Penn men’s basketball added another offensive star to its roster when Worcester Academy senior small forward Payton Kamin announced his commitment to the Red and Blue.
Before his time at Worcester, the 6-foot-7 Chicago native played two seasons with DePaul College Prep, winning a state championship in his second year with the team. But from Chicago to Philadelphia, one vital aspect of the court was missing: the shot clock. Without the 30-second limit on possessions, the game’s dynamic shifted from fast-paced offensive plays to a drawn-out defensive battle.
“A lot of the games are low scoring, and sometimes the teams know they’re not as good, so they just hold the ball. It was quite frustrating at times,” Kamin told The Daily Pennsylvanian. “The games would really be focused and determined on the defensive end. When we were at state, we broke the record for the least amount of points allowed [in a] state game ever, which was 17.”
As a small forward, Kamin’s strength was being versatile and playing defensively. While at DePaul, Kamin worked closely with coach Tom Kleinschmidt, who prided himself on defense. Kleinschmidt — who was the first player in DePaul’s history to earn conference Player of the Year honors — led three consecutive Illinois state championship runs. Under Kleinschmidt, Kamin earned all-conference, all-city, and all-area accolades before injuries led him to transfer to Worcester.
“He’s really built a great program at DePaul. He taught me a lot about how to be physical, [and] how to be tough,” Kamin said of Kleinschmidt. “[At] state junior year, I was getting recruited by schools like Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky, and Northwestern Texas. I had a great experience [at DePaul].”
Kamin, who played most of his matches at DePaul without a shot clock, ultimately incorporated this defense into his playing style. When he transferred to Worcester Academy, his years of playing defense in Chicago brought him to the precipice of an impressive season. He averaged 27.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.1 steals per game, ranking him in the top 20 recruits of New England. Kamin ended his senior season with First-Team All-NEPSAC honors, along with a spot on the National Prep Championship All-American Honorable Mention list.
Kamin becomes the second Penn class of 2029 player to be recruited by newly-hired coach Fran McCaffery, joining fellow class of 2029 recruit William Kruse.
Before coming to Penn, McCaffery spent 15 years at Iowa and left the Hawkeyes as the program’s all-time winningest coach. His hiring also broke a record for an Ivy League coach, with 12 NCAA tournament appearances. Kamin credited much of his decision to play for Penn on McCaffery’s presence with the team.
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“McCaffrey was actually the first [person] to call me on June 15 of my sophomore year. That’s the first day where colleges can directly contact recruits. A lot of the other high-major schools … were recruiting me, and then it kind of fell off when I got injured,” Kamin said. “[McCaffrey] had such a fun system to plan, and I think it fits my strengths well … I knew that [Penn] was the school that I really wanted to go to.”
