Recruiting Report: 2019 Mario McKinney
2019 Mario McKinney was dominant from start to finish for Vashon High School in a victory over Benedictine in the St. James Invitational on Friday afternoon. He opened the game with two straight steals that led to two easy fast break finishes and tallied a total of 5 steals during the game. All day Friday he showed off his speed and how easy it is for him to get up and down the floor. He can get to the basket very well with the ball and there was very little Benedictine could do to stop him penetrating. He finished with 15 points and was also able to get his teammates involved with some buckets finishing with 4 assists.
Overall, he is a guy that can get to the basket very well, he can shoot from pretty much anywhere on the court, he can find his open teammates and is a dog on the defensive side of the ball. Everything that he does well on the court has made for a fun junior season so far, “The season is going real good, we are 16-4, traveling going around playing some of the best teams around the country so it is a lot of fun.”
Recruitment is heating up for him and there are a certain number of schools that are sticking out to him, “Missouri, Kansas State, Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, Saint Louis, Xavier, Iowa.”
He has a good relationship with Missouri which is right at home for him, “My relationship with the coaching staff is very good, my relationship with the players are good. I took a couple of visits up there and I got a chance to talk to some of the players and coaches, I got to build a relationship with them, so it is fun.”
He mentioned that he would like to visit Illinois soon, “I am planning on taking a visit to Illinois at the end of the season. That is probably going to be the only visit I take at the end of the season and the rest I will take probably in the summer.”
He explained to us that he has a solid relationship with the staff at Iowa, “I have been talking to the staff, we have a really good relationship, we text almost everyday.”
He is impressed with the season that Purdue is having and that is catching his eye, “I actually saw them play and they look real good. The coaches are recruiting me really hard so I might try and take an unofficial visit there.”
Michigan is currently 24th in the AP Poll and that has caught McKinney’s attention, “I talk to the coaches there, they want me to get up and see the campus so I need to take a trip there.”
He has taken an unofficial visit to Xavier, “I have taken a visit there and it is a nice campus.”
Another school that McKinney talks to almost everyday is Saint Louis, I talk to the coaches there almost everyday. Coach Corey Tate and I are real close, I have been knowing him since I was little so the relationship that we have is real good.”
Obviously there are still a lot of schools involved with McKinney right now so he is in no rush to make a decision, “I will make my decision before my senior season, probably after Peach Jam.”