MAC Red basketball media day: First-year coaches, league newcomers hit the ground running

Warren Lincoln’s Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 2 state championship win last season not only brought the program its first title, but it also reintroduced Macomb Area Conference basketball to the rest of the state.

For both boys and girls, the MAC has almost been an afterthought when it comes to the MHSAA state tournament.

Prior to Lincoln, New Haven’s 2017 state title was the last trophy to come back to the MAC, and before that you’d have to go back to St. Clair Shores Lake Shore in 1994.

There’s a little more prevalence on the girls side with Warren Cousino (2016), Grosse Pointe North (2008) and Utica (1999) all winning a championship in the last 25 years.

But with Lincoln’s title and teams only getting stronger on both sides, the MAC is feeling rejuvenated and ready to make a name for itself again.

To acknowledge the MAC’s progression, the MAC Red, both boys and girls, gathered Nov. 24 at The Compound Athletics in Sterling Heights for the conference’s first basketball media day in history.

The league welcomed three new schools to the mix with Port Huron Northern and Lincoln joining on the boys’ side and Utica Ford II on the girls’ side. Lincoln and Ford both won the MAC White in 2024.

Along with teams elevating to a new league, first-year head coaches settled into new roles in the case of Utica Eisenhower head coach Madison Ristovski and Macomb Dakota head coach Olivia Savage, who served as an assistant coach for the Cougars last season.

There are many storylines coming out of the MAC this season, but the only one all the coaches are really focused on is seeing their teams compete.

 

Welcome to the MAC Red 

It’s safe to say Lincoln, who won the MAC White last season, isn’t necessarily concerned with the transition to the MAC Red since the defending state champions were going up against the likes of Grosse Pointe South and Port Huron Northern last season while also playing an impressive out-of-league schedule.

The Abes return a ton of veteran firepower in senior all-state players Markus and Moses Blackwell, senior Chris Morgan, and senior Da’Marion Bozeman, while also adding senior transfer Geon Hutchins, a dynamic scorer for Oak Park last season.

Hutchins led Lincoln with 18 points as they defeated Macomb L’Anse Creuse North 68-43 to open the season Nov. 26.

Lincoln has all the tools to make a run at defending its state championship, while Port Huron Northern, who made the jump with Lincoln to the MAC Red, is on a different type of path.

Returning the majority of the team from last season’s 17-6 squad, the Huskies are hoping their youth movement from last season translates to a successful season in 2025.

“We had only one senior on the roster, so 99% of our scoring is back,” Northern head coach Brian Jamison said. “We started five underclassmen.”

Juniors Alex Jamison, Cam Harju, an all-state honorable mention, and Amir Morelan are expected to lead the squad this season and hope to give their coach a better welcome to the MAC Red than when Northern joined his first season over 20 years ago.

“(The MAC Red) looks great with Warren Lincoln winning a state championship and obviously other great schools. Back then it was good too. I don’t know if we were as much of a basketball conference as we were a football conference back then, but it’s definitely evolved into more of a basketball conference. I think it will be one of the better leagues in the state this year.”

Utica Ford, who won the MAC White last season, will be the lone team making the leap to the Red, but it has the talent to immediately compete with senior all-stater Anayya Davis, a Grand Valley State University commit, returning alongside seniors Maria Raciti, Tyra Wright, Emily Leusby and Makenna Bettys.

“I think it will be a good transition for us,” Davis said. “I think the MAC White had good competition, but I think moving up to the MAC Red will have us competing really well.”

Ford  already started its season with a convincing 56-10 win over Utica, who eliminated Ford from the state tournament in the first round of districts last season.

Davis led the way with 17 points for a Ford team who is entering this season with a chip on their shoulder after falling short in 2024.

“I think for all of us, it’s pretty personal,” Wright said.

Other contributors to watch for Ford are senior Vanessa King, senior Violet Anderegg, junior Sabre Williams and junior Claire O’Brien.

