A whirlwind of a month for Kalen Garry, De Smet boys’ basketball

DE SMET – It took Kalen Garry all of one week to go from standout senior boys’ basketball player from rural South Dakota to getting the fire emoji treatment from the nationally recognized website Bleacher Report.

“It still doesn’t feel real,” Garry said.

It started with a game against Clark/Willow Lake. De Smet was down 3 with 13 seconds to play. Garry hit a step back three to tie the game. On the inbound, Garry’s teammate Rett Osthus stole the ball and fed Garry a pass. Bang. In a Reggie Miller-esque moment, Garry scored 6 points in the blink of an eye to lead an impressive comeback.

Two days later, Garry had a ho-hum 20 points, leading the Bulldogs to a 68-17 win over Estelline/Hendricks. Oh, and during the game, Garry threw down a windmill dunk that even had the opposing fans stand up and cheer.

The next day, De Smet headed down to the Sioux Falls Pentagon to take on nationally ranked Dream City Christian (from Glendale, Arizona). A small Class B school vs. a private prep school, boasting an international roster composed of the No. 1-ranked basketball player in the class of 2022 – it’s safe to say the boys from De Smet were considerable underdogs.

Before

Flashback to March 2021 at the Class B Boys State Basketball Tournament in Aberdeen. De Smet, led by a tight-knit group of underclassmen, rolled through the tournament, defeating Lower Brule, Viborg-Hurley and Aberdeen Christian to claim the school’s first title since the 1999 team won the Class A Championship.

Garry led the way for the Bulldogs, receiving All-State honors while averaging 23.6 points a game during the tournament.

With his outstanding performance, Garry began to generate some interest from the local universities, including Northern State, Augustana, and the University of Sioux Falls, from whom he received his first scholarship offer.

During the summers, Garry played basketball with the Pentagon Schoolers, comprised of standout players from around eastern South Dakota. At tournaments that the Schoolers played at, college coaches were always in attendance. Despite that, Garry said he didn’t have a lot of schools recruiting him at the time.

“No one really knew of me because I was from such a small town,” Garry said.

Recruiting wasn’t something that Garry was really concerned about, however.

“Going into the high school season, I wasn’t focused on college much, even going into this season I didn’t really care,” Garry said. “I was always focused on the team and trying to get better to win the state championship because we had the personnel to do that.”

Heading into the next season, Garry had one thought on his mind: repeat.

“I wanted a better summer than I did, I wish I would have spent more time,” Garry said. “The summer is always really important for college obviously.”

While top basketball recruits around the country focus solely on basketball, Garry traded in his basketball shoes for cleats. De Smet’s entire basketball team was also a part of the football team.

De Smet had a solid year in Class 9A football, and Garry made a splash on the field as well. A catch and run during the Aug. 20 game against Wolsey-Wessington landed him a spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays.

According to head basketball coach Jeff Gruenhagen, the football season was taxing on the players. Most of the guys on the team were starters, on both sides of the ball, which meant a lot of physical plays throughout the entire season. Garry, who was used as a utility player on the football filed, played with a cast on his hand for part of the season.

“He was having a good football season that some of the football coaches were starting to call him,” Gruenhagen said. “They were trying to lure him away from basketball.”

De Smet made a deep run in the playoffs, ultimately losing to Herried/Selby in the state semi-finals.

“Football threw a little monkey wrench (into the season) for us,” Gruenhagen said. “We had a lot of injuries by the time that season was over. We had to give them a little time to just heal from that and get rolling.”

Despite the football interest, Garry had his heart set on basketball, Gruenhagen said.

Garry had visited a few local schools heading into his senior year but figured out that they weren’t the college fit for him, Gruenhagen explained. Before his sophomore season, the two Division I universities in the state had been speaking to Garry but never offered him a scholarship.

“I think he was just waiting to see what the season brought and how thing changed, and if any offers changed” Gruenhagen said.

“I just got to keep playing ball and something good will happen,” Garry said.

Dream City game

The season got rolling in a hurry. De Smet started out 3-0 before tipping off with Dream City Christian at the Pentagon.

Dream City was tall, littered with high-level international talent, based in the Phoenix area, and the 22nd ranked team in the nation – basically the polar opposite of De Smet.

