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Q&A: McKinley Wright on Gophers Offer: "It means a lot for me and my family."
Q&A: McKinley Wright on Gophers Scholarship Offer: "It means a lot for me and my family."
By Chris Monter
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/641328?referrer_id=
McKinley Wright, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound junior guard from Champlin Park (MN) High, is one of the state's top player in the Class of 2017. Wright is off to a great start with D1 Minnesota this spring and has picked up several new offers, including Minnesota.
Wright averaged a team-best 19.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game this year for the Rebels. He scored in double figures in 26 of 28 games with 13 games of more than 20 points, including a season-best 29 points versus Eden Prairie.
Wright has offers from Minnesota, Dayton, Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Xavier, Sam Houston State, Illinois and Creighton.
Wright attended the Minnesota games versus Nebraska-Omaha and Clemson this past year.
Wright recently caught up with Gopher Hole to take about the AAU season, his latest recruitment and upcoming senior year. .
Gopher Hole: You are getting ready for your last AAU season as you are going to be a senior next season. Is that weird?
McKinley Wright: Oh, yes. Time flies. I remember freshman year like it was yesterday.
Gopher Hole: What are you hoping to get out of this final year of AAU basketball? Obviously, a lot of schools are going to be looking at you and you are going to be narrowing down your list of schools. What are you hoping to accomplish this spring and summer?
McKinley Wright: I'm just trying to have fun with my guys. Get to know them. The only player that I played with last year was Ish (Ishmael El-Amin) and Jericho (Sims). I'm trying to get to know everyone else more, but we have got a good group of guys here, so it should be fun.
Gopher Hole: Do you think that helps that you are familiar with a couple of the guys and that you have played against some of the others?
McKinley Wright: Yes. I get used to it fast. I played against a lot of these guys throughout the high school season and all-star games, so it will be fun.
Gopher Hole: It looks like this team should be one of the best groups, not only in the state, but in the Midwest. What are the expectations for you?
McKinley Wright: On paper, we are one of the best teams in the country. I think that we just have to go out there and prove it. We run with only eight guys, so everybody will get a lot of playing time, but I still think we'll still go out and prove that we are one of the top teams in the country.
Gopher Hole: The past two weekends you have had great success on the adidas circuit in Dallas and Atlanta. How pleased are you with how well you have been playing so far?
McKinley Wright: I am very happy with the way that we are playing. Everybody is playing unselfish. Everybody is sharing the ball. We are just enjoying the team's success and try to get wins.
Gopher Hole: I talked to you a few weeks ago before the start of the AAU season and you said that you hadn't that much from Minnesota recently. They have since offered. Is there something that has changed that or is it just how well you have been playing?
McKinley Wright: I think the level of play that I have been playing at and I think that they were still heavily interested in me. They were just waiting on things in the system clearing up, was what I was told by Ben (Johnson), so once that got cleared up, they offered me right away.
Gopher Hole: I know that freshman point guard Kevin Dorsey announced that he was going to be transferring. Do you think that helped that they were looking at someone at that same position, too?
McKinley Wright: Yes, I think that impacted it a little bit.
Gopher Hole: What does it mean though to get the hometown school offer?
McKinley Wright: It's huge. You always want an offer from the hometown school. It's a blessing. My mom and my family was happy for me, so it means a lot for me and my family.
Gopher Hole: You had a very good junior season and made it to the second round of the playoffs. You and Theo John (a fellow junior with a Minnesota offer) are back. You lost third leading scorer Aaron Kloeppner, but return most of your key players. What are the expectations for Champlin Park next year?
McKinley Wright: We are trying to get back to the state tournament. We fell short this season. We had a group of young guys who stepped up from JV after losing six seniors last year, so it was tough. It was tough going down early, not being able to make the state tournament, but I think that we'll have a good shot at it next year.
Gopher Hole: Is that a motivating factor and something that you have talked about already to get back to state after coming so close?
