By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
ROSENDALE - North Andrew basketball standout Tanner McDaniel will continue his playing career at the next level.
McDaniel signed his letter of intent to play basketball for MIAA school Washburn on Monday afternoon.
McDaniel leaves North Andrew with one of the most decorated basketball careers in school history, tallying 1,494 career points, including 162 career three-pointers.
"I don't know if I've ever met someone more deserving of this than Tanner," said North Andrew boys' basketball coach Wade Bryson. "He works hard. He's put in a ton of time, and to see that time and hard work pay off with this kind of opportunity is incredible."
Coming from an area of Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri State fans and alums, McDaniel looks to forward to playing both the Griffons and Bearcats while wearing an Ichabod uniform.
"It'll be super fun," McDaniel said. "It's crazy to think about playing those teams. They're so good and so successful. It'll be great to come back here and play games."
Bryson said this past season gave McDaniel lots of chances to play in front of college coaches, especially during the Final Four in Springfield.
"Once we got to state and coaches saw the success he had, that opened up a door for him that wasn't there at the start of the year," Bryson said.
A little while before the state tournament, during a game against St. Michael the Archangel at the Bishop LeBlond Holiday tournament in late December, Washburn coaches got to see McDaniel's potential and skill set up close
"Washburn was there when we played St. Michael at LeBlond," Bryson recalled. "They sat right behind our bench. That hadn't talked to us at that point, but they had been on our list."
McDaniel helped lead the Cardinals to a district championship in 2020-21 with a 22-10 record and a fourth place finish at state.
He'll play for a Washburn program that's had a great run of recent success itself. The Ichabods finished No. 17 in the final NCAA DII poll this past season with a 20-7 record.
That included wins over Missouri Western in the NCAA Central Region Tournament and a pair of wins againt eventual national champion Northwest Missouri State, including a 69-68 victory in the MIAA tournament championship game.
"I'm just super excited to get the opportunity to play there," said McDaniel. "The main thing is I didn't want to stop playing basketball. I sent a bunch of stuff out and they got back to me. I was super excited. I went on a visit. Loved the campus, loved the coaches. Just thought it was a good fit."
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