Under the radar: The 8 best Fort Wayne boys basketball players that aren't being talked about enough

As basketball season is officially kicking off, the hype train is in full steam for a lot of area talents. Caleb Swanigan will have his choice of schools to attend, almost anywhere, while teammate Dana Batt is headed D1, as is Carroll’s Chandler White. Brachen Hazen of Columbia City, Jordan Geist of Homestead, Reggie Tharp of Concordia, and Keonte Jenkins of Horizon Christian are all can’t miss prospects.

And there are many more. But with that many more, there often is a wall. Fort Wayne is deep. There is a top, middle and a bottom. The top gets talked about, a lot. And I am just as guilty as anyone. But that middle group, maybe not the current elite, it is as deep as it has been in Fort Wayne for a long, long time. 8 of those players are my focus today.

The 8 guys that nobody is talking about, but surely should be.

Nick Thomas – South Side

Mostly because South Side has struggled in recent years, there isn’t much talk about Archer players. But there are a lot of really solid performers at South. One of them, probably not discussed because of the shadow of his older brother Nate, is Nick Thomas. Nate was the South Side leader last year, but he has headed off to college to leave younger brother Nick to hold his own. And can he ever. Nick is an unassuming guy, not in size or stature, but in demeanor. But, he can run the court like a wing and battle for position and rebounds with a lot of bigs. You can tell he prides himself on it even. While South has some talent and some young talent at that, Nick is going to be a key factor in any potential success this season.

Avery Fath

Fath is a name you probably don’t know at all actually if you are a casual fan. But if you pay attention to the local scene, you should know it. He’s easily a top 10, if not top five player in the area in the Class of 2016 (only clearly behind Hazen, Tharp, Surface, Kyle Mallers and Dylan Barrow IMO). The kid is the pure definition of composure. At 5’9” he isn’t the most physically imposing, but he reads the floor well and is a great point guard that doesn’t need to be “score first” or “pass first.” If you are open, he will find you. If he is open, he will find the basket. He wants the ball in his hand to make the majority of the decisions and unlike a lot of kids his age, he is capable of doing so on a strong level.

Richard Robertson and Jagger Surface - Northrop

I firmly believe Robertson could have competed full time on varsity a year ago as a freshman. He has razor sharp instincts on the court and has the ability to spread the game out. He and Surface are very different players, built very differently but do a lot of the same things (in their own unique ways). Northrop has a lot of ability all around, but these two are great at getting to the basket. That will help them both: A) create their own shots off the dribble and B) drive and kick the ball back out, possibly to each other because they are both knock down shooters. Surface has all the swag and confidence you need from a great floor general and Robertson has the work ethic to rival most in the SAC.

Terrell Crews – North Side

Last year, the squad was deep with seniors and this year, it is the transfers that get the attention at North. But I won’t forget about the younger Crews, who was a key role player in that unbelievable Redskins team a year ago. Let us not forget that the team didn’t dip when he came into the game. He is a hustler, who gets after the ball on defense. How his offense develops, we will see but he can be a finesse defender and one I don’t think will be hurt too bad in the long run by new hand check rules. He may not be North’s best overall player, but he has a lot of talent pumping through his blood.

Richard Bufkin-Scott – Wayne

There aren’t a lot of natural bruiser players left in the area. Chalk that up to what you want. Are kids babied? Is there too much crying? Too much fighting? Richard is just a hard nosed, ‘yes coach,’ go get it done type of a kid. He doesn’t have a ton of flash, but he doesn’t need it. If you don’t know where he is on the court, chances are, he’s probably about to block you out to grab a rebound. He’s tough to defend inside because he doesn’t care if he runs you over. Add in a decent mid-range jumper and he’ll be helpful in Wayne’s rebuild.

Dana Batt – Homestead

Yeah, yeah, I’m cheating a little bit here. But transfers and that potential McDonalds All-American on his team have sent Batt down the focus line a little bit. Too much? Well no, he’s still a 6’8’’ Division 1 prospect, so how much can you ignore him? Batt has developed a lot over the summer and is tough inside, making opponents fight for every last rebound. He’s a rare high school big in that he wants to post up naturally and then work on offensive post moves to get to the basket. He has a nasty post and spin and creates great space for him to do work and he’s a finisher: dunk, lay-up, put back, it doesn’t matter. Considering that a lot of team’s best attempt to slow Homestead is to double Swanigan in the post, Batt could get a lot of great looks this year.

