Whitaker Adds Scoring Milestone, School Record to Remarkable Hoops Rise
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
January 23, 2024
Braiden Whitaker traded sunshine for snow, oceans for Great Lakes and year-round football for basketball.
Despite not playing organized basketball until seventh grade, the Dundee senior has evolved into a 6-foot-5 beast on the basketball court and has the Vikings 13-1 and ranked sixth in the state.
“The passion he plays with is infectious to everyone around him,” said Dundee coach Jay Haselschwerdt. “He brings a lot of enthusiasm to the team. The other players feed off that.”
Whitaker has been outstanding all season, but never better than his record-setting performance last week for the Vikings at home in a nonleague game against Monroe Jefferson.
Whitaker came into the game needing 36 points to reach 1,000 for his career. In the fourth quarter, he started getting close. His teammates kept getting him the ball.
“It was a great feeling,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They helped me out. I started off bad in the first quarter, so I knew in the second half it was time to go.”
Haselschwerdt said Whitaker’s teammates were cheering him on down the stretch.
“As he got closer, the team really wanted him to get to 1,000,” he said. “Hats off to Braiden and hats off to the team for being okay with that. It was a very special night.”
When Whitaker got his 1,000th point, he got emotional. He teared up as coaches, teammates and family recognized his accomplishment.
“It meant a lot to him,” Haselschwerdt said.
Only, he wasn’t done. After hitting another shot and converting a three-point play, he was only a couple buckets shy of the school’s single-game scoring record of 43 points. He got that a minute later, finishing with 44 in the 72-63 victory.
Dundee needed every one of Whitaker’s points to hold off Jefferson. The Vikings started the game missing one starter and during it lost two more to injuries. Jefferson scored 30 points in the fourth quarter and kept the game close.
“When you are 13-1, you are going to get everyone’s best shot,” Haselschwerdt said. “We know that. The kids have stepped up and adjusted their game.”
No one has adjusted his game more than Whitaker.
He grew up in Jacksonville, Fla., where football is king.
“Football is crazy there,” Whitaker said. “You play football year-round. Everyone does. That’s what I did. I was really into flag football at that time.”
In the seventh grade, however, Whitaker’s family moved to Michigan.
“We had family in the area,” he said. “Most of my mom’s family is from the area. My aunt moved into Dundee about a year before we moved up here. I didn’t know much about Michigan. I remember we were looking for a school to go to, and we chose Dundee.”
Whitaker never gave up football. In the fall he was one of the top receivers in Monroe County and has made a couple of unofficial college visits to schools wanting him to play football at the next level. Right now, his options remain open.
“We’re glad he’s here,” Haselschwerdt said. “He wants to go to college in Michigan. He’s got a great friend group. He’s a big part of Dundee life. He is kind of a rock star. Everybody knows him.”
Haselschwerdt said Whitaker has worked hard to rise to this level.
“Basketball wasn’t something he’s dominated since in the seventh grade,” the coach said. “He’s worked on his game. He’s grown by leaps and bounds. He’s become a great player, but it was a lot of hard work.”
Whitaker debuted on the Vikings varsity as a sophomore, averaging 10.1 points per game. Last year he increased that average to around 18 ppg and led the Vikings to a District championship by scoring 12 of his team's last 17 points in a 53-51 win over Ida, including a thrilling dunk in the final moments that sent the Dundee crowd into a frenzy. They mobbed him on the court after the win.
“Everyone loves him,” Haselschwerdt said. “His teammates, the students, the fans. Even the community. He’s that kind of kid. The community has embraced him.”
The previous single-game scoring record had stood since 1959. With this season just past the halfway point, Whitaker has his sights set on a league title, a long tournament run and, possibly, more records.
“Everyone likes breaking records,” Whitaker said. “It was a great feeling to accomplish that."
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Dundee’s Braiden Whitaker throws down a thunderous dunk. (Middle) Whitaker, left, with Dundee coach Jay Haselschwerdt. (Top photo by Mike Doughty; middle photo courtesy of the Dundee boys basketball program.)
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MHSAA Winter Sports Start with Extended Basketball Schedules, New Wrestling Weights
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 13, 2022
The addition of two games to basketball regular-season schedules and a new series of wrestling weight classes are likely the most noticeable Winter 2022-23 changes as an estimated 65,000 athletes statewide take part in 13 sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments.
