Sidelined in St. Paul… and they’re not happy about it
All across Minnesota last week the sounds of bouncing basketballs and happy kids could be heard, and the excitement about the coming season is everywhere. On Thursday night, the cheering begins for real as teams open the 2021 high school basketball season. Except in St. Paul, where the gym doors are locked, the facilities are off limits, and the players are still cooped up at home. In a district that talks endlessly about equity and opportunity for inner-city students, the powers that be are not allowing their kids to compete beyond its boundaries.
Unlike the rest of the state, the St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS) have made the decision to delay the opening of practice until Jan. 14 and to prohibit schools from playing games outside of their conference. This applies to all winter sports, not just basketball, but the impact of the decision is hitting particularly hard at Como Park, where the Cougars have spent years building a team that had a legitimate shot at the 2020 state championship. “It is a little discouraging and disappointing,” said junior forward Jada James Jada James 5'10" | PF Como Park | 2022 State MN . “I was looking forward to playing the bigger schools this year. It’s just discouraging because we all had high expectations. We were going to go to state.”
“I was really looking forward to this season,” said junior forward Cloey Dmytruk Cloey Dmytruk 5'10" | PF Como Park | 2022 State MN . “I really believed that this was our season to win state. We were nearly there last year. We saw what it takes.”
The school district had other plans. In spite of the fact that the governor, public health officials and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) have determined that it’s safe to compete, St. Paul is going its own way. We requested an interview with someone in authority at the District who could speak to these issues. Our request was denied. We wanted to speak on the record with Como Park’s new head coach Londa England, too, but because she is a full-time employee of St. Paul Public Schools she is not authorized to talk. That left Como Park Athletic Director Koua Yang to provide some answers.
“We want to give these girls the opportunity to play but, on the other hand, our population in the District is probably the most vulnerable to this virus,” Yang said. “I have seen it in first-hand in our District and that’s a big concern.” He also understands the frustrations of the players. “I get it. If I was in the same position as these students and these players I would feel the same way.”
“It’s a disservice to us”
Although the District can certainly prevent its employees from speaking out of turn, it cannot stop students from saying what’s on their minds. And the kids from Como Park have plenty to say. “Honestly I feel like it’s an injustice to the inner-city schools. It’s a disservice to us,” said junior point guard Kaylynn Asberry Kaylynn Asberry 5'5" | PG Como Park | 2022 State MN . “The schools out in the suburbs have a lot more games than us and they’re playing outside of their conference. I just feel like we don’t have the support that we deserve.”
“I think we all kind of felt something was going to happen because over the summer we couldn’t even get in our gym,” said Dmytruk. “We had to go to rec centers or work out outside. We had to do everything on our own. I was kind of confused and kind of mad.”
Junior guard Ronnie Porter Ronnie Porter 5'2" | CG Como Park | 2022 State MN agreed. “It shouldn’t be like that. We should be able to do the same things that other teams are doing,” she said. “All summer we had no support. We haven’t been able to get in our gym. We haven’t been able to do anything together.”
The players are obviously disappointed. That’s probably true of most of the athletes trying to play winter sports in St. Paul. What makes the Como Park girls basketball situation especially troubling, though, is the potential impact it could have on the college opportunities of an exceptional group of players.
Porter and Asberry are both ranked in the top 20 in the Prep Girls Hoops class of 2022 and have a legitimate shot at a Division 1 scholarship. With the NCAA’s decision to give current players an extra year of eligibility, however, the class of 2022 is already facing an uphill battle in that regard. A high-profile encounter with Hopkins or Becker could have been a showcase for Porter and Asberry to prove they are worthy of the opportunity.
James is rated #59 among the 2022s. Dmytruk is ranked #63. Junior Shakyla Walker Shakyla Walker 5'6" | SG Como Park | 2022 State MN has made tremendous strides and has risen to #119. Then there is Shania Van Nett Shania Van Nett 5'7" | CG Como Park | 2023 State MN , the #13-rated player in the 2023 class who is unfortunately sidelined with her second ACL injury. Top 125 junior Makayla Adams Makayla Adams 5'6" | CG Roseville | 2022 State MN and her younger sister Janayia Anderson moved out of the city just in time and are now rostered in Roseville.
“It sucks for the kids because it does curtail their opportunities,” said former Como Park coach Alexis Gray-Lawson, who rebuilt the program over the past five years before returning home last summer to Northern California for family reasons.
Gray-Lawson said the loss of a marque encounter with Hopkins, the #1-rated team in the country, is particularly hard to swallow. “I had talked to a lot of college coaches who were planning to watch that game because they wanted to see our kids against other kids who they consider the top people in their class. It definitely takes away from that. But this isn’t the first issue I’ve had with St. Paul. This is just one of many.”
