Syaire Barnes: Philadelphia’s best-kept HS basketball secret
PHILADELPHIA (BVM) — Michael Gardner had heard it all before.
Student after student had approached him in class, promising they’d be the best thing since sliced bread for the head coach’s boys hoops team at Franklin Learning Center. When freshman Syaire Barnes first asked how to get involved, Gardner figuratively added his name to the list.
“A lot of these kids come in as freshmen and they think they’re the best or whatever,” Gardner said. “I’m always like, ‘Yeah, tryouts start at this time.’ And all of that.”
Barnes didn’t stop asking when and where. Then, he showed up. As it turned out, he was different from the rest. And not by a slight margin.
“I said, ‘Coach, we’ve got this freshman kid. He’s going to be good. I don’t know when it’s going to be, but he’s going to be good,’” Gardner recalled of an early conversation with his assistant coach. “I saw it in preseason practice when they were running up and down the floor.”
Gardner expected the transition to the varsity level to be more of a challenge for Barnes, who stands all of 5-foot-8 and is light for his size. Rather, he became the go-to guy, averaging 20.9 points over 17 games. That mark was the best among Pennsylvania high school freshmen this season.
“I was kind of going to have him come off the bench for a few games and let him develop that way because in Game 1, he hit six 3s and scored 29 points,” Gardner said. “I could tell he had his feet in the varsity game. I know he’s not going to make six, seven 3s every game … I didn’t know he could shoot like that.
“He just seemed comfortable out there.”
Barnes had sharpened his craft over time.
“I was always around basketball growing up, with recreation centers and AAU teams,” Barnes said.
The jitters were still there before his first varsity contest, though. In front of friends and family, he didn’t show any sign of anxiety.
“Switching from middle school to varsity, it was a big change — more physical, more faster,” Barnes said. “But once you keep playing, you get used to it. It was like a snap. You’ve just got to play faster … Once I saw the first bucket go in, I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be a good game.’”
A teammate was knocked out of the lineup just a game into the schedule, making Barnes a starter and giving him the chance to showcase his mid-range jumper — which he fades away with sometimes.
“I work on that a lot,” Barnes said. “Playing at my own pace and all of that. I get to my spot and just rise up right there.”
Adjusting to different defensive sets became a task in itself this go-round. Opposing crews began to take notice of his numbers, studying him on MaxPreps.
“Teams try to put me in box-and-ones,” Barnes said. “They’re sending different looks at me, so it’s getting challenging to know what to do in certain situations … They’re definitely starting to respect me more.”
Still, he said he allows the game to come to him. He doesn’t force shots and gets his teammates involved. Barnes’ stature gives him an advantage in speed. His vision of the floor helps with passing, but there’s more he’ll be working on in the gym over the summer.
The coach has done his part in helping set the newcomer up for success, as well.
“I try to get high-ball screens and wing screens to get him to the basket,” Gardner added. “Using a lot of pick-and-rolls with him is really good because — if he doesn’t get a good, open-look shot — he’s going to get it to the guy setting the screen.”
Whether because of his slender stature or the smaller stage of prep hoops he plays on, Barnes hasn’t yet been noticed by those at the next level. However, he has been in contact with Boston College, where his uncle is a staff member.
Gardner expects him to build on his breakout campaign, namely by getting more comfortable finishing at the hoop and quickly catching and shooting. Nonetheless, Barnes is something of the type that he hasn’t seen on his team before. The attention will come.
“The thing that Syaire brings is he’s a guy that can get you a basket,” Gardner said. “If you need a basket, I want him with the ball. Through my coaching career and especially recently at FLC, there hasn’t been a guy that I could be like, ‘You know what? We can run a play for him because we’ve got to go through him.’
“Having a guy to get us a basket when we need it is really important.”