Forsythe emerging as a top college basketball recruitt
Jan 17, 2023 9:00:58 GMT -6
huntersheppard, illinoissooner, and 1 more like this
Post by The Admin on Jan 17, 2023 9:00:58 GMT -6
Dale's Dayton Forsythe emerging as a top college basketball recruit
www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/high-school/basketball/2023/01/16/oklahoma-high-school-basketball-dayton-forsythe-dale-pirates-recruiting-profile-ou-osu/69796081007/
www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/high-school/basketball/2023/01/16/oklahoma-high-school-basketball-dayton-forsythe-dale-pirates-recruiting-profile-ou-osu/69796081007/
DALE — Dayton Forsythe jolted awake when he read the name that lit up his phone screen.
The junior guard was snoozing late on the morning of New Year’s Eve. He needed extra rest after dropping 34 points to lead Class 2A Dale's boys basketball team to a monumental tournament win over reigning 5A state champ Tulsa Memorial.
Then he heard a ring.
Mike Boynton was calling.
The Oklahoma State men’s basketball coach had been a courtside witness to Forsythe’s remarkable Tournament of Champions showing. And Boynton decided to offer a scholarship.
Within a few hours, the good news tripled.
Forsythe and his family visited OU for a men’s basketball game, and coach Porter Moser invited them to his office where he, too, extended a scholarship offer.
Before they could even leave Lloyd Noble Center, Forsythe had another. This time, Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes was the messenger on the phone.
“It was a super-crazy day,” Forsythe said. “I had to pinch myself a couple times that it was actually happening. But it was awesome.”
Winning Tournament of Champions
During Tulsa’s Tournament of Champions at the end of December, Forsythe’s recruiting profile suddenly skyrocketed as Dale became the smallest school to win since 1978. Power Six coaches are realizing just how far his star power can take him, and he’s drawing a new level of attention to Dale hoops as he keeps his college options open.
In Forsythe’s close-knit community just northwest of Shawnee, people have recognized his potential for a long time.
Jeff Edmonson said Forsythe’s accomplishments aren’t surprising. The Pirates’ boys basketball coach led a youth team several years ago and helped Forsythe develop his raw talent.
“He can score at all levels,” Edmonson said. “He can hit the 3, he’s got a great pull-up jump shot and can finish really strong at the rim. And he’s such a great teammate; he’s very unselfish. He loves to make a great pass just like making a great shot, so I think it’s a little combination of all those things that make him so difficult to guard and makes him such an outstanding player.”
With Forsythe’s versatile skill set boosting every facet of their game, the top-ranked Pirates are striving to capture their second consecutive Class 2A title. They’ve rumbled to a 19-0 record while strengthening a team dynamic that was born in Forsythe’s neighborhood.
Valerie Forsythe, Dayton’s mother, knew better than to keep glass in her picture frames when she had young sons. A plastic Little Tikes basketball goal stood in front of the family’s fireplace, and games between the three Forsythe brothers and their father, Josh, then a basketball coach, could get intense.
“(Dayton) grew up with a basketball in his hand,” Valerie said. “I had nothing in my house that could break.”
'Dale is a little community'
The competitiveness carried across the street. As elementary-age children, Forsythe and his two brothers could take a short walk and meet up with neighbors Deken Jones and Easton Edmonson, the high school coach’s son.
The Forsythes’ empty lot next to their home turned into a hopping sports venue. The youngsters played football. They enjoyed wiffle ball games, a precursor to Forsythe’s promising baseball career at Dale. And a driveway basketball goal was like a front door — each kid’s house had one.
“Dale is a little community where everybody knows everybody, so they all grew up together,” Josh Forsythe said.
Outside Dale, not everyone is familiar with the place. At tournaments, when the Forsythes mention their community, people ask where it is or sometimes mistake it for Del City.
There is no city surrounding Dale, which shares its zip code with McLoud.
The community’s distinctive landmark is a colossal, tan-and-white dome that doubles as the school cafeteria and a tornado shelter.
In the 2020 census, the population checked in at 175, meaning nearly 110 Dales could fit into Tulsa’s BOK Center, where the Pirates won the Tournament of Champions. But the school district encompasses more students than the population indicates, and the strong pulse of athletic tradition gives Dale its charm.
Without a football team, locals rally around softball, baseball and basketball. Forsythe’s prominent childhood memories involve gathering with friends at basketball games, where they would clamber onto the gym railing and kick the side of the stands to distract opponents who were putting up shots.
“It was always an exciting day on game days,” Josh Forsythe said. “Everybody would go to the high school games.
“It was just one big family in Dale. That’s what stands out to me.”
Now, that family is cheering for Dayton Forsythe and his teammates.
