Calusa’s Arturo Dean, Country Day’s Andrea Daley win Mr. and Ms. Basketball of Miami
Eric Rodriguez, Arturo Dean, Chanel Davila and Andrea Daley all played part in historic basketball seasons in South Florida, and now they’re all winners of some of Miami Dade County’s highest honors.
Mater Academy Charter boys’ basketball coach Eric Rodriguez, Calusa Prep guard Arturo Dean, Miami Christian girls’ basketball coach Chanel Davila and Miami Country Day forward Andrea Daley all won honors from Miami Dade Basketball on Saturday after helping lead their teams to state-title contention.
Rodriguez is the boys’ coach of the year, Davila is the girls’ coach of the year, Dean is Mr. Basketball of Miami and Daley is Ms. Basketball of Miami.
Davila and Daley both played part in state championships. Davila coached the Victors to their first ever state title, winning the Class 2A championship last month in Lakeland, and Daley helped the Spartans win their seventh state championship in eight years by winning the Class 3A title March 5.
Daley, who has signed a national letter of intent with the George Washington Colonials, averaged 19.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3.1 steals per game to win her first state title.
Davila and Daley were both finalists for the state awards in both categories, too. Davila was Florida’s Class 2A Coach of the Year and Daley was the Class 3A Player of the Year.
While Mater Academy fell short in its Class 7A championship game, Rodriguez still put together one of the most unlikely runs in the state. In the summer, star power forward Malik Reneau transferred to Montverde Acaemy, then legendary coach Shakey Rodriguez died shortly before the season began, forcing Rodriguez to take over as coach for his late father. Still, he guided Mater to the title game for the first time.
Dean, who was previously a star at South Miami, transferred to Calusa last year and helped the Colts reach the Sunshine Independent Athletic Association semifinals in the first season of a program revival. The senior averaged 25.0 points, 6.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game.
