Michigan Basketball: Brandon Johns' Coach — 'He's Special, A Stat-Stuffer'
The next official basketball game East Lansing (Mich.) High four-star power forward Brandon Johns plays will be in a Michigan uniform.
His high school career came to an end last night at Lansing Eastern’s Don Johnson Fieldhouse, where his Trojan squad fell to West Ottawa in the Class A state quarterfinals, 58-55.
Johns had a solid game — 19 points, five rebounds, three assists — but it wasn’t enough for his East Lansing crew to advance to Friday’s state semifinals at the Breslin Center.
“One of the hardest parts about the postseason is that you’re probably going to run into your last game at some point,” head coach Kevin Mayes said. “I thought we did a better job in the second half of attacking the paint and getting Brandon some touches inside, but it’s just tough when these kids work so hard…
“When you get to the last Saturday or Sunday, there’s only going to be four champions — one in Class A, B, C and D. It comes to an end for most teams at some point.”
Although Johns and East Lansing had an outstanding season that culminated with a 22-4 record, it had to overcome a major obstacle in late February.
Head coach Steve Finamore was suspended from the team on Feb. 22, and then subsequently resigned altogether just four days later on Feb. 26.
That’s when Mayes took over, and he explained how the losses hurt even more as the head man, as opposed to just an assistant.
“It’s rough,” he admitted. “When you see your boys who have worked their tails off after a loss, it’s hard as an assistant coach. Now as a head coach, I feel like there’s more weight. That weight in your heart and in your chest is a little heavier now than it usually is.”
Any season-ending loss is always toughest on the seniors, but Mayes explained that he wants them to realize how special their achievements were this season.
“Our senior class definitely left a legacy,” the Trojan head coach said. “As I look at the last 17 years that I’ve been here, they’ve won the most games in a four-year span of any team during that time.
“We’re going to figure out the statistics of some of our all-time scorers this offseason, and I think we’re going to find that Brandon was a stat-stuffer. What he’s done the last four years here — I don’t think that will ever be duplicated. He’s the kind of player who would always pass to the open guy … he’s such a special kid.
“When you’re talking about the seniors specifically, they endured some controversy this year [with the coaching change] and still got to over 20 wins and a quarterfinal. That's special.
“One of the jobs as a coach is to provide perspective. We’ve got 15, 16, 17-year old boys and we want them to realize how awesome this is. This school hadn’t been on a run like this since the 2007-2008 season, and that team only won 18 games when they made it to the Breslin that year. We want our guys to realize they had excellent four-year careers.”
Fortunately for Johns, a whole new chapter of his playing career will begin next November when he steps on the court for the first time as a Michigan Wolverine.
East Lansing head coach Kevin Mayes
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