USA TODAY High School Sports is unveiling the 2016-17 American Family Insurance ALL-USA Boys Basketball Teams as selected by Jim Halley with input from USA TODAY Sports’ Jason Jordan, high school coaches and recruiting experts.
COACH OF THE YEAR: Jack Doss, Mae Jemison (Huntsville, Ala.)
MORE: FIRST TEAM | SECOND TEAM | THIRD TEAM
PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Name: Michael Porter Jr.
School: Nathan Hale, Seattle
Position: Forward
Height: 6-10
Details: Missouri commit led the Patriots to a 3A state title and 29-0 record. Averaged 36.4 points and 13.5 rebounds a game.
Teammates say my best quality is: Hard work.
Greatest achievement: Winning the Peach Jam championship or winning a gold medal with USA Basketball.
Failure I learned from: My sophomore year (at Father Tolton in Columbia, Mo.), we were the No. 1 team in the state and everybody thought we would win state but we lost in the quarterfinals. From that I learned no matter how high you are projected, you can be beat.
People confuse me with: Jayson Tatum
Favorite class: I like math because I’m great with numbers. Math comes really easily for me.
Outside of sports: A big inspiration for me is my dad. He’s everything I want to be as a man. He’s raised me well. I know I make a lot of mistakes, but he’s always there loving me, teaching me to be better.
I’m likely to sing along to: No Regrets by Lecrae. I listen to it all the time.
Biggest appetite in my family: My youngest brother, Isaac. That man is always hungry.
My best piece on the piano: I just started piano lessons, my best piece so far is Jingle Bells.
Typical breakfast: I am vegetarian. I usually make a big smoothie with two bananas, strawberries, mixed berries, plus eggs and pancakes.
Last movie I saw: Get Out. It was amazing.
Favorite teacher: My mom. I was home-schooled all the way to the eighth grade. This year, I’m doing online curriculum, but back in the day, she would go into full-teacher mode. She was super nice, but if we were doing something wrong, she would let us know.
Funniest thing recently: It’s always rainy here. I wound up driving through a huge puddle and splashing two of my best friends. Got their whole school outfits drenched.
A year from now, I will be: Getting ready to play in the NCAA tournament.
Biggest names on my phone: Steph Curry or Kevin Durant.
Favorite app on my phone: The Bible app.
The ALL-USA Player of the Year next year will be: My guy, Marvin Bagley III.
The deal with actress Madison Pettis: Me and her have talked a little bit. We started following each other on Instagram. One day, I saw she commented happy birthday on one of my pictures. She’s been a kind of a crush of mine for a minute and I had to slide her some DMs. I just said ‘What’s Up’ and somehow she saw it and replied and the rest is history.