In what looked like a 21st century “Hoosiers” remake, De Smet pounced on Dream City early, led by Garry and Osthus, who took it right at the taller prep team, driving the lane or passing out to open shooters.

“I knew they wouldn’t back down. We had no idea how the game would go playing that kind of size, but once we figured out they weren’t going to steal the ball from us,” Gruenhagen said. “They were just guys playing basketball like we are.”

Garry scored 35 of De Smet’s 57 points. Dream City ultimately came back in the final few minutes to win by four, 61-57.

“I just went and played basketball,” Garry said. “We were happy with ourselves, but we should of won the game. We were kind of bummed we didn’t win.”

“It was a fun game to watch,” Gruenhagen said. “We’re still disappointed we didn’t win that one, but it’s not the end of the world in that situation.”

Recruiting storm

After the game, things changed for Garry. His phone began “blowing up” with notifications, and not just from social media. Loads of college coaches were now seeking out Garry.

Gruenhagen said after the Clark-Willow Lake game, when Garry scored two 3s in eight seconds, some coaches began requesting clips of games. But after the Dream City game, things really took off.

“After the Pentagon, that’s when the phones really started ringing,” Gruenhagen explained. “Dream City’s director of basketball was asking us why he didn’t have any (Division I) offers. We’re like, ‘Well, we don’t know exactly. We’re the same way,’ He’s a good student, he’s a good kid, and the phones just started ringing from all over.”

Garry said that “tons” coaches started following him on Twitter and then asked for his phone number. Gruenhagen said he and De Smet’s athletic director and assistant basketball coach, Becky Geyer, were fielding calls from schools all over the country, from the west coast to the east coast.

“One call after another, people wanting film,” Gruenhagen said. “We were sending them out, just a lot of D-I schools from all over the country.”

Some of the schools that called surprised even surprised Garry. Boston College, from the Atlantic Coast Conference, reached out to Gruenhagen to see what Garry’s future plans were. Some schools from the Summit League and other mid-major conferences reached out as well.

Garry’s game brought renewed interest from both the University of South Dakota and South Dakota State University.

“Paul Seville, who is one of the best guys in the world, told me that USD and SDSU were interested again,” Garry said. “Things really started picking up.”

On Dec. 20, Garry received his first Division I offer from USD.

Garry said SDSU called on a Sunday, and “they were really interested and wanted me to come down to campus.”

Garry had unofficially visited SDSU multiple times previously.

“I just liked it so much,” Garry said.

Garry traveled to Brookings with his parents and Gruenhagen on Dec. 22 for the Oral Roberts game.

“They took me into the office, and we talked,” Garry said. “I just loved it there. It’s a big-time program, and they win games, got awesome coaches and good facilities, so I wanted to be a jackrabbit.”

Garry was offered a scholarship and committed to SDSU. After the commitment, Garry, his family and Gruenhagen went out to eat to celebrate and then came back to watch the game.

“SDSU was just always in his mind, so I think that made it easier for him, that when they would have a spot for him,” Gruenhagen said. “I think it was just easy for him to make that decision. It fits him, I like Coach Henderson and their staff is great.”

The recruiting process for Garry was stressful, and he said it was a relief to get the commitment out of the way.

“Now I can focus on hopefully getting back to the state tournament and making a big run again,” Garry said.

Rest of the season

As for the rest of the season, De Smet will get everyone’s best shot, Gruenhagen and Garry said. De Smet was matched with perennial Class B contender White River at the Hanson Classic in Mitchell on Jan. 22. White River boasts an SDSU basketball commit of their own in Joe Slayer, who just happens to be good friends with Garry. De Smet ended up winning 63-49, with Garry scoring 24 points.

“(Joe Slayer) is one of my best friends,” Garry said. “We played summer ball together, he became really good friends with us De Smet kids.”

Other key games include a return trip to the Pentagon in February and regions later that month.

The Class B State Tournament is scheduled for March 17-19, on Northern State’s campus in Aberdeen.

As for the dunks, Garry said he started dunking his freshman year and “has a lot more” that people haven’t seen yet.

Photos from De Smet’s game vs. White River at the Hanson Classic. (Amber Jensen)