 

New coaches leading the charge

After longtime head coach Phil McCune stepped down as head coach after 19 seasons with Dakota, Savage, a Dakota graduate and three-year varsity captain under McCune, is now set to lead the sidelines.

“I’m excited,” Savage said. “We have six returning girls from varsity last year with only one seeing real significant time, but we have a lot of girls stepping up and coming to the plate. I’m excited to see what they can do.”

Dakota opened its season with a 50-31 win over Oxford as junior Brooklyn Garavaglia led the team with 22 points, five assists and seven steals.

Garavaglia, a team captain, will lead the Cougars alongside senior captain Allie Ruggirello, junior captain Addison Burger, junior Meadow Cameron, and a slew of other talented players.

Dakota is coming off a league-winning season that saw the Cougars reach the regional finals, but graduating all-state honoree Samone Andrews and all-state honorable mention Tambre Williams will have Dakota looking for its inexperienced core to step up.

As for Eisenhower, Ristovski, who played collegiately at the University of Michigan, will take over as head coach after serving as the head coach for Sterling Heights Stevenson in 2024, who Eisenhower defeated 56-32 early last season.

“The girls have been pretty welcoming and inviting since I first met them, and they really hit the ground running with everything we’ve been doing. It’s been really great,” Ristovski said.

The Eagles return a strong core consisting of senior Paige Hays, senior Devyn Raymond, junior Gabriella Gojcaj, senior Autumn Reed and junior Natalya Stojcevski.

Ristovski and company are looking to improve on a 10-13 record last season when Eisenhower played well on both sides of the court, averaging 45 points per game and allowing 44.7 points per game, but couldn’t seem to find its footing throughout the season.

A coaching change and some added experience pave the way for a successful season, and Hays said she’s already seeing a difference with Ristovski at the helm.

“I think it’s been very different, but I think it’s a good kind of different,” Hays said. “She came in and just hit the ground running. We’ve been working very hard in practice and giving 110%, because we know that’s what she wants and that’s what we want as well.”

 

Continuing to progress (boys)

For the rest of the MAC Red, it’s about building off last season and climbing the ladder in the league.

Dakota, Chippewa Valley, Roseville and Grosse Pointe South are all teams on the boys side who are looking to fill the void of a talented senior class.

Along with returning varsity players, Dakota should improve on its 12-13 finish last year with the additions of seniors Arnez Sanders and Keylon Jackson, who are both returning from season-ending injuries and will add a much-needed boost on the offensive end.

“Keylon came back from an ACL last year and did not play at all as a junior,” Dakota head coach Paul Tocco said. “He helped us as a sophomore, and then we have another senior in Arnez Sanders, who tore his ACL last year. He did not play as a junior as well. We’re really looking forward to those two getting in the mix and getting back to playing basketball, but really we’re just more than happy to see them out there competing again.”

Other contributors for the Cougars will be junior Brayden Lee, senior DeKovan Thomas — who’s coming off 26 points in a 61-59 win over Utica Ford — junior Tovin Williams, senior Brayden Swanson and freshman Alex Mikanga.

Chippewa Valley is hoping to fill the void of a large 2024 senior class to the best of its ability, having graduated Adrian Kosznicki, Jordan Wright, Donovan Harris, Rayshaun Hester and Joshua Anderson.

Graduating seniors is tough on its own, but trying to replace players who valued the defensive side of the game as much as this group did is a tall task.

“They’re still trying to adapt,” Chippewa Valley assistant coach Corey Gray said. “We have a lot of athletes on this roster, and obviously they can all score the basketball, but we’re still getting there with buying into defense. Their intensity is up.”

Chippewa Valley defeated Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse 67-42 in its season opener courtesy of 18 points from junior Brandon Bellante, while senior Justin Gloster (Clinton Township Clintondale transfer) chipped in 10.

Junior Joshua Johnson, who played a key role in Chippewa Valley’s run to the regional finals, and junior Jaden Brown are also expected to pace the offensive effort.

The Big Reds are hoping to capitalize on the state tournament run that put them head-to-head against Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, who came out with the 76-44 victory.

