The athletic King has been a human highlight reel during his playing days with Caledonia. But the 6-foot-3 guard, who has committed to Division I Iowa State University, missed his entire junior season after tearing the ACL in his right knee.
“(It) was definitely frustrating at times,” King said of missing the 2020-21 season. “I obviously wish I was out there with them, but it was also a lot of fun to see how they grew as a team and got better throughout the course of the year and made a run.”
Even with King out, the Warriors excelled and made it all the way to the Class AA state championship game before suffering a two-point loss to Waseca. Now King is back as the 2021-2022 boys basketball season kicked off this week.
“He’s put a lot of time into his rehab to get back like he did and he’s 100 percent,” said Brad King, Caledonia’s head coach and Eli’s father. “I know he’s looking forward to the season and getting a chance to play games with fans and stuff.”
“I think it helps to see other people succeeding and doing well and shows that you also have to keep working,” Eli King said. “I don't know if it's extra motivation, but it helped to make me want to do more with our team having a really good year rather than if they were having a down year.”
He suffered the injury just prior to the start of his junior season. He had surgery on his right knee on Jan. 12 and for the first six weeks afterward, he couldn’t put any weight on it.
“After that I was able to at least stand and shoot and progressively do a little more and a little more,” Eli King said. “Everything’s been feeling good. I came back in the beginning, middle of July so it’s a good sign.”
King said he did extra rehab work, but did not try to shorten his recovery time. He was healthy enough to play in a couple of tournaments at the end of the AAU season in July.
“I could go 100 percent and all that, but it would be a little sore afterwards,” he said. “But for the most part it was fine. The basketball (playing) was more of an issue, getting back to playing at a high level was tough. Physically and all that I felt pretty good and felt better the more I played.”
Now he’s excited for the season and is up for the challenge. He realizes the Warriors will get the best from opponents on most nights.
“I think not only around here, but also other places, everyone recognizes our name now because of the success we’ve had and is definitely trying to give us the best game possible,” King said.
King has also excelled in football and received Division I scholarship offers, but he decided not to play this fall as he prepped for his senior basketball season.
“I obviously missed part of it, with the guys and stuff, but I’d say as a whole I think it was nice and gave my knee extra time to (heal) and stuff that it didn’t need to go through,” he said. “It also allowed me to work on a lot of things basketball-wise. I think as a whole it was a positive thing and hopefully I’ll be better for it.”
King is the youngest of three brothers and older siblings Owen (Winona State) and Noah (Kirkwood Community College) are currently playing college basketball. Eli had limited contact with the Iowa State coaching staff as he recovered from his knee surgery.
“Not a whole lot with the rehab stuff, they just wanted to make sure that I took it slow and didn’t try rushing back into it,” he said. “They obviously wanted to make sure I was 100 percent before I started going again. Basketball-wise we’ve talked, but nothing too specific for me to do now, just to basically keep working in all areas.”
King said he hasn’t set any individual goals for himself, only for the team. And that include another section title and a run to the state tournament.
“That’s probably the main thing,” he said. “Just be the best we can be and short-term wise just keep getting better as a team.”
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Caledonia star looking to be King of the court again - PostBulletin.com
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