Whitlock and Johnson add to their trophy case

wo of Minnesota’s finest, Nasir Whitlock of DeLaSalle High School and Tessa Johnson of St. Michael-Albertville were recently named Mr. and Miss Basketball last week.

Whitlock, a 6’2” guard headed to Lehigh University, averaged 26.7 points per game while leading the Islanders to runnerup in the Class AAA state championship.

Johnson, a 5’10” guard, who has committed to the University of South Carolina, led the Knights to Class AAAA girls state championship while averaging 23.3 points per game.

The awards, which recognize the top boys and girls basketball players in the state, were announced after the 2022-23 season.

Both Whitlock and Johnson were also named the boys and girls Metro Player of the Year re- spectively by the “Star Tribune.”

Johnson also played in the McDonald’s All-American game, an annual contest fea- turing the top girls basketball players in the nation.

Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mcdeezy05@gmail.com.

NBA Coach of the Month Jacque Vaughn (Brooklyn Nets) is one of 11 Black head coaches in the NBA this season. After a 12-year playing career– the 27th overall pick by Utah in 1997–he is one of five NBA clubs with a member of the 2007 NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. He got into coaching as an assistant coach with San Antonio (2010-12), then became a head coach at Orlando (2012-15) and served as the Nets head coach for 10 games during the 2019-20 season, going 7-3, and guided the team to the playoffs.

Vaughn was elevated to acting head coach in November 2022, and Brooklyn removed the interim tag almost a week later. He earned his first Coach of the Month honor in December, leading the Nets to the winningest month in franchise history and the league’s best record for the month (121). According to Elias Research, his 30-10 start is the best 40game start to a coaching tenure in franchise history, and during that stretch, Vaughn notched his 100th career win.

“I’m just doing my job on a daily basis,” Vaughn told the MSR after a win at Minnesota in March. “I appreciate the opportunity to see how long I can do this thing. I love being around the game. I love coaching.

“I love pushing the group and am fortunate to be around this game for a long time and want to continue as a coach at this time. I think I’ve been able to stay curious, and been able to adapt and to be interested

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