It’s that time of year when seniors are deciding what college they want to play at or attend, and on Monday, three basketball players from Red Lake all committed to not only play at the next level, but at the same school as well.

Center Ryan Kingbird, point guard Marcello Loud, and forward Dimitirius Harris have all signed to play at Red Lake Nation College next season.

“It kind of feels weird because you don’t really get [many] people around here that play basketball after [high] school,” said Kingbird. “It’s kind of a great feeling to be able to accomplish that. When I grew up, obviously Rob McLain was a big player in Red Lake, so it’s kind of who I looked up to now and finally get to see what college ball was like.”

That’s one of the big reasons the three Warriors chose RLNC—to play in front of their community.

“Oh, it feels good showing the younger guys that they could make it to the college level,” said Harris. “It means a lot, too, to come back and try to put on for Red Lake at least two more years.”

It’s also nice to step into a new environment with two familiar faces.

“My ball career ain’t over,” Loud said. “I’m very excited to play next year—feel good about it. My former teammates, I thought it would be over because we’d all switch and go to different colleges, but it feels great playing with each other again.”

The three seniors are the most to commit in a single year, a trend that Warrior basketball is hoping continues.

“A few years back, I was able to meet with a former Timberwolves player, and he said that the most important thing we need to do as coaches is to get them ready for when the ball stops bouncing,” assistant coach Chris Jourdain emphasized. “It made me look at the different pieces of coaching, as well as wins, you know what I mean? This was a huge win today.”

These are some of the big names from Red Lake that have recently gone on to play college ball, including Cade Beaulieu (2023) to Lake Region State, Rob McLain Jr. (2017) to Texas-RGV, Robert Beaulieu (2017) to Haskell, and Tom Barrett (2008) to UM-Morris.

Jourdain said the most important thing is they aren’t just heading off to play basketball, but coming back to Red Lake with a degree.