Mann Of The Hour

CLASS OF 2019 GUARD TRE MANN’S GAME WILL FEEL FAMILIAR TO ANYONE WHO’S WATCHED THE NBA’S MOST PROMINENT SHARPSHOOTER OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS. NOT THAT THAT’S A BAD THING.

- Ryan Jones

LET’S GET the obvious comparison out of the way: At 6-4 and 180 pounds, quick, slender and elusive, with that no-joke, as-soon-as-he steps-over-halfcourt range, Tre Mann will inevitably remind you of a pretty well-known NBA player. It doesn’t hurt the analogy that Mann’s dad was a serious hooper in his day and that his mom was a pretty good volleyball player. How could he not be compared to Chef Curry? In fact, he’s been inspiring that comparison for years.

“They used to call me Little Steph Curry, and I ain’t gonna lie—in seventh grade, that was my favorite player,” Mann says now. “I used to wear his shirts in warmups. It’s not like I went out trying to play like him, but I was always a shooter, and I was just crafty like that, so they gave me the name, started calling me Baby Curry.”

That was six years ago, but on a lot of levels, the analogy still holds up. Quietly swaggy and hyper-confident in a shot he can create at any time and hit from anywhere, Mann is one of the most dangerous scorers in the 2019 class. No, he’s not on that elite level just yet, but Colt McDowell, Mann’s high school coach at The Villages (FL) Charter School, isn’t afraid of mentioning his star player in the same breath as the Warriors’ two-time MVP.

“I’ve always compared him to Steph Curry, and I know growing up, that was the guy he really admired and looked up to,” McDowell says. “I don’t know if he patterned his game after him, but I think it’s kind of grown organically. He shoots really well off the dribble, getting people off balance and pulling up, shooting in transition.”