Gray-Lawson had worked closely with her athletic director to build a strong schedule, but Yang is now in a tough situation having to advocate for his kids while keeping peace with the District.
“We have to look at the whole picture. If we were looking at just one team it would have been easy,” Yang said. “We also have to think about equity in terms of what we decide. If we decide that girls basketball is going to be an exception then that doesn’t look good, it doesn’t look fair. That being said, I work at Como Park and I know all of these kids well. I’m excited for their future prospects, too. It’s very disappointing because I had worked hard, along with the coach, to do a schedule that would prepare our kids. No disrespect to our conference but it doesn’t offer very much competition for our girls.”
And that is the issue. Now, instead of a loaded lineup of quality opponents, Como Park will likely play a handful of games, mostly against some of the state’s weakest programs, three of whom are trying to avoid playing Como at all.
The weak get weaker
There are seven teams in the St. Paul City Conference. Long-time powerhouse St. Paul Central – their teams in the late 2000s were considered among the best ever in Minnesota – has fallen on hard times in recent years, although the Minutemen looked a lot better when I saw them in fall league. Perhaps Central could give Como a game this year but the rest of the league… not so much.
Como Park’s last conference loss occurred on Feb. 12, 2015 when Central snuck out of the gym with a five-point win. Last year Highland Park turned in a strong effort but still ended up losing by 23. That’s the closest the Scots have come in recent seasons. Humboldt is scrappy and always puts up a good fight but the results are similar. After a brief period of success a few years ago, Harding has struggled of late. The disparity with Washington Tech and St. Paul Johnson is embarrassing.
Last year the Cougars beat the Governors 92-10 and 99-24. The average score over the past five years is 91-17. Since losing to Como Park by a 98-5 margin in their first match-up of the 2018-19 season, Washington has forfeited the last three games. Over the past five meetings Washington has scored 51 points… total. “A lot of times we don’t even get to play the full games,” Dmytruk said. “Once we get to the second half then JV has to play and we can’t score past a hundred points. Our AD puts in all of these sportsmanship rules that we have to follow and we don’t even know if they are real rules or not.”
To Becker and beyond
Led by Andrayah Adams (Texas Tech), her sister Raiyne Adams Raiyne Adams 5'4" | SG St. Paul Como Park | 2018 State MN (Anoka-Ramsey), Elaina Jones Elaina Jones 5'10" | P-PF DeLaSalle | 2019 State MN (Idaho State) and Mikayla Van Nett Mikayla Van Nett 5'10" | SF St. Paul Como Park AAA | 2018 State MN (Northwestern State), Como Park went to the state tournament in 2016. That was a huge turning point for the program because it provided a level of respect that led to better scheduling opportunities in subsequent years. The 2020-21 slate was to be the best yet.
“It definitely took a long time to build that schedule. It took an even longer time to build the program up to the point where they would even allow us to have that type of a schedule,” Gray-Lawson explained. “Before that somebody would say ‘yes’ to us once in a blue moon and then we end up beating them bad and they didn’t want to play us anymore.”
“When you have kids who are competitive and want to play at the next level you want them to be able to play against the best,” she said. “That was the mindset we had at Como: you can’t call yourself the best if you don’t play against the best. What makes it different than Hopkins or somebody like that is they get to play great competition in their own conference. Como doesn’t have that.”
One important growth point for the program occurred on Valentine’s Day in 2019 when Como Park travelled to Becker for an encounter with the Bulldogs. It turned out to be a sweetheart of a game as the home side scored a stunning 101-86 victory in one of the most entertaining contests we’ve seen. It was a great experience for everyone involved.
“For the first time we got to see another team that was just like us, except they were all white,” Gray-Lawson recalled with a laugh. “I mean, we hadn’t played any teams that scored like that in a long time. They had a really young team, too. I mean we mirrored each other perfectly. Those Becker kids can really go. They can compete.”
Como Park learned a couple of lessons that night and proved a few points, too. The Cougars took their rural opponents too lightly early on and it cost them. Como also showed that they were more than just athletic. It was an experience on and off the court, the likes of which they are now being denied. “From an educational point of view the kids got to see two different worlds,” said Gray-Lawson. “I mean, they walked into this beautiful gym on this beautiful campus. It’s a predominantly white school and it’s different.”
“That game really offered people some different perspectives. I think it opened up a lot of things for a lot of people. They were able to see who we were and vice versa, and because of that some of our kids ended up playing with their kids in the summer. With them coming to St. Paul they would have been able to see a different dynamic, too, and it would have prepared them, as well. I know they were excited about it. I know their coach was excited. I know their AD was excited. We had even talked about playing each other twice a year in the future because we knew it would prepare us and it would prepare them for state.”
