Oakland County's Best Boys Basketball Teams of the 2000s

 

No. 4

2007 Birmingham Detroit Country Day

Without a doubt, the '07 Yellowjackets Class B state title run was the best piece of coaching Country Day's Kurt Keener has done in his over three decades on the sidelines. Unlike his other seven state championship squads, this group was not favored to take the title and only finished the regular season with a very mortal 14-6 record. This was also Keener's only ring without the services of an NBA lottery pick (Chris Webber/Shane Battier) or potential NBA first rounder (Amir Williams/Ray McCallum). 

In the state finals, the Keener Kage Krew upset a 25-2 East Grand Rapids team, 66-61, following down-to-the-wire wins in the Elite Eight and Final Four. The '07 team was a well-balanced bunch that loved to share the rock and play team basketball. Keener's rotation was rock steady and contained a number of D1 athletes. Headlining the DCD attack were guards Darnell "D" Brown (Bowling Green), Clayton Beard (N.C. State) and Daryl Nobles (Ferris State). Brown, who was a junior, scored a game-high 22 points in the state championship game.

Sophomore Da' Shonte Riley (Syracuse), a 6-11 center, was a shot-blocking machine and made life miserable for opponents trying to get off shots in the paint. James Nelson (Davenport) was more than serviceable on the wing and overachieved on the glass by crashing the boards so hard. Senior football stud Jonas Gray (Notre Dame), junior guard Dale Brundidge (Wayne State) and sophomore sniper extraordinaire Jordan Dumars (Michigan) made up a solid core of reserves.

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