“To play a major school like Brother Rice, where everyone knows who they are, you got to come to learn,” Bellante said. “That’s a huge game. Our goal is to get back there and get past that. Chippewa has never gotten past that regional final game, so we just want to get there and be better.”

Roseville, who opened the season with a 70-54 win over Utica Eisenhower, will look for some players to step up in the scoring department after graduating all-state honorable mention Jalen Mosley and Anthony Scott, but the Panthers return a solid core from their 14-9 season.

The offensive unit will lean on senior Todario Payne, senior Kyle Reeves, junior Ryan Davis and junior Darius Payne as Roseville looks to capture a league title after finishing in second behind Grosse Pointe South — who is dealing with losses of its own — last season.

South will lean heavily on sophomore Kooper Richards, senior Tory James, senior Vincent Vachon, senior James Michelotti, and freshman Jamison Spratt after graduating all-state guard Karter Richards.

“It’s just kind of making sure that everybody is going to distribute the ball and everybody is going to do their own part,” Michelotti said. “We think we have a lot of guys that can score and a lot of guys that can make plays and do a lot of things.”

Kooper Richards has already exploded out the gate, scoring 19 and 20 points in the first two games as South holds a 3-0 record with wins over Romeo, Detroit Loyola and Utica Eisenhower.

South is also coming off an incredible football season, which featured both Vachon and Michelotti taking the field for the Blue Devils, and Vachon said he expects the momentum to carry over to basketball as South looks for its third-straight league title.

“It’s just Grosse Pointe South’s culture,” Vachon said. “South usually isn’t a team to do a lot of things for football, and we kind of set the tone this year. A lot of underclassmen can look up to this season and see that if you have a good group of guys that come together that you can do whatever you put your mind to.”

 

Continuing to progress (girls)

Grosse Pointe North and South are both looking to make some noise this season, especially with the Blue Devils returning the majority of their squad from last season.

Senior Maddy Benard, a returning all-state honoree and Wayne State University commit, will pace the offense alongside senior Catherine Pattie, junior Morgan Duff, sophomore Clara Bachert, freshman Evelina Baer and a core of other returning players.

South has hovered around the .500 mark since improving on a 4-18 record in 2022, but Benard said she expects this team to surprise people because of one key factor.

“I think it will be our depth this year,” Benard said. “We have a lot of new girls and a lot of returning girls, so starting off where we ended last year will be really helpful.”

Outside of South’s strenuous nonconference schedule consisting of West Bloomfield, Riverview and Detroit Country Day, South will also look to earn its first win over Grosse Pointe North since March 26, 2021. The Norsemen have been 8-0 against South since then.

North returns with a different look than the past few dominant teams with a lack of depth being a cause of concern for head coach Gary Bennett, who is three wins away from 700 career victories.

North will rely on returning veterans junior Eva Borowski and sophomore Ella Richardson to help fill the void of 2024 graduates Natalie Babcock, Jenna Winowiecki and Julia Liagre.

“There’s definitely a lot of pressure knowing we’re going to be the main scorers, but I think we’re ready for it,” Borowski said. “We’ve been preparing for this moment, and I think we’re ready to take on the challenge.” 

Other contributors for the Norsemen will be sophomore Aakanksha Nagori and freshman Emma Barr.

Although young and inexperienced, North is keeping its head up as the season begins, already picking up a 40-29 win over Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett in the season opener.

“I think just having a positive attitude on things, but we also work really hard on defense,” Borowski said. “That’s our main topic to focus on. Everyone works hard every day and pushes each other. I think our defense is really what puts us above the rest.”

Returning a strong core of senior Ava Weber, senior Madison Bezenah, junior Mariah Turner and sophomore Brooklyn Ware, Port Huron should improve on its already impressive 16-8 record last year.

Head coach Chris Huss will have another year under his belt after serving his first season with the Red Hawks in 2024, while freshman Karmea Jordan will be an added bonus on the offensive end as well.

With the returning firepower, expect Port Huron to improve on its third-place finish and 5-5 record in the league last season.