What if they were violinists?
“It’s not fair!” We’ve heard that a lot lately. It’s a sign of the tumultuous times we are living in. The preferred word in the language of edu-speak is ‘equity’ and we hear it often in St. Paul. The district has been quite vocal in recent times about creating equitable opportunities for its students, be that in science programs or music or mathematics. That’s an admirable goal.
St. Paul students should have the same opportunity as other students in the state. Students of color should have the same opportunity as white students. That would be true for students with disabilities or LGBTQ kids or English Language Learners. Should it not also apply to students with exceptional abilities in one realm or another? Just because their expertise or particular talents are in basketball and not physics, music or math shouldn’t mean those talents are not worthy of maximum opportunity.
Would the district be so quick to deny a math whiz the opportunity to excel with her peers statewide? Would a violin prodigy be silenced just because she attends school in St. Paul? “I think they would treat it way differently,” said Porter, “which confuses me because we are all really good in school. We all have good grades. We go to school even during distance learning. I think if we did play an instrument or something like that they would treat it way differently.”
Academic excellence was a huge part of the program philosophy for Gray-Lawson, who earned a degree from the University of California at Berkley and attended law school at Pepperdine. For the record, 90 percent of the Como Park roster had all As in the first quarter according to the coaching staff. Among the four players we spoke to for this article, Porter carries a 3.6 GPA, Asberry is at 3.7, James has a 3.9. And Dmytruk? She’s Ivy League material.
Very few options
The question now is what can be done about the situation? We inquired with the MSHSL about whether or not the players might have the option to transfer and become immediately eligible given the unusual circumstances. According to Tim Leighton, Communications Director for the League, the players could transfer and be eligible to play JV ball but they would not be able to suit up at the varsity level.
Of course St. Paul Public Schools could always reverse the decision, couldn’t they? In fact that might be in the works. Last week, two days after my initial request for an interview, I received an email from Communications Director Kevin Burns that read as follows: “With the new guidelines contained in Governor Walz’s message yesterday, SPPS is analyzing the information to determine what changes, if any, we will be making to our Athletics procedures going forward. We are still planning to begin practices on Jan. 14.” I emailed back seeking clarification. “Does this mean you will be reconsidering and potentially allowing play out of conference?” I asked. “We are looking at all aspects of our plans,” he replied.
So SPPS may, indeed, reverse course. Unfortunately it would be too little, too late. There is no way the schedule could be reconstructed now. The jilted opponents will have scheduled other teams instead and Como Park will be left begging for table scraps. Even if the District relents and allows the team to enter the post-season, their chances of success in section 3AAA have been irreparably damaged.
“There’s no way,” said Gray-Lawson. “If they are only allowed to play conference games they will lose to St. Croix Lutheran for sure. I loved Simley’s JV team last year, so I assume a lot of those kids will go up and play varsity now. Como is at a huge disadvantage. It will put them in the worst situation possible.”
Turn out the lights
It’s no secret that St. Paul Public Schools’ enrollment numbers are trending in the wrong direction. Parents have been fleeing for suburban schools and charters in large numbers in recent years. We have seen a mass exodus of quality athletes, too, as they look elsewhere for better opportunities and support.
A couple of years ago I did some research on the subject and determined that there were more than 25 elite players from St. Paul – those included in the Prep Girls Hoops rankings – who were playing in other districts and at private schools. The list included the likes of Alexis Pratt Alexis Pratt 5'5" | PG Stillwater | 2021 State MN and Liza Karlen Liza Karlen 6'2" | PF Stillwater | 2020 State MN at Stillwater, Tamia Ugass Tamia Ugass 6'3" | C Roseville | 2021 State MN at Roseville, Mia Curtis Mia Curtis 5'8" | CG Minnehaha | 2020 State MN at Minnehaha Academy, Jaide Pressley Jaide Pressley 5'8" | CG Hopkins | 2020 State MN at Hopkins, and more.
Might this be a final tipping point in the decline of St. Paul girls basketball?
“Unless I know the history of St. Paul I probably wouldn’t send my kid there. I mean, what will Como look like after Shania leaves? What are they going to do to keep it going?” she said. “It definitely saddens me. It just sucks when kids have to deal with the backlash of adults who don’t understand at all. I mean, in St. Paul they have people in charge of sports who didn’t even play sports. How can they make decisions when they haven’t even experienced what it’s like to be an athlete? That’s what kills me. But that’s St. Paul for you. They are always behind the times. They are always on the wrong side of things.”