Kyle Hartman – Bishop Dwenger

I am actually surprised how little you hear about this guy as the season begins. In my opinion, he was Dwenger’s best player last year. He’s allusive on the offensive end and can shoot the ball with a touch as good as any player in this area. Dwenger is always going to be a tough match up, always. Hartman will be a killer for them and could ruin a lot of nights for a lot of other guys. He’s a true fundamentalist player. He’s got talent around him. Ryan Christman is always good for some big shots and I will rave about a sophomore who may or may not see varsity action in Campbell Donovan, but Hartman is the glue, the model of consistency for a program that strives for consistency.

Four storylines to watch in Fort Wayne prep hoops

Over six months ago, I wrote about how the future year of prep basketball in Fort Wayne was going to be filled with a lot of intrigue. And while some of the faces and some of the places have changed, that intrigue has not.

Today, The News-Sentinel’s prep preview comes out and I urge you to read it. Not just because I designed it, but because it is chock full of great previews that give you plenty of information on all of the boys and girls teams in the SAC, NHC, ACAC and area.

The annual Fab 5 breaks down a terrific group of players including Caleb Swanigan, Jordan Geist and Karissa McLaughlin of Homestead, Snider’s Devlyn Williams and Deja Wimby, Concordia’s Reggie Tharp and DeJour Young, Carroll’s Chandler White, Leo’s Jenna Beer and Canterbury’s Darby Maggard. The 10 represent a lot of excitement this year and I for one am particularly interested in how dominant an athletic beast like Devlyn Williams will be and how Reggie Tharp incorporates his vastly improved game (it was never bad, but taken to the next level this summer) into the SAC season.

But when you only name 10 players, some get left out, simply because there isn’t room. So here are some more teams (outside of the obvious potential dominance of Homestead boys), storylines and players that I am most intrigued about this coming season:

—    Can anyone stop the Homestead girls either? Yes, Karissa McLaughlin is sensational, as good as any sophomore girl we’ve had in this area in years, perhaps back to Canterbury grad Megan King. But she has a pretty substantial lineup around her, led by senior Josie Fisher, who is absolutely one of the top 10 players in this area. As dominant as the boys team will be, this Spartan girls squad, under Rod Parker’s leadership, may be pretty close to unbeatable.

—    Sean McGee. The North Side senior is the key to the whole thing for a program coming off back to back Summit Athletic Conference titles. The Redskins lost a lot. And I mean, a lot from last year’s 2-loss team. But they also have a lot new. Jajuan Starks (Northrop) and Jaylen Butz (Bishop Luers) as move ins and the return of a tenacious defender in Terrell Crews are all fantastic for a team who could have been stuck in rebuilding mode. But, McGee is a legitimate scorer who could absolutely be the best guard in this area. What he does on the court, and off the court, could hamper the Redskins or make them a threat to challenge Snider and Concordia for a third straight title.

—    Let me talk about Horizon Christian. In today’s News-Sentinel, yours truly has a feature story on a kid named Keonte Jenkins. What I learned talking to Keonte and his coach is that he is a remarkable kid. You can check out the N-S for more on that. What I can tell you here is that I am absolutely intrigued to see this squad play this season. They aren’t IHSAA sanctioned, they aren’t going head to head with the best of the best all of the time, but games locally against Wayne, Bishop Luers and Canterbury are going to be something interesting to watch. Jenkins is a primetime, get to the basket scorer. And now, Marco Lee, who played sparingly at North Side last year, is alongside him and showing what he can. Lee is a score first point guard who is quick and scored 23 in his Horizon debut over the weekend. Yes, he sat the bench more often than not as a junior, but he wasn’t on the bench for just anyone, it was for one of the best teams in the entire state in any class of the IHSAA. A Lee/Jenkins combo helps make the Jaguars some threat to knock off a pair of SAC schools this year.

