percent of his shots from the floor.
Vincent learned to shoot free throws left handed and became a better ball handler as well. Despite being able to throw up only an occasional floater right-handed, he became the third 1,000-point scorer in school history and finished with 1,026 points, 441 rebounds, 86 blocks, 74 assists and 60 steals over a three-year varsity career.
“Carson's toughness and resiliency this season was incredible. To be able to accomplish the things he did individually, with the hand he was dealt is remarkable,” Latz said.
“His biggest growth was as a teammate with his unselfishness to put teammates and team success ahead of his health and well-being. That being said, the successes we had as a team were in direct correlation with Carson's leadership and the example of physical and mental toughness he set for us.”
Vincent knew exactly when he was injured. He caught a touchdown pass running backward during that 7 on 7 about a week before the start of practice at the end of summer, and he fell – catching himself by falling directly on the wrist.
Despite some pain, he started football practice and did all the drills. A receiver and cornerback, he noticed when he dropped some passes he’d otherwise pull in – but he still helped the football team to a 7-3 playoff season.
On the day of the basketball team’s preseason scrimmage, he had the wrist checked out by a doctor who helps out with the Marauders. Diagnosis: broken and shifted bones. But Vincent already had made it through football season and decided to put off surgery until he could no longer manage the pain. He played in the scrimmage that day, although he couldn’t bend the wrist. He tried taping for a while, but gave up on that quickly because it just didn’t feel right.
And the difficulties didn’t come just at practice. Writing was doable but made his arm tired. Eating, even out of a bowl with a spoon, was not as easy as it would seem. Driving was a challenge for a bit. Sometimes he couldn’t open a door. He couldn’t shake people’s hands.
“Sometimes I’d get down on myself. Sometimes it’s frustrating,” Vincent said. “Before I went to the doctor’s office, I knew something was wrong with it – I wasn’t numb to the fact. Once I got told, obviously it was upsetting. All the what-ifs happen – what happens if I fall on it, will I be able to play, what if the pain is too much one day? It was really sad, but I got through it. I took it one day at a time. I wasn’t thinking about a week from now. I just got through what I could.”
He did sit out some parts of practice. Latz would pull him out of games to be cautious, but Vincent would ask right back in. A few opponents knew because they were Vincent’s friends, but mostly the team kept the injury an internal secret.
The Marauders’ season ended in a Regional Semifinal loss to Bridgeport on March 12, and three days later Vincent had surgery that included inserting bone from elsewhere in his arm and putting in a screw to hold everything together.
He’s wearing a cast now, and will switch to a splint in four weeks. He’s missing his track team’s first three meets, but will return after spring break next week – he runs the 200, 400 and on the 800 and 1,600 relays.
He’s planning to play college basketball. He has Division III opportunities and could also play at the junior college level to start out. Wherever he ends up, he’ll bring a much more well-rounded game – a lot of good that came out of what could’ve been a sad situation.
“First of all, (even without hurting) my wrist, if someone would’ve asked me if my team would do this, I would’ve told them I honestly don’t know,” Vincent said. “That alone surprised me. … It’s all shocking to me, to be able to do as good as a team, and I was able to do good individually also.
“Before this I was good left-handed, but I easily could say right-handed I was better. Now, honestly, my left hand is better than my right hand. I’ve learned new moves, I can do right and left hand now. Obviously I wish I hadn’t broken my wrist. But there were a lot of benefits to my game. I’ll take the good things and move on from it.”
Geoff Kimmerly joined the MHSAA as its Media & Content Coordinator in Sept. 2011 after 12 years as Prep Sports Editor of the Lansing State Journal. He has served as Editor of Second Half since its creation in Jan. 2012. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Barry, Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare and Montcalm counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Carson Vincent chases down a loose ball against Bridgeport this season. (Middle) Vincent throws down a dunk against Ithaca. (Photos courtesy of the Ovid-Elsie boys basketball program.)
Basketball Takes 'The Judge' Worldwide, Home Again as Love of Game Lives On
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
August 13, 2026
He’s been everywhere, man.
Antoine Joubert, one of the best-known high school basketball players to come out of Michigan during the 1980s, has retired as a day-to-day basketball coach, but still gives back while continuing his lifelong dedication to the sport.
From being one of the most heavily recruited high school basketball players in the state, to playing four years at the University of Michigan and being drafted by the Detroit Pistons, to more than a decade of playing professionally overseas and in South America, Joubert remains humble and a fan of the game that has brought him so much in life.
“All of these things happened in my life because of basketball,” he said.
Joubert, who lives in Farmington, retired after the 2023-24 season after spending more than a decade coaching at Oakland Community College. He continues to host basketball camps – something he has done since 1992 – and has operated an AAU basketball program known as The Judge’s Court since 2006.
“The Judge” got the nickname from his older brother long before he was dominating opponents at Detroit Southwestern High School.
