Today in VarsityXtra
The incredible — but true — story of one local sixth-grader who already has a college basketball scholarship offer.
Phenom? Karis Thomas doesn’t even know the meaning of the word. Prodigy? Same thing. Maybe those words haven’t been in the sixth grade vocabulary lesson yet.
But while Thomas might not know the definitions, “phenom” and “prodigy” have been used to describe her. Those are strong words to label a preteen. But what else would you call a 12-year-old whose basketball skills have already gotten her on the television show “Good Morning America” and an appearance with the Harlem Globetrotters?
And if you’re still doubting Thomas as a phenom, get this: She is a sixth grader who already has a scholarship offer from a Division I college — Duquesne University. And that scholarship offer actually came from Duquesne when Thomas was in … fourth grade.
Talk about early recruiting. Karis Thomas, who lives in Washington, Pa., was a little more than halfway through elementary school when she was offered a scholarship. It should be noted that there are no NCAA rules concerning when a school can verbally offer an athlete a scholarship. Lane Kiffin made big news years ago when he was the coach at Southern California and offered seventh grade quarterback David Sills a scholarship.
Duquesne coach Dan Burt has offered eighth graders scholarships before. But a fourth grader? Could that be some kind of national record for an early scholarship? Maybe Burt was off his rocker, or maybe
Thomas is really that good? College coaches can’t comment on players until they sign a letter of intent as a senior in high school. That’s six years from now for Thomas. But you should hear others talk about Thomas, who is a 5-foot point guard who dominates in games against older girls and used to do some damage when she played against the boys in fourth grade.
“I’m not saying this because she’s my baby, but she can play,” said Randy Thomas, Karis’ father. “Go watch her highlights on Twitter. You’ll see she’s more than a dribbler.”
OK, Dad. But if you want another reference on Karis, how about Micah Mason, one of the WPIAL’s best players in the past 20 years and one of the best 3-point shooters in NCAA history when he was at Duquesne. Mason trained Karis Thomas and put her through workouts often in the past two years.
“I’m not going to be the guy who says she’ll go to UConn or that she’ll be the No. 1 player in the country,” Mason said. “But if she continues to progress, she will be a very, very high level player. Just because she’s so skilled.
“She’s very special. She’s the best shooter I’ve ever seen as a fourth grade girl. She would play one-on-one against ninth grade girls and beat them. … Maybe Duquesne didn’t want to pass up on someone who might have 15-20 offers when she’s a junior in high school, and they didn’t offer her. And maybe they just see how good she is.”
But there is more to the story to Karis Thomas and the Duquesne offer that is heartwarming — and heartbreaking at the same time.
It was in the spring of 2018 when Burt, who knew Karis’ grandfather for years, invited Karis and her parents to Duquesne for a meeting and a little tour of the campus. Burt already had watched Karis play a few times in youth leagues. Karis’ mother, Ciarra, was battling breast cancer at the time and she had confided in her husband — and eventually Burt — that one of her worries was whether her daughter could someday go to college.
Ciarra Thomas died July 25, 2018, only a few months after that meeting with Burt, when he offered a scholarship.
“Coach Burt said to us, ‘I just want you to know that her college is taken care of. We’re offering her a scholarship,’” Randy Thomas said. “My wife cried like a baby. Me being the dad, being the man, I had to hold back tears. That was a good feeling that day.
Karis’ mom basically knew she wasn’t going to be around too much longer. I think that let her kind of rest easy with that knowledge [of a scholarship]. But we kept that pretty private. We told a couple parents, but it wasn’t something we blasted on social media.”
Karis has trouble talking about her mother. She gets emotional. But she vividly remembers that day of the scholarship offer, even if she didn’t quite understand.
“I didn’t really know what it meant then, but I know what it means now,” Karis said with a chuckle.
Karis Thomas is a softspoken 12-year-old, almost shy at times with adults — like many sixth graders. But when it comes to basketball, she isn’t like many sixth graders. But a question is, how did she get to this point with this high level of talent? She apparently was a natural.
Randy Thomas never played basketball when he attended Washington High School. He was a starter on Washington’s baseball team that won WPIAL and PIAA championships in 1998. Randy said he was trying to make Karis into a talented softball player because Karis’ older sister, Randi, was playing the sport when Karis was young.
One day when Karis was 5, her father decided to take her to a playground basketball court near Washington & Jefferson College.
“She was in kindergarten. I was just trying to keep her busy and tire her out,” Randy Thomas said with a chuckle.
Randy Thomas was amazed at how Karis could dribble.
“Then I gave her two balls and she could dribble two so easily,” Randy said.
A star was born. “And she loved it,” Randy Thomas said. “The first thing she wanted to do when she got off the bus was play basketball.”
Karis Thomas became a ballhandling wizard. The ballhandling got her on TV and also the appearance with the Globetrotters at PPG Paints Arena a few years ago. She did a halftime show and even played a little bit against the Washington Generals.
“That was fun,” Karis said.
Karis practices ballhandling drills just about every day and mostly in the basement of her home.
“I’ll be upstairs and she’ll Facetime me doing drills,” Randy Thomas said.
Dad takes Karis to a gym any day he can to work on shooting. Karis’ story sounds so similar to that of Sean Miller, the University of Arizona men’s coach who trained under his father as a youngster and became a ballhandling wizard in his preteen years, appearing on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show.” But Miller became a “player,” gaining fame at Blackhawk High School in the WPIAL and then Pitt.
Karis also has turned into much more than a ballhandling wizard. She can “play.” She shoots 3-pointers with no effort and has a sweet touch. Watch her highlights on her Twitter account (@Karis2026) and you’ll see highlights that her father has posted of Karis dribbling around and through defenders in games.
“I scored 35 or 36 points once when I was in fifth grade,” Karis Thomas said. “I think that’s my high.” She also is a deft passer. “The thing about Karis is she has talent you can’t teach, but she’s a gym rat, too,” Mason said. “She works on it just about every day. There are still some things she’ll have to continue to work on. She’s small, but she’s athletic. I don’t see why she can’t be one of the top players in Pittsburgh someday and the state.”
Karis has played in youth leagues in Washington and she also plays AAU basketball for Slaam. Her father said she might go to Washington High School in a few years, but that’s not certain.
Karis’ future is so bright, but a lot can happen between now and her high school days. Will she grow? Will she continue to improve? But she already has a game that belies her age.
As for the future, Karis says she wants to eventually play for Duquesne or Connecticut “because they both win a lot and I like winning.”