At the beginning of the 2023 school year, Carmel Christian basketball, a state-wide powerhouse, went through a season of rebuilding. With the departure of its head coach, the program had many needs and changes to address. Seemingly out of nowhere, the team had a complete change of mood. With the addition of a new head coach and a new key player, the coach’s son, Bryce Slay, a new spark of hope appeared.

Although welcomed, Slay’s transition to Carmel, differed from previous school experiences. Slay came from a much smaller private Christian school in the area, United Faith Christian Academy. One of the big changes, as stated by Slay, was that “it was kind of hard getting used to the amount of people at Carmel.” This was indeed a huge change with United Faith only having a total of around 240 Students, compared to Carmel’s 1000+. Another huge change Slay recognized was Carmel’s sense of community.

Slay’s early life saw him moving around more than most kids his age. With his dad playing professionally overseas in Italy, Slay spent years of his youth growing up there as well as Charlotte. Slay lived in Italy for nine years of his childhood traveling wherever his dad did to watch him play. Another standout experience from Slay’s childhood was attending an international school. Slay became fluent in Italian during his time at the international school.

Slay’s basketball career has only skyrocketed as he has aged. His play has attracted offers from schools such as Marshall, Wake Forest, and James Madison University. He has not decided where he wants to commit yet, but he has said he plans to decide during his 2024-2025 campaign. Not only has he performed throughout his high school basketball career, but also his AAU career as well. Slay plays AAU for NBA player, Steph Curry’s team, Team Curry.

Slay was invited to a Top 100 high school basketball camp over the summer. This was a camp where a large amount of highly rated basketball recruits went to impress in front of college coaches. This experience helped Bryce get more exposure in front of college coaches so that he could show off his game.

Slay is very excited about this upcoming basketball season. Last year, the Cougars went on a great run to end the regular season, but they had a disappointing end to the playoffs. This year, Slay hopes to carry some of that regular season success into the playoffs. When asked how far the team can go this year, Slay said “I feel like this team we have a chance to be pretty special, despite our overall height, we should have  a great season.”

One of the reasons that Slay is expectant for the basketball team this season is because of the coaching staff. Slay’s father, Tamar Slay, is the head coach of the Cougars. When asked about it, Slay said “It’s great obviously playing for my dad and just the whole staff, with Coach Miller and others, it’s just great.” Slay expressed how much all of the players on the team loved playing for the coaching staff at Carmel.

Aside from basketball, Slay has had a great start to the school year overall. Slay said that the biggest difference between school this year and last year was how much more relaxed his schedule is. He has enjoyed the lighter workload to give him more time to focus on basketball.

When Slay is not playing basketball or at school, he enjoys hanging out with his friends. He loves to spend time with his family as well, especially his little brother Brayden. Slay did say, however, that normally whenever he has free time, he is probably playing basketball or working out to get better at his craft. Slay is a determined student-athlete who is eager for all that his senior year has to offer.