Went to Bramlage to watch his St John team play Ellis. I watched Dean in last years State so it was interesting to compare him over last year. He has improved immensely this year and he was really good last year. He is listed at 6-9 and he's all of that. Here was his stat line: Played 17 min, 30 pts, 11 rebounds, 9-11 from the field, 11-12 FTs, 1 foul, 1-1 from 3, 1 assist, 0 TOs, 1 blk, 5 steals.
Observations: I am no BB expert. I have been an avid BB fan for 50 years and attended State. tourneys across the Ks during that time. I've had the joy of seeing some of Ks exceptional HS players, boys and girls. The exceptionally gifted ones just take over games and play at a level that is ridiculously superior to the HS competition. They seem to glide and the game is effortless for them. I'm not talking about really good even great players. I'm talking about exceptional players. IMHO Dean Wade is probably one of these players. He can lead a fast break with genuine skill and effectiveness. The first play of the game 5 sec in was an alley oop to Dean and the route was on. It's qrtr score 28-4, half 52-13, 3rd qrtr 72-22, final 83-41.
He played 11 min in the first half and had 24 pts. He has a very smooth fluid 3 pt shot. Nothing but net. Only took one 3. Very composed, no apparently ego, played team ball, encourages his teammates, perfect FT mechanics as he went 11-12. Had two dunks and was about 18" about rim on his alley oop. He also had two handed reverse alley oop that didn't count. Final thought: he is the real deal. Compares with any exceptional HS BB player I've seen including Danny Manning. Of course the competition is 2A and he was a man among boys but the skill level is exceptional. I've seen Laurie Koehn, Kendra Wecker and Nicole Ohlde play against that level of competition and go on to great D1 careers. There haven't seen any boys players I've ever seen at the small school level who come close to his skill level. I truly think he can be a special B12 player and should be a factor next year. KSU got a really good player. Yes, I skipped the KSU game to watch him. BTW, the all time 2A ingle game scoring record is 45. He could have shattered it if they played him more but that would have been overkill
Observations: I am no BB expert. I have been an avid BB fan for 50 years and attended State. tourneys across the Ks during that time. I've had the joy of seeing some of Ks exceptional HS players, boys and girls. The exceptionally gifted ones just take over games and play at a level that is ridiculously superior to the HS competition. They seem to glide and the game is effortless for them. I'm not talking about really good even great players. I'm talking about exceptional players. IMHO Dean Wade is probably one of these players. He can lead a fast break with genuine skill and effectiveness. The first play of the game 5 sec in was an alley oop to Dean and the route was on. It's qrtr score 28-4, half 52-13, 3rd qrtr 72-22, final 83-41.
He played 11 min in the first half and had 24 pts. He has a very smooth fluid 3 pt shot. Nothing but net. Only took one 3. Very composed, no apparently ego, played team ball, encourages his teammates, perfect FT mechanics as he went 11-12. Had two dunks and was about 18" about rim on his alley oop. He also had two handed reverse alley oop that didn't count. Final thought: he is the real deal. Compares with any exceptional HS BB player I've seen including Danny Manning. Of course the competition is 2A and he was a man among boys but the skill level is exceptional. I've seen Laurie Koehn, Kendra Wecker and Nicole Ohlde play against that level of competition and go on to great D1 careers. There haven't seen any boys players I've ever seen at the small school level who come close to his skill level. I truly think he can be a special B12 player and should be a factor next year. KSU got a really good player. Yes, I skipped the KSU game to watch him. BTW, the all time 2A ingle game scoring record is 45. He could have shattered it if they played him more but that would have been overkill
