BOUNCE: Wayne’s run and culture has been built with three important pillars

Wayne basketball’s two year run ended Saturday with a tough loss to Fishers in the Class 4A north semi state finals.

But wow what a run it has been for the Generals the past two seasons.

And let me be forthcoming, the culture built at Wayne over the past several years, even before the recent success, isn’t going anywhere. This team returns a good chunk of players who have been part of program successes and we can expect that culture and the success it has bred to continue into the 2024-2025 season.

But for now, we just have to look back on the amazing things this group has done to this point.

Players and coaches from the past seasons like Monte Smith and Byron Pickens were a massive part of it too. Those pillars that are public facing, whether intentional or not, are critical. Wayne’s run has been built on trust, intensity and emotion.

Wayne basketball has long been what we’d call on the cusp of greatness. Former coach Aaron Rehrer did a tremendous job with the Generals and some of the high end talents like Craig Young that came through his program. When Byron Pickens was hired to take over the program, he was the perfect person to help Wayne to the next level because of the intelligence and patience he brought to a feisty and intense core to a program. When Anthony Brewer was brought in this past summer to replace Pickens, he again was the perfect choice to continue to build upon what Rehrer and then Pickens were doing at the school.

So I guess first kudos to Gary Raber, athletic director at Wayne, for making critical hires for the culture we see with the Generals.

This year’s Wayne team was pretty close to flawless. They went 23-4 and never lost to a team outside of the Indianapolis area. Prior to Saturday night’s semi state final loss to Fishers, the Generals had gone unbeaten over a string of 15 straight games. They had some close ones in there and they also had some blowouts.

Saturday morning, they looked like they could be on their way out before an 18-0 run and a 20-2 third quarter opposite Mishawka propelled them to the semi state title game. The intensity that Wayne used defensively during that run in the third was picture perfect and the ideal of the intensity that has been a pillar for this group.

When they had flaws in front of them – be it Chase Barnes missing multiple games injured or even in Saturday’s contest with Fishers when HJ Dillard got into early foul trouble, followed by Ziare Sullivan doing a bit of the same – the Generals still had a strong ability to pull through. This group just complimented each other very well in how they were able to step up their roles when needed. Kharrington Terry went on a tear midseason with an increased minutes allotment and it made Generals better. Each guy on this roster seemed to be a great yin to someone else’s yang.

And that made Wayne really fun to watch from the outside. One can only imagine how much fun in made the program on the inside over the past two seasons especially.

It takes a lot of trust in one another and vision of your coaching staff to succeed the way Wayne has under pressure. Every single target in Northeast Indiana was pointed at them this season. Every team, every coach, every scout, every player was dialed in on Wayne. And nobody beat them in our area. Yes, that shows skill and yes that shows intensity, but if it wasn’t for the camaraderie of this group, it wouldn’t have mattered. If one of them got knocked down, someone else picked them up and picked the team up and it made sure that as a collective they never got knocked down in Northeast Indiana.

It took a dominating Fishers group to even do it come the postseason.

The Generals didn’t get to the finish line. That is something that stings for any group. Ultimately they didn’t even make it the furthest in Northeast Indiana this season. But what they have done is special. They will return four of their top five players, losing only Jevon Lewis to graduation from that group. There is every likelihood that what Wayne has built is only going to continue to grow but this group will never be together again so lets hold them up as one of the best teams we’ve seen on the boys side in the last 10-20 years. They were, at their peak, just that good. Many other years where there wasn’t a Fishers (or a 2023 Kokomo) in their way, this is a state finals team through and through.

And that is how they should be remembered. An intense, emotional and deeply connected powerhouse.

Lewis, Dillard, Sullivan, Terry, Barnes, Preston Comer, Qualon Miles, Khalyn Williams-Thomas and others who shared the court with them in lesser minutes, all have made Wayne basketball what it is right now. So did guys like 2023 graduates Monte Smith and Marquette Lee. Their culture, in Northeast Indiana and as a FWCS program, is unrivaled is so many ways.

Wayne wasn’t the only team from the area to lose on semi state Saturday. Fairfield and Blackhawk Christian too saw their seasons and, in part, tremendous runs end. But for Wayne to stand out amongst the weekend, even in loss, says something.

What has happened at Wayne and what will continue at Wayne matters and this Generals group should be considered among the greats from the past decade or two.

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