Make no mistake — this is not Forsythe’s breakout year. Last season, the then-sophomore phenom stuffed the stat sheet with 37 points, eight rebounds and four assists as Dale rolled past Cashion for its first state title in program history. The 6-foot-3 Forsythe has also burst onto the AAU scene with Team Griffin, OU alumnus Blake Griffin’s organization.
As a junior, Forsythe is climbing to greater heights, and the Dale program is rising with him. Jones, Edmonson, Levi Kelly, Trayden Chambers, Jett Higdon and freshman Denton Forsythe — Dayton’s younger brother — are playing key roles in the Pirates’ undefeated run.
Recruiting starting to pick up for Dayton Forsythe
The Tournament of Champions was just a chance to showcase their skills in front of a large audience.
Forsythe looked toward the stands and saw a multitude of familiar faces, people from Dale who flocked to Tulsa in support. He embraced the atmosphere, earning the tournament MVP award as the Pirates knocked off Class 6A Tulsa Union, Class 4A Crossings Christian and Class 5A Tulsa Memorial.
With the hometown support, the spacious venue seemed a little smaller, a little more like Dale’s gym. But the Pirates also had the eyes of college coaches upon them.
Recruiters weren’t just there for Dayton. Chambers and Denton Forsythe landed offers from Oklahoma City University after the tournament.
And it was a huge opportunity for Dayton, too. Wake Forest’s coaches were watching him via online broadcast, and Boynton sat courtside with former Cowboy point guard Keiton Page, now OSU’s director of player development. Page, the “Pawnee Pistol” who put his small-town high school program on the map more than 15 years ago, expressed his enthusiasm about Forsythe doing the same for Dale.
Then Page dropped a hint while chatting with Forsythe’s dad.
“We already had known that Dayton was gonna go to an OSU game on that following Monday,” Josh said. “(Page) had said, ‘You know, it’s gonna be a good day on Monday.’ He didn’t say it, but he kind of hinted that maybe they would be offering that Monday.”
The Cowboys couldn’t wait that long.
Neither could the Sooners. Neither could Wake Forest.
Those offers added to a growing list that includes Oral Roberts, OCU, the University of Central Oklahoma, Loyola-Chicago, Rice, Portland and Drexel. Forsythe has not committed to a program, but wherever he goes, he has to find a “special team” with the family-like dynamic he knows, his mom said.
After his big recruiting weekend, Forsythe rang in the new year by catching up on sleep. Then he returned to school from winter break. His Dale peers celebrated him after the ToC, but their fanfare wasn’t out of the ordinary. They know his talents. They know he’s good.
The community fuels him. And that’s why, despite interest from prestigious academies and prep schools that could draw him away from home into a bigger spotlight, Forsythe has chosen to make a name for himself at Class 2A Dale.
“We want him to be a kid,” Valerie said. “We want him to have a good high school experience, and so we’ve stayed here.”
The junior guard was snoozing late on the morning of New Year’s Eve. He needed extra rest after dropping 34 points to lead Class 2A Dale's boys basketball team to a monumental tournament win over reigning 5A state champ Tulsa Memorial.
Then he heard a ring.
Mike Boynton was calling.
The Oklahoma State men’s basketball coach had been a courtside witness to Forsythe’s remarkable Tournament of Champions showing. And Boynton decided to offer a scholarship.
Within a few hours, the good news tripled.
Forsythe and his family visited OU for a men’s basketball game, and coach Porter Moser invited them to his office where he, too, extended a scholarship offer.
Before they could even leave Lloyd Noble Center, Forsythe had another. This time, Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes was the messenger on the phone.
“It was a super-crazy day,” Forsythe said. “I had to pinch myself a couple times that it was actually happening. But it was awesome.”
Winning Tournament of Champions
During Tulsa’s Tournament of Champions at the end of December, Forsythe’s recruiting profile suddenly skyrocketed as Dale became the smallest school to win since 1978. Power Six coaches are realizing just how far his star power can take him, and he’s drawing a new level of attention to Dale hoops as he keeps his college options open.
In Forsythe’s close-knit community just northwest of Shawnee, people have recognized his potential for a long time.
Jeff Edmonson said Forsythe’s accomplishments aren’t surprising. The Pirates’ boys basketball coach led a youth team several years ago and helped Forsythe develop his raw talent.
“He can score at all levels,” Edmonson said. “He can hit the 3, he’s got a great pull-up jump shot and can finish really strong at the rim. And he’s such a great teammate; he’s very unselfish. He loves to make a great pass just like making a great shot, so I think it’s a little combination of all those things that make him so difficult to guard and makes him such an outstanding player.”
With Forsythe’s versatile skill set boosting every facet of their game, the top-ranked Pirates are striving to capture their second consecutive Class 2A title. They’ve rumbled to a 19-0 record while strengthening a team dynamic that was born in Forsythe’s neighborhood.