McKinley Wright: We already had the meeting after we lost, a few days after we lost. We got our guys together after school and we had a meeting, because we are pretty much getting our whole team back next year. We lost three seniors, two of them didn't play much and one of them started, but we are pretty much getting our whole group of guys back, so it will be fun.
Gopher Hole: You have been kind of a leader, even though you were only a junior, Are you going to be even a little bit more of a leader this upcoming season being a senior finally?
McKinley Wright: Yes, I try to stress being a leader a lot. Coach Al (Harris, one of his AAU coaches). Coach Tuch (Champlin Park head coach Mark Tuchscherer). They get on me a lot about it, being a point guard and running the show, so that is something that I need to work on more.
Gopher Hole: What other schools are you hearing from besides schools that have offered you?
McKinley Wright: I am hearing from Oregon, Arizona, Clemson, Georgetown, Virginia Tech and Iowa.
Gopher Hole: I know that you went to Minnesota for a couple of games. What other college games did you get to go to this past season?
McKinley Wright: I went to Iowa State versus Oklahoma game.
Gopher Hole: What do you gain from those experiences of going to college games? Does that show you a little bit of what it is going to be like for you hopefully down the road?
McKinley Wright: Yes. It seemed like a good atmosphere. Fans come out regardless of how well your team is playing. They try to come and support, so it should be fun.
Gopher Hole: When you finally do pick a school, what are going to be the main factors that ake you pick School A over School B or C?
McKinley Wright: I just want to have a good relationship with my coaches. Go to somewhere where I'll fit in. Somewhere where I can help the team win. Somewhere where they need me to fill in that point guard spot for 2017.
Gopher Hole: Have you even thought about when you would even try to decide on a school? Would you try to before the season and sign in the early signing period or have you even thought that far yet?
McKinley Wright: Sometime after the AAU season and before my next high school basketball season. I want to say September or October. Sometime around there.
Gopher Hole: What are the main things have you been working on since the season ended during the spring and summer to continue to improve yourself as a player?
McKinley Wright: Conditioning. Weightlifting a lot and shooting a lot of jump shots each and every day.
Q&A: McKinley Wright on Gophers Scholarship Offer: "It means a lot for me and my family."
By Chris Monter
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/641328?referrer_id=
McKinley Wright, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound junior guard from Champlin Park (MN) High, is one of the state's top player in the Class of 2017. Wright is off to a great start with D1 Minnesota this spring and has picked up several new offers, including Minnesota.
Wright averaged a team-best 19.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game this year for the Rebels. He scored in double figures in 26 of 28 games with 13 games of more than 20 points, including a season-best 29 points versus Eden Prairie.
Wright has offers from Minnesota, Dayton, Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Xavier, Sam Houston State, Illinois and Creighton.
Wright attended the Minnesota games versus Nebraska-Omaha and Clemson this past year.
Wright recently caught up with Gopher Hole to take about the AAU season, his latest recruitment and upcoming senior year. .
Gopher Hole: You are getting ready for your last AAU season as you are going to be a senior next season. Is that weird?
McKinley Wright: Oh, yes. Time flies. I remember freshman year like it was yesterday.
Gopher Hole: What are you hoping to get out of this final year of AAU basketball? Obviously, a lot of schools are going to be looking at you and you are going to be narrowing down your list of schools. What are you hoping to accomplish this spring and summer?
McKinley Wright: I'm just trying to have fun with my guys. Get to know them. The only player that I played with last year was Ish (Ishmael El-Amin) and Jericho (Sims). I'm trying to get to know everyone else more, but we have got a good group of guys here, so it should be fun.
Gopher Hole: Do you think that helps that you are familiar with a couple of the guys and that you have played against some of the others?
McKinley Wright: Yes. I get used to it fast. I played against a lot of these guys throughout the high school season and all-star games, so it will be fun.
Gopher Hole: It looks like this team should be one of the best groups, not only in the state, but in the Midwest. What are the expectations for you?
