Thank you for checking out Basketball Across Minnesota, my weekly look at some of the state's top hoops stories, from preps to pros. — Marcus Fuller
One of Minnesota's most successful basketball coaches is known more for his unmistakable connection to players than the long journey he made to this country to fall in love with the game.
That's the way Jim Russell prefers it.
Winning 485 games at Central Lakes College, a two-year technical school in Brainerd, made him a junior college coaching legend. None of it would've been possible without his players, but escaping war-torn Vietnam as a child first put him on a path for a new life.