Michigan AP D1 Player of Year: OLSM sophomore Trey McKenney

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This article was published 06/04/2023 (940 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ORCHARD LAKE, Mich. (AP) — Mr. Basketball will have to wait. The accolades certainly won’t.

If Michigan’s Mr. Basketball was open to all classes, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s sophomore star Trey McKenney proved this postseason he should’ve been in the conversation — if not the front-runner.

The sophomore’s performances against a gauntlet of Mr. Basketball finalists, in an improbable run all the way to the state semifinals, served notice that McKenney is undoubtedly among the top handful of players in the state.

It certainly did help him win the Michigan Associated Press Division 1 Player of the Year award.

“There’s great players, and then there’s elite,” coach Todd Covert said. “And he’s as good as I’ve seen.”

The Eaglets’ path to their first semifinal appearance since 2006 was through a list of top-ranked teams — from No. 1 Birmingham Brother Rice in the district finals, No. 6 Detroit U-D Jesuit in the regional semis and No. 3 North Farmington in the regional finals.

Each of those highly ranked teams had a Mr. Basketball finalist.

McKenney scored 26 points, including nine straight in a late run, against Curtis Williams and Rice. He posted 30 points and 12 rebounds in a win against Sonny Wilson and U-D Jesuit. And, he scored 26 against Ryan Hurst and North Farmington.

None of the five Mr. Basketball finalists made as deep a run as McKenney and St. Mary’s, and three didn’t make it out of districts.

“I feel like the way I played in the regular season, and in the postseason — I feel like if it was regardless of class — I should’ve won it,” said McKenney of the Mr. Basketball award, which only seniors are eligible to win. “I feel like the work I put in, I’m built for it, so I feel like every game I step up. That’s what I do.”

A .500 team at the end of the regular season, having missed their own conference tournament, the Eaglets continued their improbable postseason run with a win over the defending Division 1 champion, Warren De La Salle, in the quarterfinals, before it ended in a 65-42 loss to No. 4 Muskegon in the semis, a game in which McKenney scored 20 and grabbed 10 rebounds.

The 6-foot-5 wing averaged 25.4 points and 11.1 rebounds for the season, after averaging 16.9 points and six rebounds as a freshman to earn second-team all-state honors from the AP.

The rest of the Division 1 all-state first team includes: Rice’s Williams, U-D Jesuit’s Wilson, North Farmington’s Hurst, Mr. Basketball winner Tyler Jamison of Port Huron Northern, Detroit Cass Tech sophomore Darius Acuff, DeWitt senior Bryce Kurncz, East Kentwood senior Marshaun Flakes, Muskegon senior Jordan Briggs and Grand Blanc senior R.J. Taylor.

Temperance Bedford’s Jordan Bollin is the coach of the year after leading the Kicking Mules to an 18-6 record and a second-place finish in the SEC Red following a four-win season a year ago.