McKinley Wright: On paper, we are one of the best teams in the country. I think that we just have to go out there and prove it. We run with only eight guys, so everybody will get a lot of playing time, but I still think we'll still go out and prove that we are one of the top teams in the country.
Gopher Hole: The past two weekends you have had great success on the adidas circuit in Dallas and Atlanta. How pleased are you with how well you have been playing so far?
McKinley Wright: I am very happy with the way that we are playing. Everybody is playing unselfish. Everybody is sharing the ball. We are just enjoying the team's success and try to get wins.
Gopher Hole: I talked to you a few weeks ago before the start of the AAU season and you said that you hadn't that much from Minnesota recently. They have since offered. Is there something that has changed that or is it just how well you have been playing?
McKinley Wright: I think the level of play that I have been playing at and I think that they were still heavily interested in me. They were just waiting on things in the system clearing up, was what I was told by Ben (Johnson), so once that got cleared up, they offered me right away.
Gopher Hole: I know that freshman point guard Kevin Dorsey announced that he was going to be transferring. Do you think that helped that they were looking at someone at that same position, too?
McKinley Wright: Yes, I think that impacted it a little bit.
Gopher Hole: What does it mean though to get the hometown school offer?
McKinley Wright: It's huge. You always want an offer from the hometown school. It's a blessing. My mom and my family was happy for me, so it means a lot for me and my family.
Gopher Hole: You had a very good junior season and made it to the second round of the playoffs. You and Theo John (a fellow junior with a Minnesota offer) are back. You lost third leading scorer Aaron Kloeppner, but return most of your key players. What are the expectations for Champlin Park next year?
McKinley Wright: We are trying to get back to the state tournament. We fell short this season. We had a group of young guys who stepped up from JV after losing six seniors last year, so it was tough. It was tough going down early, not being able to make the state tournament, but I think that we'll have a good shot at it next year.
Gopher Hole: Is that a motivating factor and something that you have talked about already to get back to state after coming so close?
McKinley Wright: We already had the meeting after we lost, a few days after we lost. We got our guys together after school and we had a meeting, because we are pretty much getting our whole team back next year. We lost three seniors, two of them didn't play much and one of them started, but we are pretty much getting our whole group of guys back, so it will be fun.
Gopher Hole: You have been kind of a leader, even though you were only a junior, Are you going to be even a little bit more of a leader this upcoming season being a senior finally?
McKinley Wright: Yes, I try to stress being a leader a lot. Coach Al (Harris, one of his AAU coaches). Coach Tuch (Champlin Park head coach Mark Tuchscherer). They get on me a lot about it, being a point guard and running the show, so that is something that I need to work on more.
Gopher Hole: What other schools are you hearing from besides schools that have offered you?
McKinley Wright: I am hearing from Oregon, Arizona, Clemson, Georgetown, Virginia Tech and Iowa.
Gopher Hole: I know that you went to Minnesota for a couple of games. What other college games did you get to go to this past season?
McKinley Wright: I went to Iowa State versus Oklahoma game.
Gopher Hole: What do you gain from those experiences of going to college games? Does that show you a little bit of what it is going to be like for you hopefully down the road?
McKinley Wright: Yes. It seemed like a good atmosphere. Fans come out regardless of how well your team is playing. They try to come and support, so it should be fun.
Gopher Hole: When you finally do pick a school, what are going to be the main factors that ake you pick School A over School B or C?
McKinley Wright: I just want to have a good relationship with my coaches. Go to somewhere where I'll fit in. Somewhere where I can help the team win. Somewhere where they need me to fill in that point guard spot for 2017.
Gopher Hole: Have you even thought about when you would even try to decide on a school? Would you try to before the season and sign in the early signing period or have you even thought that far yet?
McKinley Wright: Sometime after the AAU season and before my next high school basketball season. I want to say September or October. Sometime around there.
Gopher Hole: What are the main things have you been working on since the season ended during the spring and summer to continue to improve yourself as a player?
McKinley Wright: Conditioning. Weightlifting a lot and shooting a lot of jump shots each and every day.
