Arriel McDonald was never supposed to play professional basketball. At least, that was the conventional wisdom. While his teammates at the University of Minnesota were fielding NBA interest, McDonald’s name was nowhere in that conversation. What followed was a professional career spanning eight countries, nearly two decades, and experiences most people only dream about.
McDonald joined hosts Charles Hallman and Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald on Blacklight on Sports for a wide-ranging conversation about his path from Flossmoor, Illinois, to the University of Minnesota, his years playing overseas, his transition into education, and what Clem Haskins meant to his development as a player and a man.
Coming to Minnesota at 17
McDonald arrived at the University of Minnesota at 17, having started school early and graduated high school ahead of schedule. The draw to Minnesota was specific: Clem Haskins was a Black head coach, and that mattered.
“Prior in my youth days, I didn’t really get the opportunity to play for an African American coach,” he said. “My dream as a kid was to play for John Thompson and be a Georgetown Hoya.”
He developed a close relationship with one of Haskins’ assistants during recruiting, speaking with him nearly every other day through his senior year of high school. The promise of playing immediately in the Big Ten sealed it.
What he walked into was a senior-heavy, battle-tested team that had gone to the Sweet 16 the year before and had no interest in making life easy for a 17-year-old freshman.
“After the first couple practices, dealing with players like Connell Lewis, Mario Green, players who were coming from the bench as support players, they didn’t make it easy,” he said. “About four or five practices in, I went to Clem’s office and said, ‘Hey, what do you think about red-shirting me? I don’t know if I’m ready.'”
He stayed. He redshirted that first year, watched the team make the Elite Eight, and spent the next four years absorbing everything he could.
Learning From Willie Burton
One of McDonald’s most vivid memories from his Gopher years had nothing to do with a game. Haskins strategically placed him as Willie Burton’s roommate during his freshman year, wanting someone to keep an eye on the team’s best player.
“I got to watch his process,” McDonald said. “When he would eat, what he would eat, his routine. He would take a shower, lotion up, have his headphones on, lay in the bed. I started to understand as a freshman that if you’re going to be an elite player, you have to program yourself into that journey.”
He described Burton sitting in silence before games, not with headphones on, not distracted, just projecting himself mentally into what he was about to do.
“Versus Willie, who would sit there with nothing on, just looking at that ceiling. I knew what he was doing because I went through that process as a pro too. He was already projecting himself into what he was going to do.”
The Clem Haskins Effect
McDonald was direct about what Haskins built in him. He came from a stable two-parent home with a father who was a decorated military veteran, so he did not need Haskins to fill a fatherly role. What he needed was a coach who could make him mentally tough.
“What Clem did was build mental toughness,” he said. “He was very, very hard on me the entire four years. But when I got to Europe, I could just hear him all the time. ‘Ain’t no free ice cream. Don’t nobody feel sorry for you. One monkey don’t stop the show.’ Just all stuff that he would say to get under my skin. I could hear it and it would motivate me to play and perform in Europe.”
He also pushed back on the notion that Haskins has fully received his due recognition in Minnesota basketball history, saying the timing of any reassessment would depend on what is happening in the present.
“Like most times, they only love you when you’re gone,” he said. “Hopefully we can give him his flowers right now.”
He pointed to Williams Arena as evidence of what Haskins meant beyond wins and losses.
“My freshman year, I think we were nine and 21 and the barn was packed,” he said. “The fans didn’t care if it was 20 below and 10 inches of snow. They were there. Clem was just more than just basketball. He was a personality. Some people just came to the game just to watch his antics.”
Eight Countries and One Big Regret
McDonald’s professional career took him across seven or eight countries, playing in atheist, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim nations. He described the experience as one of the greatest gifts of his life.
“At 21 years old, someone called me to come travel, paid me to do it, and I could play basketball twice a week,” he said. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet popes, prime ministers, presidents of countries.”
His one lasting regret came in 2000 while playing in Israel. His team had just won the European Championship when the Boston Celtics offered him a contract, non-guaranteed. He turned it down, convinced he would not get meaningful playing time under Rick Pitino, and signed a three-year extension with his Israeli club instead.
“One of the greatest regrets I have is that I didn’t give myself the opportunity to even try,” he said. “You never know what could have happened.”
Still, he reflected on his full career with pride, noting that no University of Minnesota player has been paid to play basketball for as long as he was. He is still working toward recognition from the Gophers program.
“I’m still trying to get into the Hall of Fame with the Gophers,” he said with a laugh. “I’m still all-time assists leader. I’m going to hang on to that.”
Life After Basketball
McDonald chose to settle in Minnesota after retiring, having already purchased rental properties on the North Side during his playing days. The relationships he built here, including with the late sports journalist Sid Hartman, made the decision easy.
He considered coaching more seriously but ultimately stepped back, unwilling to sacrifice time with his son and frustrated by the dynamics of parent relationships.
“Parents will drive you out of coaching,” he said. “You can have good relationships with some parents and when you coach their kid, at the end of that, you might not have a good relationship with them anymore.”
Today, McDonald works at Park Center as a student management specialist, a role similar to that of a dean. He also informally assists with the basketball program, mentoring a rising freshman named PJ whose father, Paris Kyle, is an assistant principal at the school.
His son, currently 21 and a senior at St. Mary’s University in Winona, recently decided to return to basketball after stepping away. McDonald said he encouraged him to finish, drawing directly on his own Celtics regret.
“I don’t need you to be one of these guys on Facebook reliving your past,” he told his son. “Go get it all out. Keep playing till they tell you you can’t play or they stop calling for you.”