MitchMash: Who are these Washington guys anyway?

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Jackson (Mill Creek, Wash.) seniors Jason Todd and Dan Kingma are tight. Way tight. Banjo string tight.

With 10 seniors on a 13-man Jackson roster, most of the Timberwolves are close, but not like Todd, a fluid and versatile 6-foot-5, 195-pound wing who is headed to the University of Portland, and 5-10 guard Kingma, a pure distributing point guard who has suddenly turned into a lethal 3-point shooter. Just like his older brother.

The duo led Jackson to a surprising championship of the 24-team Invitational of the MaxPreps Holiday Classic following a 54-45 win Monday over Capital Christian (Sacramento) at Rancho Mirage High School.

"There are layers there," Jackson coach Steve Johnson said of the Todd-Kingma friendship. "Runs very deep."

Said Kingma: "We've been best friends since the day I was born."

How's that?

Seems older brothers from both families played for Johnson and both families are like, well, family. When Kingma was born, Todd was a month old, waiting with other blood family members in the waiting room.

"I think we have a bond that will never be broken," Todd said. "I'd go to war for him any day of the week. And I'd take a bullet for him too."

Whoa now fella. That's pretty strong stuff.

But one glance at these Timberwolves, almost all sporting chiseled arms and V-shaped backs, shows nothing but strong. And that first impression grows while watching them set hard screens, block out in the paint, find the open man, play rugged defense.

Their decisions are crisp and decisive. They shoot immediately when open. Their form is textbook, which brings us back to first impressions. The Timberwolves look studious and preppy rather than hungry and athletic.

And being from the great Northwest, about 20 miles Northeast of Seattle, a suburb that ranks 19th per capita per income among 522 areas in the state, according to Wikipedia, the Timberwolves had little street cred coming into the tournament.

Not like many from the 24-team elite field which included squads from urban areas like St. Louis, Cleveland, Birmingham and most from the heart of Los Angeles.

Did they get some skeptical looks?

"Sure," Todd said. "Who are we? A bunch of guys from Mill Creek, Washington and nobody knows anything about us. … That's fine. We relished that."

Todd especially does and he's used to it. He plays the AAU circuit and doesn't immediately pass the eye test.

At 6-6, he's considered a tweener – too short to be a forward, and without great handles, too big to play guard. He's also not a superior jumper, so he relies on footwork, toughness, skills and confidence.

He has no shortage of any, especially the latter.

When asked if he notices that he gets dismissed somewhat by college evaluators, sort of like the Timberwolves at national tournaments, Todd didn't hesitate.

"Personally? Sure," he said. "But I've been raised not to care. My job is to play, see what happens, go to war and let the chips fall where they may."

Bitter sweetness

He and the Timberwolves hit the jackpot last season, winning their first 26 games thanks largely to Todd, who was named the Gatorade State Player of the Year. He averaged 21 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.

Tweener, shweemer, Johnson said.

"I really don't care what position (college recruiters) want him at," he said. "He just gets the job done. Portland is going to love him. … He's a great kid and leader. The little kids love him when he works my youth camps. He's a high quality, high character kid."

Todd, Kingma and the Timberwolves didn't quite get it done last season, however. After their 26-game win streak, they lost in the state finals to underdog Curtis 60-56 past midnight at the Tacoma Dome.

It left a bitter taste to a very sweet season.

"It was one of the worst nights of my life," Todd said. "The game started late. We didn't get home until like 2 a.m. I busted my ankle."

Todd mentioned the last fact as if he misplaced his car keysl.

He was all but carried off the court in the third quarter of the title game when his ankle swelled grossly. He returned in the fourth quarter, but wasn't nearly 100 percent and scored just 10. Kingma had 18.

Afterward, Todd pretty much blamed himself. Others were amazed he made it to the court, especially after it was revealed the following week his ankle was broken.

"He's one of the toughest players I've ever played against," Curtis guard Dominic Robinson told reporters afterward.

Said Johnson after the game: "The guy is an absolute warrior. He gave everything he had, and I wish we could have picked it up a little more to send him out of here in a wheelchair with a state trophy."

With a healed ankle and greater resolve all around, the Timberwolves left Rancho Mirage with some MaxPreps hardware, not something even a confident Johnson was expecting.

More luggage

"I knew we'd be competitive," he said. "I knew we'd get our share of wins here at a tournament with some heavy hitters. But I didn't necessarily think we'd need to add more luggage. Are we going to have to pay an extra $25 for the trophy?"

They beat three California teams and Portland power Columbus Christian 68-48 in the semifinals when Todd held the tournament's top recruit Kameron Chatman (No. 36 nationally by 247Sports) to 12 points and Kingma busted for 31.

"He always guards the opposition's best player," Johnson said. "It doesn't matter what the position."

The following day, the Timberwolves stayed close to perennial national power Long Beach Poly and then Brian Zehr drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer (see video on bottom) to prevail 53-52.

On Monday, the Timberwolves were in control from the get-go behind some nifty 3-point shooting from Kingma, who made 4 of 9 and finished with a team-high 18 points. Todd had 11 and a game-high 14 rebounds. His 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter gave Jackson a 19-point lead.

"Jason can do anything," Kingma said. "He shoots, he drives, he's strong, he plays defense. If I could have any player on my team it would be Jason. He wills our team to win. He does everything."

Kingma should know. Every basketball team he's ever played on included Todd.

Todd and Kingma were also teammates on the Mill Creek Little League team that reached the 2008 Little League World Series. Todd still plays baseball and will try to double at Portland.

"We've had a lot of wins together and I think that's helped with what's going on here.," Kingma said.

But, in the here and now, the Timberwolves are focused on just one objective: Get back to the state finals and this time win.

"(Losing last year) is a huge motivation for all through the off-season," Kingma said. "We didn't accomplish what we needed to do. We need more drive to get better every day."

Said Todd: "Right now, we're an OK team. If we want to win a state championships, we have to fix a few things."

Johnson agrees, though he got choked up thinking about the team's unbreakable bond and the thought of when they all graduate. 

"It's a special group, not just (Todd and Kingma)," he said. "I'm so glad they got to show what they got on such a big stage."