Chosen from crowded field of candidates, Kaukauna's Jordan McCabe named Mr. Basketball for 2018
JR Radcliffe
The Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association announced its Mr. Basketball winner Friday morning, bestowing the award to Kaukauna senior point guard Jordan McCabe.
McCabe's Galloping Ghosts were slated to play later in the day at the Kohl Center in the WIAA Division 2 state semifinal. The playmaking guard averaged more than 26 points per game, with six rebounds, eight assists and two steals per contest. Next year, he'll become the first Wisconsin prep recruit to play at West Virginia University.
The award is notable this year because of the heated competition for the honor. Most notably, Whitnall's Tyler Herro and Oshkosh North's Tyrese Haliburton were top alternate candidates for the annual prize.
Herro, who cleared 2,000 career points in the final stretch of his illustrious career, is headed to the University of Kentucky. He averaged more than 30 points per game this season for the Falcons (20-5), with close to eight rebounds and four assists per game.
Haliburton, who averaged 23 points, five rebounds and three steals per game, is headed to Iowa State next year and was the leader of perhaps the state's best team — though Kaukauna also has an argument. North (25-1) split with Kaukauna in the regular season, falling by a 94-89 count Jan. 9 and winning the rematch Feb. 16, 88-67.
North was slated to face Sussex Hamilton in the Division 1 semifinal later Friday. Both Oshkosh North and Kaukauna hold the top seed in their respective divisions.
Whitnall was defeated in the playoffs by Pewaukee, led by a huge night from big man Grant Basile, a Wright State commit who would have been an ideal Mr. Basketball candidate in another year. Basile averaged 25 points per game.
The Mr. Basketball Award has been shared by two players three times (2007, 2015, 2016), most recently when Stevens Point teammates Sam Hauser and Trev Anderson shared the award two years ago, and Diamond Stone of Dominican and Henry Ellenson of Rice Lake shared the honor the year before that. It has never been shared among three honorees.
