Indomitable Dakota’s Kismayo De Michael needed true grit to make himself the best high school basketball player in Manitoba By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 2:00 AM CST Saturday, Mar. 9, 2024 Last Modified: 6:26 AM CDT Monday, Mar. 11, 2024 Updates

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Resilience. Tenacity. Perseverance.

You can use those adjectives to describe how Kismayo De Michael has lived his life over the last five months. But the words really don’t do it.

Kismayo, or Kizzy as he is known to his Dakota Collegiate teammates, speaks for himself on the court. The quiet 18-year-old has become a man of action in the months since his mom, Akuch Machuor, was killed by a suspected drunk driver at the corner of Fermor Avenue and St. Mary’s Road on Sept. 26, 2023.

Machour, a 43-year-old single mom, left behind three children — Kizzy, his 13-year-old brother and 17-year-old sister.

“The first few months of the (school) year were tough,” says De Michael, a Grade 12 forward/guard on the Lancers varsity boys basketball team. “Nothing was really going through my mind except what happened to my mother. But the next day I came and I shot (balls) in the morning and then shot afterwards.

“Nothing was really going my way and I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know what to do. I felt stuck.”

It was in the gym where De Michael felt he belonged.

“I think he found basketball — and maybe this was true for his life prior to the accident with his mom — but I think he finds basketball to be a refuge, a safe place, a comforting place, a familiar place to be where he can go in and do his thing and forget about the bad things he’s experienced this year,” says Lancers head coach Dean Favoni.

“Nothing was really going through my mind except what happened to my mother. But the next day I came and I shot (balls) in the morning and then shot afterwards.”–Kismayo De Michael

Favoni also knew this: De Michael, who averaged about 20 points per game in Grade 11, was a talent with undefined limits. Although he only started playing the game in Grade 9, his raw ability has become more refined in his final year of high school.

He has averaged 30 points, three assists, five steals, two blocks and six rebounds this winter while leading the Lancers to a No. 2 ranking in Manitoba and a berth in Saturday’s quarterfinals at the provincial AAAA championship. He has one 50-point game and five 40-plus-point outings on his 2023-24 resumé.

Earlier this week, a panel of coaches voted De Michael the province’s No. 1 varsity boys player in the annual Free Press poll.

“Before she passed, she’d talk about how she’s proud of me and how far I’ve came in basketball,” says De Michael. “And I told her that I’ll go as far as I can in university basketball and she supported it a lot. So now that’s since she’s not around anymore, I can’t really tell her about my games and how much I’ve put up — banners, awards and championships — because that’s what I’d usually do when I got home.

“So now, everything I do is basically just for her… I’m honouring her and what she’s done for me because not having a father figure and her taking care of three kids alone, was quite the challenge.”

De Michael’s accomplishments defy understanding. He has moved in with the family of a former Dakota teammate and he has relied on the support of his coaches.

“The circumstances — you can’t even imagine it and to be able to do what he has done, it’s just unfathomable,” says Lancers point guard Blake Penner, one of his closest friends. “It’s incredible… truly it is.”

Favoni believes De Michael is only scratching the surface of the player he may yet become.

“The circumstances — you can’t even imagine it and to be able to do what he has done, it’s just unfathomable”–Blake Penner

An impossibly slender 6-3, 155-pounder, he may still be growing. An active metabolism has so far made it difficult to add weight.

“There was a jump from Grade 10 to 11 and I think the jump from 11 to 12 was even bigger,” says Favoni. “But I still think there’s lots of potential in him. He’s still figuring some things out and I don’t think he’s reached his ceiling yet. There’s room for him not just as a scorer, but I think there’s room for him as an elite rebounder and defender…

“His focus has been primarily scoring but I think there’s some potential for him to be very, very good in other areas of the game.”

Still a relative newcomer to the game, De Michael’s shooting form is a thing of beauty. He usually hits 40 per cent of his three-point attempts.

“Him shooting a three-pointer from all kinds of distances looks effortless — he’s very smooth,” says Favoni. “It doesn’t look like it’s taking a lot of power and strength while for other players, you can tell it’s taking a lot of energy to get it there.”

As his reputation has grown, so has the defensive pressure from opponents.

“Him shooting a three-pointer from all kinds of distances looks effortless — he’s very smooth”–Dean Favoni

“He’s really like opened some eyes this year,” says Lancers assistant coach Chiranjit Goswami. “He’s definitely a three-level scorer. He can get to the rim, he can finish around the rim with a few different skill finishes. He can pull up and he’s got deep range. He’s saved us a lot with his range this year.”

These days, De Michael is usually shadowed closely by a defender. The constant duress can be suffocating, with an opponent lurking in his face, only inches away.

“This year is when people really know me now and do try things just to stop me,” says De Michael. “It’s hard to adjust to it because I’m not used to that type of basketball… It will go on all throughout provincials.

“I wouldn’t say it’s extremely physical. It depends on the team. Some teams are like, ‘I’m gonna get under your skin and be extremely physical on you.’”

The Dakota coaching staff has countered these tactics by trying to free De Michael with off-ball screens before he gets the ball.

“He has an ability to force people to do things that they don’t want to do and force them into situations which are completely unfavorable for them”–Blake Penner

A wingspan thought to be in the range of 6-10 and quick hands have helped to turn De Michael into a feared defender.

“He has an ability to force people to do things that they don’t want to do and force them into situations which are completely unfavorable for them,” says Penner, who rated No. 9 on the FP list. “And it just creates opportunities for himself on the other end.”

Adds Favoni: “His length is deceptive. He kind of baits people into making passes that they think can get through and he gets us lots of deflections and steals out of it.”

De Michael is aiming to help bring a provincial title back to Dakota this month but his basketball future beyond this spring remains uncertain. He is not contemplating any U Sports offers, but physical maturity and a university weight-training program could make him a very interesting prospect.

“Kizzy has not yet filled out,” says Goswami. “It is pretty incredible what his frame could probably handle in a couple more years.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca