MOORHEAD -- Isa El-Amin committed to the Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team a couple of weeks ago, allowing our Dragons beat writer Eric Peterson to reference the point guard's famous father.
Isa is the son of "Minnesota basketball legend Khalid," to quote a headline above Peterson's story trumpeting the commitment, and using the "L" word is not too strong. Khalid El-Amin three decades ago was the biggest star and perhaps the most sought-after high school basketball recruit in state history to that point.
He also had the greatest individual performance in the most exciting high school game I've ever seen in person -- which was followed by a terrific celebration that's been difficult to top in terms of spontaneity and genuineness.
It was March 21, 1996, in the state tournament at the long-gone St. Paul Civic Center. Minneapolis North 67, St. Thomas Academy 65. Khalid had 41 points, including a frantic game-winning 3-pointer from the top of the key as time expired that spurred El-Amin and some teammates to jump on a courtside press table and run into the stands to celebrate with family, friends, classmates and the north Minneapolis community.
The video of El-Amin's game-winner is available on YouTube. It remains remarkable nearly 30 years later. It was chaotic, crazy, organic and fun. Wild times.
And so texts were sent and a phone call was made. I had to talk with Khalid about that great game watched from the same press table on which he leaped.
We connected Wednesday. Khalid seemed as gregarious and friendly as he did as a high school kid speaking to a scrum of media types all those years ago. He was happy to chat about his son coming to Moorhead to play college ball and to reminisce with an old writer about a long-ago game.
"I know it sounds cliche and I know basketball players always say they practice so they are ready for those times, but I really practiced for that moment of hitting the last shot," El-Amin said. "I dreamt of it and I think I really prepared for that moment so it wasn't as chaotic as it might have seemed.
"It helped me be calm in that situation and I was able to shoot my best shot and it went in. I just felt like it wasn't just for me or the North High basketball team but the whole North community. You know, the Polars teams that were supposed to make the state tournament but weren't able to make it. I was happy for coming through for us in such a crucial moment."
"You know when I said that you prepare for and practice for those types of last-second shots? Yeah, well, you can never be ready for it when it actually happens and what you're going to do after it does happen. So that was a lot of adrenaline. I was running over to my family to celebrate such a big play in the state tournament and it was just a spur of the moment, adrenaline thing."
North and El-Amin overwhelmed little Fertile-Beltrami the next night to win a second straight Sweet 16 state championship -- eight Class AA and eight Class A schools mixed for one state tournament in a two-year experiment -- and won a third straight title the next year after Minnesota moved to five classes.
"Fertile-Beltrami had a point guard, a left-hander. He could shoot," El-Amin said.
Aaron Thompson.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We knew he could play and they had some guys who could score, but we felt we were deeper and we definitely wanted to pressure them and make them go into their bench," El-Amin said.
The final was 80-47 for the Polars. Fertile-Beltrami had 23 turnovers in a 32-minute game.
After being named Mr. Basketball in 1997, El-Amin went to Connecticut (after de-committing from the University of Minnesota), where he was named Big East rookie of the year in 1998 and helped the Huskies to a national championship in 1999. He scored UConn's final four points in a 77-74 victory over Duke.
Not bad for a 5-foot-10 point guard.
(And beating the Dookies? Another reason to love Khalid.)
El-Amin was taken in the second round of the 2000 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls but lasted only one year in the NBA. He played for a couple of minor-league teams in the U.S. before embarking on a long career in Europe, retiring after a short stint with a Venezuelan team in 2017. He's been coaching, training players and running camps since then. Most recently, El-Amin coached two years at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in the suburban Twin Cities before stepping down this spring.
"I've been doing a lot of networking. I'm in the NBA coaches development program right now, trying to move up the coaching ranks," he said. "I do a lot of basketball training in the Twin Cities area, so I'm staying busy."
As for Isa coming to play for the Dragons and new coach Jason Kemp, "I'm very excited about that."
Isa, like his father, is an under 6-foot point guard. He played at Minnetonka High School and was a late signee for the 2025 recruiting class, wanting to see until the last minute what options were available.
"Isa is a very good basketball player, but I do understand the makeup of college basketball right now. That's not to say there's anything wrong with Division II, but I just think the way things are with the transfer portal and things like that, you know, he's going somewhere where he can play right away and develop," Khalid said. "That was very high on our list, so I'm very excited for him to start his college journey."
Any comparisons between father and son?
"He's a point guard. I think he's a really complete player. I definitely think he can run the team and he can shoot it at a high clip," Khalid said. "He's going to be a pest and defend you 94 feet, so he's just trying to affect the game and put his imprint on the game wherever and however he can. ... I just think getting the opportunity to play, whether that's starting or a role off the bench, is very big considering the landscape of college basketball right now."
One shudders to think what kind of NIL offers Khalid would've had coming out of high school following those three straight state championships and big-time heroic moments like the one against St. Thomas Academy. Legends get paid, friends.