Caledonia senior Eli King has added another award to his stellar 2021-22 boys basketball season.
King, a 6-foot-2 guard, has been selected as the recipient of the 2022 MBCA McDonald Award. The McDonald Award, presented annually by the Minnesota Boys Basketball Coaches Association, goes to the outstanding senior player of the year in Minnesota.
A total of 30 semifinalists were selected in February and 11 finalists were selected in March for the award. All 11 finalists were presented with a McDonald Award Medal.
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King, who has committed to play college men's basketball at Iowa State University, missed his entire junior season with a knee injury. He rebounded as a senior to help lead Caledonia to a 29-2 record and a third-place finish in the Class AA state tournament.
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“I think he did a great job for us in many different ways,” said Brad King, Eli’s father and Caledonia’s boys basketball coach.
King was named to the All-State Tournament Team for Class AA. He had 35 points, 14 rebounds, 8 steals and 4 assists as Caledonia claimed third place in Class AA with a 74-58 victory against Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta.
King was a final-five candidate for Minnesota's Mr. Basketball award this season and he was an Academic All-State selection. He was also the Post Bulletin Player of the Year in boys basketball.
He filled the box score every game as he averaged 19.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 4.2 steals per contest. The athletic King was the rare player who could provided a season's worth of highlights in a single game. He had more than 10 total dunks in three games at the state tournament.
“I think he did a very good job of asserting himself when necessary and yet letting all the other guys find their way so by the end of the year we were a confident basketball team on many fronts,” Brad King said.
King closes his career with 1,656 points, 671 rebounds, 419 assists and 368 steals. He did not play football at Caledonia as a senior, but King had received Division I offers from a number of schools, including Notre Dame and Stanford.
He finished third in Caledonia in school history in scoring, behind his older brothers Noah (2,575 points) and Owen (2,437 points), both of whom he played with on the varsity level earlier in his career.
“I would definitely say all the state berths and definitely playing with them (his brothers) in the past was always fun,” Eli King said. “I had a blast, and with my dad coaching, obviously it is another special thing.”
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The McDonald Award is named in honor of Bob McDonald, a legendary Chisholm coach. He served 59 years as a high school basketball coach and is the only coach in Minnesota hoops history, and only one of 13 in the nation, to have led his teams to over 1,000 (1,012) victories. McDonald was also known for instilling the values of hard work, teamwork, a strong moral code, and high academic expectations for the students he served on the court and in the classroom.
