Dettbarn's 25th season at MFL turning out to be special

MONONA - Eric Dettbarn hasn't talked much to Raef LaFrentz over the years. They've just never met up.

“I'd like to see more of him, actually,” Dettbarn said.

You might remember Dettbarn as the guy who coached LaFrentz's MFL/Mar-Mac teams to the boys' state basketball tournaments in 1993 and 1994. While Raef went on to star collegiately at Kansas and make $84 million over a decade-long NBA career, Dettbarn is still toiling away in northeast Iowa, teaching fourth grade and continuing to coach hoops.

He recently notched his 300th career victory, with his team presenting him with a commemorative team-autographed basketball. It's his 25th season, one that's turning out to be really special in a lot of ways.

MFL/Mar-Mac is 13-1 and No. 8 in Class 2A. It's believed to be the first time the school has been ranked in the Associated Press poll since 2001, the last time it won the Upper Iowa Conference.

“We've got a group of kids that have played a lot of basketball,” Dettbarn said. “They've played basically from November into hopefully March. They just really like it, love to play the game.”

It's a group that includes Dettbarn's son, Dalton, a 6-foot-2 senior guard. But the coach says all of his players are like sons because he's known them and mentored them basketball wise since they were in elementary school.

Junior C.J. Mason leads the team in scoring at 16.3 points per game, with fellow 6-foot-3 forward next at 11.6. Dettbarn averages a shade under 10 points per game, and Mason's younger brother, Cody, follows him at 8.2.

The only loss has been to Class 3A Decorah early in the season, a game point guard Carter Snitker got injured in and played limited minutes. MFL/Mar-Mac has won all 11 of its UIC games by an average of 30 points.

By the way, Dettbarn said LaFrentz lives in Adel but is planning on building a home near Decorah. His parents still live in Monona.

“Man alive, that was a long time ago,” he said of those mid-90s teams. “It doesn't seem like it, but it was.”

Linn-Mar's Lassen healing, eyes return

- Matt Lassen has been cleared to workout in attempts to rejoin his Linn-Mar team down the stretch. The junior forward suffered a severe concussion after hitting his head on the floor during Linn-Mar's third game of the season, against Iowa City West.

Swelling and bleeding of the brain forced him to a hospital for a handful of days. Lassen has committed to play Division I college ball at Albany.