Michigan State-bound point guard Lourawls "Tum-Tum" Nairn Jr. has helped legitimize a program that was an unknown nationally five years ago.
Photo by Dan Wozniak
Kyle Lindsted
2012-13 record: 29-1, No. 6 final Academy Top 10 national ranking
Players to watch: Nathan Bain (6-6, 195, Sr., G/F),
Moataz Hosny (6-9, Sr., F/C),
Dusan Kovacevic (6-10, Jr., F/C),
Travis Munnings (6-7, 195, Sr., G/F),
Jerry Myles Jr. (6-5, So., G/F),
Lourawls Nairn Jr. (5-10, Sr., G, Michigan State verbal commitment),
Keanu Pinder (6-8, Sr., F, Nebraska verbal commitment),
Roman Young (5-10, So., G)
Breaking down the BuffaloesFive years ago, Sunrise Christian Academy was a name few outside of the Wichita area would recognize.
That's changed in a big way thanks partially to an influx of talented international students and a signature win over Prime Prep last season.
Nathan Bain is part of SCA's Bahamas backcourt pipeline.
Photo by Dan Wozniak
The 2013-14 Sunrise roster will include players from Australia, Bahamas, Egypt, Serbia and Spain.
"I like our team a lot," Lindsted said. "It will be a little bit of the same M.O. for us in that we have guys that are probably under the radar a little bit, international guys who don't have a big name here."
SCA's headliner is certainly a well-recognized prospect. Point guard Nairn Jr. is a Top 100 2014 recruit headed to play for Tom Izzo at Michigan State.
Fellow Bahamians Bain and Munnings – a defensive stopper – along with local sensation Young give the Buffaloes a backcourt that Lindsted believes will be the foundation of everything the team does this winter.
"I don't know where we will be as far as beating the top teams, but I think we will be really hard to beat," Lindsted said. "With the guys that we have, they are going to run our sets, play the type of basketball we want to play and we aren't going to beat ourselves."
Stepping upMaxPreps ran a short story in August about Hosny, a talented Egyptian player struggling to leave his home country to pursue his basketball dreams. He ended up at Sunrise Christian and Lindsted expects him to make a major contribution right away as a likely starter.
"The first few days he struggled to even get through practice," Lindsted said. "He had never done anything that hard in his life, but he's getting better. He can really defend and rebound and he is super long and athletic."
Hosny averaged 10.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game at the FIBA U17 World Championship while representing his country in the summer of 2012.
Key datesNov. 28-30 – State Farm Tournament of Champions
Dec. 20-22 – City of Palms Classic
Jan. 10 – vs.
Prime Prep (Dallas) at McCracken County Festival of Hoops
Jan. 11 – vs.
Huntington St. Joseph Prep (W.Va.) at McCracken County Festival of Hoops
Jan. 19 – vs.
Thurgood Marshall (Dayton, Ohio) at Flyin' to the Hoop
Jan. 24-25 – Penny Hardaway Hoopfest
March 7 – at Prime Prep