“My brother gave me that nickname,” he said. “I was in the locker room after a game and the media heard him call me that, and it stuck. ‘Here comes The Judge.’”
Joubert graduated in 1983 from Detroit Southwestern. He was Michigan’s Mr. Basketball Award winner and a McDonald’s All-American and recruited by nearly everyone from Indiana to Kentucky to UCLA before choosing Bill Frieder and Michigan.
As a high school junior, he averaged 30 points a game. He was even better as a senior, averaging 31.3 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists per contest. In his team’s 1983 Class A Semifinal, he scored 44 points. Two days later he scored 47 in the championship game against Flint Central, a tough 84-80 loss by the Prospectors that still ranks as one of the greatest Finals performances in state history.
“I was trying so hard to win that game,” Joubert said. “It was tough. Flint Central was a tough team.
“Playing in Michigan back those days was really great. The basketball was great, and there were some great coaches throughout the state. We’d go to camps and go play all over. We knew everybody, from Battle Creek to Lansing to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Traverse City. There was great basketball all over, and the kids all knew one another. I’ll never forget my high school career. I really loved it.”
Detroit Southwestern coach Perry Watson had coached Joubert’s uncle.
“He was like family,” Joubert said. “I knew him from when I was really young. He could play, too. He was a good ball player.”
The early 1980s were before the explosion of travel basketball, AAU programs and summer camps and shootouts. Joubert said while he did attend a few camps, including a national event in Indiana, he refined his skills at the Boys Club in Detroit and the legendary St. Cecilia gym that was a stopping point for some of the all-time greatest players from Michigan, from Dave Bing to Magic Johnson.
“That’s where our summer leagues were,” Joubert said. “Those were some great times.”
As his stock rose nationally, he was able to play against high school players like Patrick Ewing and Doc Rivers.
“That really opened my eyes to a lot of things about how tough basketball is,” he said.
He remembers some tremendous battles in the Public School League as well.
“That was a rough league at the time,” he said. “I mean, the talent that came through Detroit was amazing. Every PSL school had two or three guys that were going on to play Division I or Division II basketball. It was so competitive and they had really good coaches, guys that cared and helped players back then.”
Watson helped forge Joubert’s game, but it was his brother, Ezekiel Joubert Jr., who was perhaps Antoine’s greatest influence. He’s also who gave Antoine the nickname Judge, which stuck and continues to live on to this day.
“He was five years older than me, so he put it on me more than a few times,” Joubert said. “I wanted to be like him and do everything like him in sports. Once I could beat him, I thought I could beat anybody in the world.”
While Joubert gravitated to basketball, his first love in sports was baseball.
“That was the first sport I was really good at,” he said. “I had letters from the Tigers, the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox at 15 years old. Then, I stopped playing.”
After high school, he took his talents to Ann Arbor. His teammates during his four years included Roy Tarpley, Gary Grant and Glen Rice. He was a starter beginning his freshman season and twice was named honorable mention all-Big Ten.
Joubert was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the sixth round of the 1987 draft but injured his knee during training camp and was released. He was signed by teams from a variety of leagues but found a home when he went to Belgium. In 1990 he went to Mexico to play and made that league’s all-star game. In 1992 he played in Venezuela, where he earned league MVP honors.
“I got lucky,” he said. “My career took off.”
While playing in Europe, Joubert said he got a firsthand look at 7-foot players who could dribble like guards and shoot 3-pointers.
“I could see where the NBA was going to be, and that’s what it is like today,” he said.
Thanks to basketball, Joubert travelled the world.
“It was great. I played in Belgium, France, Spain, Poland, Italy, all through South America, Venezuela, Mexico, in Asia. Ball took me all around the world. I visited Egypt and Africa. I visited Jerusalem and Israel. I mean, I’ve been everywhere. I learned so many other languages and other cultures and made so many friends. It was all because of basketball. I got to travel the world and see how beautiful the world is.”
Because of basketball, he also got an education. He has a master’s degree.
“Basketball has meant a lot to me, still does,” he said.
After retiring as a player, Joubert returned home and started his AAU program. Soon after, he was hired to coach men’s basketball at Oakland Community College.
“It was challenging,” he said. “But I loved it, loved helping kids. I had players that played for years overseas and kids that are really doing well in life. It’s a blessing to see them grow up and become men, get their degrees and move on.”
Joubert remains a big fan of basketball – especially high school basketball.
“I go to games all of the time,” he said. “I love the tournaments and spending all day in the gym, talking to my friends and watching basketball. I’ll travel. I’m really enjoying myself.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Antoine Joubert puts up a shot during his highlight-filled career at Detroit Southwestern. At right, Joubert coaches Oakland Community College’s men’s basketball team. (Middle) Joubert finished his tenure at OCC in 2023-24. (Southwestern photo courtesy of the Detroit News. OCC photos courtesy of the OCC athletic department.)