ROYCE WHITE NAMED MR. BASKETBALL OF MINNESOTA

The Mr. Basketball of Minnesota Committee has honored Royce White as the 2009 Mr. Basketball of Minnesota.

"We felt that Royce was a very deserving winner," said Ken Lien, the chairman of the seven-member Mr. Basketball committee. "He is an intense competitor who has worked hard to be the best player. In spite of obstacles he has had to overcome, he has turned himself into a complete and talented player. I think he will do very well at the next level."

The Five Finalists were:

6-7 Mike Bruesewitz, Henry Sibley
6-4 Raymond Cowels, Hopkins
6-9 Sam Dower, Osseo
6-1 Jordair Jett, St. Bernard's
6-8 Royce White, Hopkins

PREVIOUS MR. BASKETBALL WINNERS
2008 - Jordan Taylor, Benilde-St. Margaret's
2007 - Blake Hoffarber, Hopkins
2006 - Isaiah Dahlman, Braham
2005 -Travis Busch, Mounds View
2004 - Spencer Tollackson, Chaska
2003 - Kris Humphries, Hopkins
2002 - Stephen King, Holy Angels
2001 - Rick Rickert, Duluth East
2000 - Adam Boone, Minnetonka
1999 - Nick Horvath, Mounds View
1998 - Darius Lane, Totino-Grace, and Joel Przybilla, Monticello
1997 - Khalid El-Amin, Minneapolis North
1996 - Mitch Ohnstad, Faribault
1995 - Robert Mestas, Minneapolis Roosevelt
1994 - Sam Jacobson, Park (C.G.)
1993 - Skipp Schaefbauer, Elk River
1992 - Brett Yonke, Eagan
1991 - Joel McDonald, Chisholm
1990 - Chad Kolander, Owatonna
1989 - Tom Conroy, De La Salle
1988 - Derek Reuben, Minneapolis North
1987 - Kevin Lynch, Bloomington Jefferson
1986 - Steve Schlotthauer, Mounds View
1985 - Brett McNeal, Minneapolis North
1984 - Tim Hanson, Prior Lake
1983 - Tom Copa, Coon Rapids
1982 - Rob Shelquist, Irondale
1981 - Redd Overton, Minneapolis North
1980 - Jim Petersen, St. Louis Park
1979 - Randy Breuer, Lake City, and Greg Downing, Duluth Central
1978 - Jim Jenson, Bemidji
1977 - Brian Pederson, Prior Lake
1976 - Kevin McHale, Hibbing
1975 - Gene Glynn, Waseca

THE FIVE FNALISTS ARE NAMED FOR MR BASKETBALL OF MINNESOTA

The Mr. Basketball of Minnesota Committee is pleased to announce the Five Finalists for the coveted Mr. Basketball Award for 2009.

This is the 35th anniversary of the Mr. Basketball Award and Ken Lien, who has been involved in the selection process for 33 years, says "the evaluations and the selection process becomes more challenging each year as the talent level has improved tremendously. That's why it is very important that we observe each one of our Finalists several times before making any final decisions."

The Five Finalists for 2009:
6-7 Mike Bruesewitz, Henry Sibley
6-4 Raymond Cowels, Hopkins
6-9 Sam Dower, Osseo
6-1 Jordair Jett, St. Bernard's
6-8 Royce White, Hopkins

These players were chosen from a list of 15 candidates that were released in January. Lien says, "there were many excellent players and the committee observed over 120 games and completed exhaustive reviews on each of them. In the end, we felt these five finalists were outstanding choices for the award and we're very proud to give them their due recognition."

The winner of this year's award will be announced within the next two weeks.

2009 MINNESOTA MR BASKETBALL CANDIDATES ANOUNCED

The List of the 2009 Mr. Basketball candidates has been announced. According to Minnesota Sports Online the list of candidates include a range of players. Considering the dominance of the Hopkins boys’ basketball team, it’s no surprise to see four Royals among the list of 15 seniors in the running for this annual award. The Hopkins players are Royce White, Mike Broghammer, Trent Lockett and Raymond Cowles.

Henry Sibley has two on the list: Mike Bruesewitz and Chris Halvorsen. Here are the rest of the candidates…
Josh Figini, Chisago Lakes
Rodney Williams Jr., Cooper
Sam Dower, Osseo
Tydan Storrusten, Pelican Rapids
Mike Felt, Redwood Valley
Mike Muscala, Roseville
Jordair Jett, St. Bernard’s
Nate Wolters, St. Cloud Tech
Marc Sonnen, Tartan

Five finalists for Mr. Basketball will be named prior to the state tournament and the winner will be announced soon after the tournament concludes. In the past a banquet was held to honor the winner and other finalists but it has been discontinued.