Windsor’s Johnson has a good problem to have

Michael Johnson has a problem not many coaches get to have.

The Windsor head coach has a team that is dominating its GISA competition, especially since the start of the month. In the six games Windsor has played in January, it has won by an average of 47 points per game, with the closest game being a 78-48 win over Monsignor Donovan.

So Johnson, who is in his sixth season at Windsor, has the same concerns as last year when the Knights cruised through the regular season and made it all the way to the GISA semifinals before their hopes of repeating as state champs ended with a loss to First Presbyterian Christian.

“I have to keep my starters sharp and in shape for later in the season,” said Johnson, whose team is off to a 15-1 start. “I am trying to get them at least two full quarters of playing in every game, but the most important thing this year is what we are getting done at practice. I feel like, as a coach, I learned a great deal from my mistakes, and I realized that we could not control the fact that we are wining by large margins, but I could control what we were getting done at practice.

“I feel like, with seven seniors, we will be much more prepared when we do get tested.”

Windsor’s only loss of the season was at Flint River in overtime.

“You would have thought we lost some kind of championship game because these kids were very upset,” Johnson said. “But it was OK to get humbled because we came back to work, and everyone has picked it up since then.”

Windsor is led by three seniors — Landry Rustin, Marquise Jackson, and Rutland transfer Jai’Kez Mann. They are all averaging in double figures in scoring.

“Landry has been with me since the eighth grade and plays like a veteran, and I get a very consistent effort from him every game,” Johnson said. “Marquise is just a freakish athlete with a very high basketball IQ, and he can do a little bit of everything on the basketball court. Jai’Kez had success at Rutland before he came here, and he is also a special athlete who has proven to be very coachable.

“I feel very confident when these guys are on the court.”

Rustin actually has been on the varsity for five years and remembers how it used to be as far as winning games at Windsor.

“When I got here in the eighth grade, my dad told me that I probably needed to get used to losing because Windsor had not been winning much,” Rustin said. “That first year, we lost a lot but since then we have improved a lot. Last year was a disappointment for all of us, and we really only have one goal this season, and that is to win a state championship. To the seniors it’s all about adding to our legacy.

“I was there when everyone beat us, but Coach Johnson has changed the attitude of Windsor basketball.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2017 at 6:51 PM with the headline "Windsor’s Johnson has a good problem to have."