With the game against visiting Forest Lake apparently in hand, the big question for a pair of Park students was how many dunks Pharrel Payne would finish with.

“He’ll get four more,” said one of the students.

“Nah, he’ll get more than that,” said the other.

Payne’s number of dunks in the second half were fewer as Forest Lake climbed back into the game, but his style points were as usual, off the charts. But that’s the measuring stick for the Park super senior now – how many times can he wow the crowd.

It’s an unexpected climax for the player head coach Mike Weah first saw as a sixth grader.

“I remember watching him,” said Weah. “He was pretty big then, not really skilled, just very clumsy.”

“I was absolutely terrible,” Payne recalled.

A love of video games helped fuel Payne’s desire to improve.

“When I started playing – video games – I love basketball, but I knew I wasn’t good at playing it so. I wanted to be as good as the players in that game someday.”

It’s all vastly different from the special player Payne is now, and even a vast improvement from where he was two years ago as a sophomore on the varsity. Payne is just one of those players who seemingly gets better with each and every outing.

“His body just turned into something different,” said Weah. “He was a little overweight coming up and then as his body started to transform, you could see more of his athleticism start to come out. Of course, he’s still growing. He went from 6-4 to 6-6 now and he’s still a baby. And it just kept going and going and going.

“He put in a lot of work during that time, too, as his body was transforming” Weah added. “He put in a lot of work in the gym. Got involved with his AAU program and started playing competition outside. Once he got out there, he started seeing he could play with these kids. His confidence just kept going up and up.”

His first varsity campaign, as a young sophomore, was mostly unremarkable. As a junior he flashed his potential. This season he’s dominated the action at both ends of the court, more than holding his own against the state’s top frontcourt players.

“Junior year is when I really took off,” Payne said.

As Payne has taken off, so have the Wolfpack. Two years ago, the team finished 4-22. Last season Park improved to 11-10 and reached the section finals. This year the Wolfpack are 18-8, including a win over No. 8 Owatonna and a first-ever Park win at Cretin- Derham Hall. “I really do think we have the potential to be the best Park basketball team,” Payne said. “But that also goes into sections. If we can win it all then we’ll become the best.”

This year Payne is averaging 23 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots a game.

“His body just turned into something different,” said Weah.

He sees his basketball skills as being able to get in position and being strong in the post.

“I don’t see any weaknesses,” he said with a laugh. “I like to be positive.”

The thing is, Payne is still a youngster. He turned 17 this August and both high school and college coaches feel he’s just begun to tap his potential.

The 6-9, 245-pound senior committed in August to play basketball at the University of Minnesota starting next season.

“We love who he is as a person first,” said University of Minnesota assistant coach Dave Thorson. “And obviously in recruiting him and getting to know him all those qualities that he has are just awesome. And with the basketball ability that we think he has, he’s a great guy for us in building our program. So, we’re really excited to get him.”

Texas A& M, UC Santa Barbara, Drake, St. Louis, Loyola of Chicago and Appalachian State offered along with Minnesota.

Payne didn’t hesitate once the Gophers offered.

“I was ecstatic,” he said. “It’s my dream school.” It’s a school he fell in love with during a visit as a middle schooler.

Summers have been good to Payne. His development as a player increased mightily while playing for the Minnesota Select team last summer. Playing against top prep players every game helped Payne learn to play a more physical style of ball. He’s also bigger and stronger than he was last Park season.

Payne will have more summer work to address this year, only this time it will be with the Gophers.

“When a freshman comes in it’s a lot different in terms of going from high school to the Big 10 obviously,” Thorson said. “He’ll have the summer to get acclimated essentially. It’s one of those things that he’s probably going to determine that, in terms of how fast he catches on and how hard he works. But we’re really excited to get him. We think he’s going to be an impact player.”

Payne’s development at the start of the season was slowed by a hip injury which caused him to miss the first several games. That’s all behind him now as he’s helped lead Park to their best seasons in years as 18-8 so far.

You probably have to go back to 1994 to the Sam Jacobsen era to find a player as acclaimed as Payne. As a senior Jacobsen was named Mr. Basketball season and went on to play for Minnesota, helping to lead the Golden Gophers to the 1997 NCAA Final Four as a junior. He went on to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA.

Payne is one of 10 Minnesota high school basketball senior candidates for the annual Mr. Basketball award. The candidates will be trimmed to five finalists this week, with the winner announced after the state tournament in March.

“There’s a lot of untapped potential still,” said Weah. “We’re watching him get better every day here … I’d say that we’re watching a really exciting player that we have not even begun to scratch the surface with his potential.”

Pharrel Payne laughs from a teammate as they watch the reserves on the court. Photo by John Molene