Valerie Forsythe, Dayton’s mother, knew better than to keep glass in her picture frames when she had young sons. A plastic Little Tikes basketball goal stood in front of the family’s fireplace, and games between the three Forsythe brothers and their father, Josh, then a basketball coach, could get intense.
“(Dayton) grew up with a basketball in his hand,” Valerie said. “I had nothing in my house that could break.”
'Dale is a little community'
The competitiveness carried across the street. As elementary-age children, Forsythe and his two brothers could take a short walk and meet up with neighbors Deken Jones and Easton Edmonson, the high school coach’s son.
The Forsythes’ empty lot next to their home turned into a hopping sports venue. The youngsters played football. They enjoyed wiffle ball games, a precursor to Forsythe’s promising baseball career at Dale. And a driveway basketball goal was like a front door — each kid’s house had one.
“Dale is a little community where everybody knows everybody, so they all grew up together,” Josh Forsythe said.
Outside Dale, not everyone is familiar with the place. At tournaments, when the Forsythes mention their community, people ask where it is or sometimes mistake it for Del City.
There is no city surrounding Dale, which shares its zip code with McLoud.
The community’s distinctive landmark is a colossal, tan-and-white dome that doubles as the school cafeteria and a tornado shelter.
In the 2020 census, the population checked in at 175, meaning nearly 110 Dales could fit into Tulsa’s BOK Center, where the Pirates won the Tournament of Champions. But the school district encompasses more students than the population indicates, and the strong pulse of athletic tradition gives Dale its charm.
Without a football team, locals rally around softball, baseball and basketball. Forsythe’s prominent childhood memories involve gathering with friends at basketball games, where they would clamber onto the gym railing and kick the side of the stands to distract opponents who were putting up shots.
“It was always an exciting day on game days,” Josh Forsythe said. “Everybody would go to the high school games.
“It was just one big family in Dale. That’s what stands out to me.”
Now, that family is cheering for Dayton Forsythe and his teammates.
Make no mistake — this is not Forsythe’s breakout year. Last season, the then-sophomore phenom stuffed the stat sheet with 37 points, eight rebounds and four assists as Dale rolled past Cashion for its first state title in program history. The 6-foot-3 Forsythe has also burst onto the AAU scene with Team Griffin, OU alumnus Blake Griffin’s organization.
As a junior, Forsythe is climbing to greater heights, and the Dale program is rising with him. Jones, Edmonson, Levi Kelly, Trayden Chambers, Jett Higdon and freshman Denton Forsythe — Dayton’s younger brother — are playing key roles in the Pirates’ undefeated run.
Recruiting starting to pick up for Dayton Forsythe
The Tournament of Champions was just a chance to showcase their skills in front of a large audience.
Forsythe looked toward the stands and saw a multitude of familiar faces, people from Dale who flocked to Tulsa in support. He embraced the atmosphere, earning the tournament MVP award as the Pirates knocked off Class 6A Tulsa Union, Class 4A Crossings Christian and Class 5A Tulsa Memorial.
With the hometown support, the spacious venue seemed a little smaller, a little more like Dale’s gym. But the Pirates also had the eyes of college coaches upon them.
Recruiters weren’t just there for Dayton. Chambers and Denton Forsythe landed offers from Oklahoma City University after the tournament.
And it was a huge opportunity for Dayton, too. Wake Forest’s coaches were watching him via online broadcast, and Boynton sat courtside with former Cowboy point guard Keiton Page, now OSU’s director of player development. Page, the “Pawnee Pistol” who put his small-town high school program on the map more than 15 years ago, expressed his enthusiasm about Forsythe doing the same for Dale.
Then Page dropped a hint while chatting with Forsythe’s dad.
“We already had known that Dayton was gonna go to an OSU game on that following Monday,” Josh said. “(Page) had said, ‘You know, it’s gonna be a good day on Monday.’ He didn’t say it, but he kind of hinted that maybe they would be offering that Monday.”
The Cowboys couldn’t wait that long.
Neither could the Sooners. Neither could Wake Forest.
Those offers added to a growing list that includes Oral Roberts, OCU, the University of Central Oklahoma, Loyola-Chicago, Rice, Portland and Drexel. Forsythe has not committed to a program, but wherever he goes, he has to find a “special team” with the family-like dynamic he knows, his mom said.
After his big recruiting weekend, Forsythe rang in the new year by catching up on sleep. Then he returned to school from winter break. His Dale peers celebrated him after the ToC, but their fanfare wasn’t out of the ordinary. They know his talents. They know he’s good.
The community fuels him. And that’s why, despite interest from prestigious academies and prep schools that could draw him away from home into a bigger spotlight, Forsythe has chosen to make a name for himself at Class 2A Dale.
“We want him to be a kid,” Valerie said. “We want him to have a good high school experience, and so we’ve stayed here.”
