Keno Davis has been the Central Michigan basketball team’s head coach all of two weeks.

That's all the time Ypsilanti High School’s Derrick Richardson needed to buy in. The 6-foot-3 point guard has committed to the Chippewas. He will always have the distinction of being Davis’ first recruit.

“I liked their campus and I liked their head coach,” Richardson said. “What he was talking about when he was talking to me was about trying to make a change. I just want to help him go make the change at Central Michigan.”

“Also, they’ve got one thing in my major, which is sport management. They’ve got everything I need.”

Ypsilanti High School point guard Derrick Richardson will play at Central Michigan.

Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com

The two have something in common: they work quick. After the coaching staff came out to watch Richardson play, they offered him a scholarship on the spot. Richardson was a Chippewa by the end of the day.

Richardson, a member of the AnnArbor.com All-Washtenaw County Dream Team, battled through injuries for most of the season, especially early on. He managed to become one of the best defenders in the area anyway. And in February the offensive game took off.

He scored 16 points against Skyline before exploding for 22 against Lincoln.

“The stats say he’s a defensive stopper because that’s what we needed him to do,” Ypsilanti coach Steve Brooks said. “He’s had high games of 29 before. He’s really a complete ball player. That really says a lot about his character because a lot of kids, especially at the high school level, if you ask them to run a team or defend somebody they shy away from those kinds of things.

“Just by the way his career went, it just really shows you that he’s a team kid and he buys all in. So I really think that’s what Coach Davis really liked about him.”

Brooks thinks Richardson’s offensive game will flourish at the next level to compliment the defensive ability.

Coach wasn’t shy about how much of an impact his pupil would have at the next level.

“I see him really being the face of the program,” he said.

Michael Florek covers sports for AnnArbor.com. Contact him at michaelflorek@annarbor.com.