In Barrow, they have been talking about the basketball boy wonder for years.
The wait is over.
Here comes Kamaka Hepa.
The 6-foot-7 freshman will make his high school basketball debut for the Whalers at home on Friday night against Squalicum High of Bellingham, Washington, and his debut has Barrow buzzing.
"I've been here 15 years and the atmosphere is electrifying," said Barrow coach Jeremy Arnhart.
"This type of player doesn't show up every day."
Hepa, 14, is a long, lean and skilled star-in-the-making who can dribble, dish and dunk.
Last summer he participated at the CrossRoads Elite Camp in Tennessee, where he was one of 120 eighth and ninth graders from around the nation. He was named the top eighth grader by John Stovall, a recruiting analyst for ESPN.
"Hepa is a long and skilled post player that has advanced skill for his age and grade," Stovall wrote on espn.com. "Hepa has a chance to be the best prospect out of Alaska in quite some time."
With reviews like that, Hepa will undoubtedly inspire opponents to go hard, said Arnhart, who expects teams to be at their best this season when they take on the Whalers.
"He has had publicity, even at the national level," Arnhart said. "That will motivate other players. They want to prove that they can play with an elite player.''
Hepa is the younger brother of Lynette Hepa, a former star for the Barrow girls who is a freshman at Fort Lewis College in Colorado.
He and classmate Travis Adams of Barrow have been key players for the Alaska Mountaineers basketball program, helping the club team made up of players throughout Alaska win a tournament in North Carolina in 2012 and another in California in 2013.
Hepa's long wing span allows him to score and rebound under the basket and his ballhandling skills allows him to set up his game from the perimeter, Arnhart said. He can orchestrate the offense from anywhere on the court.
"He is definitely a floor general. He handles the ball really well and sees the floor like a point guard," Arnhart said. "He will be one of our leaders on and off the floor. He knows what it takes to be the best and he works for those goals."
The Whalers have advanced to the Class 3A state tournament seven times in Arnhart's 10 years as head coach, although they have missed the tournament in each of the last two seasons.
And so the arrival of Hepa comes at a good time -- the program needs a shot of adrenaline and Hepa is the kind of star player that can get it back on track.
"I tell my team that we have some very high expectations and I embrace those expectations," Arnhart said. "With that being said, these expectations are coming because of a ninth grader. I put those into perspective, for my team and for others.
"We have a chance to be really good, but that of course will come with hard work."
Van Williams is a freelance writer in Anchorage and a correspondent for the Alaska School Activities Association.