When the Champlin Park baseball team came within one game of bringing the school its first-ever state title in any sport, incoming senior McKinley Wright was pleased for his friends on the team, but wished his basketball team would be able to complete the task of delivering the Rebels their first state title.
With the baseball team falling to Wayzata in the Class 4A state title game, Wright’s Rebels may get that chance.
“The baseball team ended up just short, so now it is up to us and the football team,” Wright said. “We return just about everybody from last year’s team, we’re deep and I think we can get the job done.
“We have talked about bringing a state championship here for a long time and I think we have a very good chance to do it this year. We have never won a state championship here at Champlin Park and I think we can be the first to do it.”
Wright is not the only player on the basketball team to believe the Rebels have a chance to complete a state title run next season. Theo John, a 6-foot-9-inch senior forward, also wants to end his Champlin Park career with a state title.
“Our goal is to win a state championship and we want to throw that ball up in the air knowing we won the game and to hold that trophy in our final minute as Rebels,” John said. “We want to go out with a win and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do.
“This is our last year, so we want to be successful and have a good time doing it.”
John and Wright have played together for a long time and the pair hopes to be able to give back to the program that helped them jump-start their basketball careers. John and Wright play for different AAU teams during the summer, John plays with Howard Pulley and Wright plays for D1 Minnesota, but they are looking forward to working together again on the court.
“I have played with him since our early middle school days, so we’re great friends and we go way back,” John said. “You can see that chemistry when we play together.
“We don’t get that situation during the summer, as we play for different associations, but we look to put on a show once the school season begins.”
While bringing home a state championship is on the top goal for John and Wright next season, the pair also has a big decision to make, as each player has yet to announce where he will be attending college next year.
Both John and Wright narrowed their college decision, as John announced his top six schools, while Wright announced his top four schools.
John announced his top schools are the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, Marquette, Oklahoma, Purdue, Illinois and the University of California.
“My relationship with the coaches at those six schools were huge,” John said. “They were the ones calling me the most and they had genuine conversations with me, not just trying to recruit me, but they wanted to get to know me as a person.
“I would come in and be a key player during my freshman year. All schools that recruited me offered great opportunities, but I felt these schools put me in the best position to succeed.”
While he acknowledges the stress provided by going through the process of deciding on a Division I basketball program, John also knows how lucky he is to be able to have the option of playing Division I basketball.
“I know I’m blessed to be going through this experience,” John said. “It gets stressful at times, but it’s not a bad problem to have.
“It’s a lot to think about, but you don’t want to over-think it. You want to pick the place that is right, so I’m trying to figure out where that place is.
“I would have never guessed that I would have been in this situation five or six years ago,” John added. “I have come a long way and I knew I couldn’t have done this by myself.
“From coaches to my parents to other players, they all helped me get to this point.”
John will most likely serve as the Rebels’ starting center next year, but he hopes to enter college as a power forward and, eventually would like to develop to become more of a small forward.
“I want to go to a place that will develop me into the [small forward] or [power forward] type of player that will give me the freedom to shoot the ball,” John said.
Wright, on the other hand, has narrowed his list down to four schools after initially announcing his top five destinations. Wright will have to choose from the University of Minnesota, Dayton, Memphis and Xavier. Iowa State was originally on Wright’s top-five list, but he is no longer considering the Cyclones as an option.
“It was tough to give the other schools a call, because there were so many great ones that offered scholarships, but I believe I picked the best schools for me,” Wright said. “My AAU coach and my family felt that I would fit in well at these schools.
“These four schools are coming on me harder, because now they want to be No. 1. It has some stress, but I’m enjoying it as well.”
While Wright is known as a potent scorer and as a solid defender, there is one aspect of his game that he wants to develop prior to leaving for collegiate basketball.
“I want to be a better leader this year,” Wright said. “I struggled with that at times last year and I got on the guys in ways that didn’t encourage them last year.
“I think I did a lot better during the AAU season.”
Wright also wants to leave Champlin Park as one of the best players to participate in the boys’ basketball program.
“I just want to be remembered here,” Wright said. “I want to leave behind a legacy and create my own path and to be remembered for being McKinley Wright and not anybody else.”
Both John and Wright want to end their Champlin Park careers on a high note by hoisting the state championship trophy, but they also want to do the best they can on the court for the fan base that has continued to support Rebels basketball.
“Playing for Champlin Park has been a blessing,” John said. “Our student section is like a powerful sixth man, they’re known throughout the state of Minnesota, and they give us that extra motivation.”
John and Wright have not announced when they will be making their college decisions, but it is believed that they want to make a decision prior to the start of the boys’ basketball season in November.
Contact Chris Chesky at chris.chesky@ecm-inc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MNSunSports or @SunSportsChris.