Girls gymnastics and boys ice hockey teams were able to begin practice Oct. 31, with the rest of those sports beginning in November – including also girls and boys basketball, girls and boys bowling, girls competitive cheer, girls and boys skiing, Upper Peninsula girls and boys and Lower Peninsula boys swimming & diving, and girls and boys wrestling.
A variety of changes are in effect for winter sports this season, including a several that will be noteworthy and noticeable to teams and spectators alike.
Basketball remains the most-participated winter sport for MHSAA member schools with 33,000 athletes taking part last season, and for the first time, basketball teams may play up to 22 regular-season games. This increase from the previous 20-game schedule allows more games for teams at every high school level – varsity, junior varsity and freshman.
Another significant change has been made in wrestling, as the majority of boys wrestling weight classes have been adjusted for this season in anticipation of a national change coming in 2023-24. The updated boys weight classes are 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 144, 150, 157, 165, 175, 190, 215 and 285 pounds. Only 215 and 285 remain from the previous lineup. There is also one change to girls weight classes, with the 255 class replaced by 235 to also align with national high school standards.
A series of notable changes will affect how competition takes place at the MHSAA Tournament levels. In hockey, in addition to a new classification process that spread cooperative and single-school programs evenly throughout the three playoff divisions, the MHSAA Tournament will employ two changes. The Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) will be used to seed the entire Regional round, not just the top two teams, and prior to the start of Semifinals, a seeding committee will reseed the remaining four teams in each division with the top seed in each then facing the No. 4 seed, and the No. 2 seed facing No. 3.
Bowling also will see an MHSAA Tournament change, as the Team Regional format will mirror the long-standing Team Final with teams playing eight Baker games and two regular games at both levels. And as also applied during the fall girls season, there is a new qualification process for divers seeking to advance to Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals. In each of the three divisions, each Regional will be guaranteed 10 qualifiers for the Finals, with six more “floating” qualifier entries to be distributed to the Regionals that have one of the previous year’s top six returning Finals divers in their fields. If a team changes division from the previous season, any floating top-six spots are added to the six already allowed in the school’s new division.
A gymnastics rules change provides an opportunity for additional scoring during the floor exercise. A dance passage requirement was added in place of the former dance series requirement to encourage creativity and a more artistic use of dance. The dance passage requires gymnasts to include two Group 1 elements – one a leap with legs in cross or side split position, the other a superior element.
In competitive cheer, the penalty for going over the time limit in each round was adjusted to one penalty point for every second over the time limit, not to exceed 15 points. The new time limit rule is more lenient than the past penalty, which subtracted points based on ranges of time over the limit.
The 2022-23 Winter campaign culminates with postseason tournaments, as the championship schedule begins with the Upper Peninsula Girls & Boys Swimming & Diving Finals on Feb. 18 and wraps up with the Boys Basketball Finals on March 25. Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:
Boys Basketball
Districts – March 6, 8, 10
Regionals – March 13, 15
Quarterfinals – March 21
Semifinals – March 23-24
Finals – March 25
Girls Basketball
Districts – Feb. 27, March 1, 3
Regionals – March 7, 9
Quarterfinals – March 14
Semifinals – March 16-17
Finals – March 18
Bowling
Regionals – Feb. 24-25
Finals – March 3-4
Competitive Cheer
District – Feb. 17-18
Regionals – Feb. 25
Finals – March 2-3
Gymnastics
Regionals – March 4
Finals – March 10-11
Ice Hockey
Regionals – Feb. 20-March 1
Quarterfinals – March 4
Semifinals – March 9-10
Finals – March 11
Skiing
Regionals – Feb. 13-17
Finals – Feb. 27
Swimming & Diving
Upper Peninsula Girls/Boys Finals – Feb. 18
Lower Peninsula Boys Diving Regionals – March 2
Lower Peninsula Boys Finals – March 10-11
Wrestling – Team
Districts – Feb. 8-9
Regionals – Feb. 15
Finals – Feb. 24-25
Wrestling – Individual
Districts – Feb. 11
Regionals – Feb. 18
Finals – March 3-4
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.3 million spectators each year.