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Detroit Country Day Looks to Make Another Championship Run

The defending state champions face off against Romulus tonight to end their regular season, with an eye on the prize. 'This group really wants to cement a legacy for themselves here at the school with a second title,' coach says.

Greatness in the Detroit Country Day basketball program is measured in state championships. Between the Yellowjackets boys and girls teams, the school has captured a staggering 18 state crowns.

The 2011 Country Day boys squad is making a bid to go down as one of the program’s best ever. As the defending state champion, the Yellowjackets hold a 17-2 record and the No. 1 ranking in the state's Class B division. When the team opens the state tournament next week, head coach Kurt Keener will not just be looking to guide his team to a repeat banner raising, but to personally corral his ninth overall state crown.

Cementing a legacy

Keener, who returned four starters from last year’s championship run, thinks his team has the right mentality.

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“This group really wants to cement a legacy for themselves here at the school with a second title,” he said. “They haven’t lost an ounce of hunger coming off winning it last year and that’s very commendable. At the end of the day, they have a chance of being one of the best teams to ever play at Country Day. And if you know the kind of teams we’ve had here over the years, that would be an impressive accomplishment.”

Last Saturday, the Yellowjackets handily beat traditional state powerhouse Saginaw Arthur Hill, 86-68. In the anticipated tune-up for districts, Country Day wraps up the regular season Thursday night at home against Romulus — ranked No. 1 in the state in Class A — in a mega-clash of prep juggernauts.   

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“It should be an exciting game,” Keener said. “We’ve developed a nice little rivalry with (Romulus) over the last few years and it’s always a hard-fought affair when we go at it. The atmosphere in the gym will be electric and it will be an opportunity for both teams to prepare for the state tournament by testing themselves against the best there is.”

A team led by experienced leaders

Loaded with talent, Keener’s Yellowjackets are deep, athletic and experienced. Third-year varsity players Amir Williams, Chris Fowler, Kenny Knight and Lee Bailey consistently provide leadership, tenacious defense and a boatload of offensive production.

The 6-foot-11 Williams, recently selected a McDonald's All-American, is one of the best post players in the country and is averaging 23 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots per game. Saturday, Williams had a career-high 32 points to go along with his 20 rebounds and five blocks against Arthur Hill.

“We want that repeated,” Williams said after Saturday's game. “Everybody knows that it’s not going to be easy, but I think we’re as ready as we can be heading down the stretch.”

Selected first-team all-state last season as a junior, Williams will continue his playing career next year at Ohio State University.

Rebounding from a knee injury that kept him out of action for close to an entire year, Fowler has emerged as one of the state’s top point guards this season. Against Arthur Hill, he had eight points, 10 assists, six rebounds and four steals.

“It’s easy to be a good point guard when you have the kind of teammates around you like I do,” Fowler said after the Arthur Hill game. “A lot of us on this team have been playing together since we were 10, 11 years old, so we have a familiarity with each other that really translates on the court. I love playing with these guys.”

Bailey and Knight are also football stars who have shown to be solid on both ends of the basketball floor the past three years. .

More than adequately augmenting Keener’s quad of vets is a multidimensional cadre of threats, headlined by seniors Adam Zavadil (guard-forward), (guard), Carter Elliott (forward-center) and junior Jodan Price (forward).

Zavadil, a jack of all trades on the wing, Umansankar, a top 3-point shooter, and Elliott, a rugged banger in the post, were all key contributors to last season’s state title team. The long and smooth-stroking Price transferred to Country Dayin the  fall after playing his first two years of varsity ball at one of the top high schools in Indiana.

A coach with a history of winning

What most impresses Keener with his team this year is its cohesiveness.

“The chemistry with this group is through the roof,” he said. “They just love playing with each other. I don’t know if I’ve had any other team that played as well together as a single unit as this one does.”

That’s high praise from a coach that has almost as many state championship rings as he has fingers. For Keener, trying to navigate a team to a repeat crown is no foreign journey.

During the 1990s, he led teams to three consecutive state titles on two separate occasions. His 1988-91 teams, captained by Chris Webber (who went on to star at the University of Michigan and in the NBA) took home three straight championships, as did his 1994-97 squads captained by Shane Battier (who went on to play at Duke University and in the NBA).

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