—    What makes South Side’s girls team so good? When you look at the city schools, there is quite the disparity between the top (South Side) and the bottom (North Side). And it isn’t just this year, it is every year. North Side has swapped in and out coaches over the last ten years and never been able to crawl up the order, even with some talented players. But South Side, a pretty identical school in theory, is always at the top, even with coaching swaps. The answer: Goodwell. Basketball isn’t in the Goodwell’s blood; their blood literally is bad up of liquefied basketballs. South’s head coach Juanita and her husband David (an assistant at South and leader for Always 100) are two of the more intense, knowledgeable and hard working coaches in this area on any level. There is a lot of talent at South, don’t get me wrong, but any school would be lucky to have this pair.

A technical situation

So over the weekend, I hit a coaching milestone. Not one to be particularly proud of I am sure, but a humorous one none the less. In the midst of a game coaching for Always 100 on Sunday afternoon, I was assessed my 10^th career technical foul as a coach.

What stood out to me afterwards was the interesting point in what a referee’s line is. Do they always have the same line? Does it vary day by day? Coach by coach? I’ve been hit with some justified technical fouls and also with some, as this weekend was, humorous ones. My quandary after the game about what justifies a technical met up nicely with Duke’s Mike Krszyweski getting one that same day for throwing his dry-erase marker at the ground during a timeout and then being t’d up by a referee standing half a court away who Coach K has his back turned to.

As for me on Sunday, I was given the old ‘T’ sign with the hands after expressing my opinion to the official that perhaps he could go over to one of the adjacent courts in the field house where volleyball was taking place.

He didn’t even let me explain it was because in that sport, it wasn’t required for an official to call fouls. He didn’t take the time to think maybe I was just concerned with expanding his horizons in his secondary job of choice.

He also didn’t want to hear anything about the call he missed where an opposing player literally grabbed one of my player’s ankles with his hands to trip him right in front of the referee.

Nope, just a whistle, a hand gesture, told I was “done” and forced to take a seat.

Which has led me to think, with 10 under my belt now, how many technicals were actually justified in the traditional sense? Is it right to give a coach a technical for sarcasm? Maybe. It all depends on what your definition of “attempting” to “show up” the “referee” is.

Technical #1 came in 2006, almost seven and a half years ago at Huntington North High School while I was coaching the Fort Wayne North Side freshmen. It was the one and only time vulgarity was the cause of a technical. Using the word bullshit in a high school basketball game, probably not the best idea. But was it justified use of the word on my end? Of course. But this isn’t about my morality. Bullshit was mild when you look at the phrases and racial slurs slung at my players that day in Huntington North High School, the heart of hate. Especially when it was in direct response to the referee (yes I remember you Tim Enyeart) refusing to acknowledge my constant pleas to end the hateful remarks. But again, their morality, not mine. I’d do it again, but was the technical justified? Sure was.

Technical #2 came 13 seconds later for standing up. It is a no-no once the first technical was received. But considering it came with 15 seconds left in the game and I stood up to get a better angle on a loose ball and immediately sat back down, it sure wasn’t justified. Never the less, I was able to make an early retreat to the locker room where I had to listen to a midget Athletic Director with a complex act like he was relevant for a couple minutes.

It wasn’t again until 2011, amidst my first season coaching in Vinton that I received Technical #3. Since that game, I grew all too use to the horrible officiating in Roanoke County, especially of these guys I could only assume buy their VHSL official patches from the Goodwill. But back then, it was all too new. We were playing the 76ers in an overly aggressive game fully of fouls and beatings. Were we innocent? Probably not. But were we the worst? Nope. So after watching two players tumble to the ground going after a rebound and then see my player shoved while on the ground by the 76er on the ground, only to be ignored by the referee who was looking at them, I was hot. On the next defensive possession, more over aggression led to a hard foul on a 76er and my immediate assertion that they needed to call the game on both ends of the floor as the foul total for the half was now at 7 for us and 1 for them. Then came the whistle. Then came me sitting down and letting the referee know that if this wasn’t fixed then I was pulling my team off the floor because the officials were not taking care of any of the kids on either team and I wouldn’t put up with the dangerous environment. And then game Technical #4. I’d love to give the official the first one, but his lack of warning (I hadn’t, believe it or not, been mouthy up to this point) makes it a no go. And the second? Well he was just not level headed at that point. Protecting kids is technical worthy? Ok then. But remember this isn’t high school you are working.

