Baltimore Player of the Year: De’Vondre Perry
Before this basketball season, Baltimore Polytechinal High School’s gym didn’t have any state championship banners hanging.
And then, De’Vondre Perry happened.
Perry dominated the competition from the beginning to the end of the 2016-17 season. He ended on the highest note possible by leading the Engineers to a 3A state title, their first in school history. Perry averaged 19.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.8 blocks per game. In the state semifinal and final, the Temple commit averaged 28 points, 12.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and three blocks in what was the most impressive individual performance in the state tournament’s history.
With this taken into consideration, there’s no argument for who else deserved to be awarded as the first ever PrepHoops Baltimore Player of the Year.
Head Coach Sam Brand said it plain and simple in the state championship press conference, “This guy [Perry] is the best player in the state of Maryland.”
The Engineers’ 21-7 record doesn’t jump off the page as being one of the top teams purely based off numbers, but the fact that they played a national schedule adds major credibility. Furthermore, they finished with an undefeated record in city play. Games against national powerhouses such as Simeon (IL), Imhotep Academy (PA), Sagemont (FL), Bishop Laughlin (NY), and Mt. Saint Joseph (MD) helped Perry and the Engineers measure themselves up against the best and set the stage for the level of play for the remainder of the season.
There was plenty of adversity along the way of achieving their ultimate goal, but Brand has instilled a culture within the Poly basketball program that preaches an “our family vs your team” mindset. It isn’t something that the players wear on the back of their warm ups for fashion. Each and every player bought into what Brand was trying to create. Perry’s acceptance of this mindset made it spread like wildfire through the younger guys on the team. Not only on the floor, but in the classroom as well.
“In the building of our program, Dre is a microcosm for the entire thing and it’s very fitting that we win it his senior year,” Coach Brand said. “Dre came in and had a 2.2 GPA his first quarter. Since then, it’s consistently improved to the point where he had a 4.0 in the first quarter this year. It’s to the point now where he’s even tutoring other guys.”
The time and effort put into creating winning habits both on and off the court helped equip Perry with the necessary skills that await him on the collegiate level. On September 31, he decided to commit to Temple University despite holding offers from Kansas State, Virginia Tech, USC, Dayton and six other Division I schools.
Choosing Temple means he will play for a legendary coach in Frank Dunphy, who is one of 25 active Division I coaches with 500 victories.
“I’m really happy that he’s going with Fran Dunphy and Aaron McKie and that staff. I think Aaron is the perfect mentor,” Coach Brand said. “A big, strong guard who had a great NBA career and played at Temple. It feels really good to send him up there ready for what they want him to be. I expect him to be an all-league guy, be a great student, and a great player.”
Perry may be sporting a new jersey for the next four years of his career, but the impact that he made during his time at Poly will never be forgotten. In fact, it’ll hang in the school gym for the rest of time.
Coach Brand will use Perry as an example of setting the expectations and standards for what Poly basketball stands for because of how he did it.
“We were the family, I was the head coach, and he was the leader within the family and he did a great job of it.”