To end the following season, again with the Vinton Blue Devils, I continued my early exit streak of “if you get one, might as well get two,” with technicals in the final regular season game, a meeting with the Hidden Valley Heat. As usual, the referees were having mental lapses and I was on them most of the game. The final straw came close to the end of the game when our point guard was called for a charge when he collided with a defender 4 feet behind the three-point line while they were both in mid air (our player was trying to make a pass). It was ridiculous. I said as much, though the specific words (unbelievable? terrible? ludicrous?) escape me at the moment. Justified on Technical #5? Not so much, but I also knew what my tone was going to be, so I knew I was getting one. And moments later, in one of my better off the cuff moments, I let Mr. Referee know “that’s the best call you made all day.” Whistle, T, Ejection. Justified of Technical #6? Yup.

I kicked off the next regular season ready to knock out my technicals with Technical #7. Maybe it was the referee’s assertion during the pre-game coaches meeting that “we (the officials) are basically volunteers,” and that as a reason we shouldn’t be hard on them. I’m no mathlete, but $25 per game (aka per hour) doesn’t really seem too volunteer to me. Especially since these meeting came after a lot of incidents during football season. But anyway, I was not thrilled with Ben Minton from the get go. What followed up was the usual amount of no calls and half-ass paying attention from the officials. This culminated, down by 1 point with under a minute to play when we got on a 1-on-1 fast break. This ended with an errant block attempt from the other team that ended up (unintentionally in my opinion) with a punch to our player’s forehead. He went down in a heap and in tears (this was a 10 year old after all), with no whistle and Mr. Minton staring down at the kid as he jogged back up the court with the play. He refused to stop play so I could check on the kid for a good 20-30 seconds, all of which I was heated. As I went to check on him, I lashed out back in the ref’s direction “see, this is why coaches get mad at referees.” Whistle time. Justified? Are you kidding me?

Now that I got that single technical out of the way and actually didn’t get ejected, I tried my hardest to be on my best behavior for the remainder of the season. That was until the Vinton Redskins played the Vinton Thunder, Technicals #8 and #9. A rough game with rough officiating that saw the Thunder coach also T’d up, we trailed in the final seconds of overtime by 3 when I called a timeout with the ball at half court. I let them know to inbound the ball to our best player and instructed him to put up a shot as soon as he felt contact. I knew this other coach and I knew that he would try to foul as quickly as possible to not allow us to shoot a three and potentially tie the game. By us throwing up the shot, I was hoping we would at least get three free throws and try to foil their plan. He did what I thought, met with one of their players basically tackling our shooter. He fired the shot, the referee called the foul and the bucket swished through. Barely over 2-seconds left and we were tied with a chance to win. Then after discussion between the referees (the one near the shot called the foul, the one in front of me on the other side of the court didn’t even blow his whistle), the call was overturned. The basket was no good. I emphatically urged to the referee who called the foul that he “couldn’t do this” as he walked to the scorers table to wave off the shot. It was to no avail and I lost my mind. Call it a rage blackout or whatever you choose; I don’t remember what I said to him. I heard a whistle and saw his hands. The game ended, we “lost” and I proceeded to let him know how ridiculous it was immediately after hand shakes. He let the scorers table know to mark me down for a second technical at that point, which I followed up with “put me down for 5, the game is over. And everybody in this gym just saw what you did.”

First one totally justified. Second one, highly questionable.

He didn’t put me down for 5. But those technicals earned me a 2-game suspension. Those are the breaks I suppose.

It was my last technical before Sunday and the last time I really lost it on a ref (if we exclude baseball umpires who don’t know that a ball bouncing in the dirt is not a strike).

At the end of the day, it comes down to this…what crosses the line? I have done way more to get one than I did Sunday. In fact, I have said way more and not received one. So I don’t think referees have a “line,” I just think they have agendas. In game agendas, against the coach agendas, life agendas, plan for the day agendas.

I joked with a parent after the game Sunday that our ref (always in a Duke hoodie) was too worried about the Duke ACC title game on TV and he didn’t want to be there. I joked. And then moments later realized that after the game, he left all of his stuff at the court and raced over to the snack bar to watch that game.

That was his agenda. And if that is how he wants to make some extra cash, he might as well go ahead and referee volleyball instead.