MAXPREPS HOLIDAY CLASSIC AT TORREY PINES
Subject: Jeremy Tyler
School: San Diego
Size: 6-10, 240
Year: Junior
College commitment: Louisville
2010 recruiting class: No. 1-9 by virtually all services.
Sophomore stats: 18 points, 14.5 rebounds, 7.7 blocks per game
2-game tournament numbers: 82 points, 41 rebounds, 10 blocks.
MaxPreps video: San Diego opening game vs. Santa Rita (Tucson, Ariz.)
Today's National Division semifinals: Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) vs. Bellevue (Wash.), 7 p.m.; San Diego vs. Eisenhower (Rialto), 8:30 p.m.
Complete Monday schedule/Saturday action: Click here.
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Through two days of the nationally-acclaimed MaxPreps Holiday Classic at Torrey Pines, Jeremy Tyler has done nothing but increase the highly considered notion that he’s the top junior basketball player in the country and the most coveted recruit around these parts since Bill Walton.
The long, fast and fluid 6-foot-10, 240-pound post for San Diego High has inspired a constant chorus of groans and increased a long line of autograph seekers with a barrage of high-flying and emphatic dunks and blocked shots.
He’s gone for back-to-back career-high games of 41 points, making a sizzling 37 of 54 shots (69 percent), while pulling down a combined 41 rebounds, leading a scrawny and scrappy Cavers' team into Monday’s night semifinal against Eisenhower of Rialto.
“He’s even better more impressive than I remember him from last season,” West Valley (Hemet) coach Chuck Peebles said Saturday after Tyler made 17 of 25 shots and generally schooled his own gifted post, 6-8 senior and Oregon State-bound Joe Burton. “And I remember being very, very impressed then.”
What’s had the throngs of scouts and talent evaluators scribbling feverishly is Tyler’s perimeter shooting, swishing a fair shake of fade-away mid-range jumpers and twice even stepping back to drain three-pointers.
“That should be illegal,” said Santa Rita (Tucson, Ariz.) guard Terrell Stoglin, perhaps the 77-team tournament’s second best junior who has erupted for 50 points in two games including 25 in a 60-58 opening-night loss to San Diego. “That’s just not fair.”
Said Tyler: “Just trying to increase my game and get us the ‘W.’ "
Tyler’s most impressive display over two games was with his size 18 shoes firmly on the ground and the ball no where near his Ostrich-like 72-inch wingspan.
Early in a heated fourth quarter against West Valley on Saturday, the beefy and savvy 270-pound Burton took the term “heady” to a whole new level.
Trying to entice the fiery Tyler, defender Burton curiously put the top of his noggin into the upper chest of Tyler at the right wing which drew the attention of most from the packed Torrey Pines High gym.
Then, remarkably, Burton flicked his head upward into the chin of Tyler, who flailed backward from the contact that caused a giant moan from fans but not an ejection or amazingly even a whistle from referees who apparently missed it.
Such a blatant act would have rightfully elicited retaliation from any red-blooded teen and especially a younger and less secure Tyler, known for his live-wire actions on the court.
Instead, a wide-eyed Tyler rubbed his jaw, looked for a call and when none came, simply went back to work.
KILLING WITH KINDNESS
The same possession, he posted Burton hard in the block and drilled a pretty 10-foot fade away jumper. Over the next two minutes, he scored on three consecutive slams, one breakaway set by a steal and another off a pretty ally-oop pass from sophomore Xavier Roy.
It gave the Cavers a 64-52 lead with 3:20 remaining en route to an impressive 73-59 triumph over the same squad San Diego beat by 13 points in the first round of the South Region playoffs last year.
Had Tyler responded physically to Burton’s ploy, the Cavers not only would have lost the game but perhaps the team’s prized centerpiece for an extended spell.
As it is, San Diego is without three talented transfers Terrence Boyd, Zach Smith and Labradford Franklin, all awaiting clearance from the CIF.
Tyler’s restraint was more noteworthy and impressive than any of his spectacular dunks.
“I’m used to it,” Tyler said after Saturday’s game. “I’m not necessarily used to head butts but the physical play, the trying to take me out of my game, I’ve dealt with it my whole life. I’ve learned that I can’t lose my cool. I have to stay focused. I’m out there to help my team win – I hate to lose – and I can’t help if I’m kicked out or foul out of a game.
“I’ve just learned that it’s better take a deep breath and kill them with kindness.”
Burton, who has faced up with Tyler since middle school AAU days, said he was trying to rile his rival though he denied an intentional head butt. He said the two are friendly off the court, but heated competitors on it.
“When we get on the court it’s all business,” Burton said. “He’s so big and so talented and has such a long wing span, he’s tough to defend. He’s got a lot of skills.”
Peebles was more impressed with Tyler’s emotional control than his striking body control.
“He’s come a long way in that area,” he said. “We did what we could to take him out of his game – I mean you just don’t see kids that size with that much athleticism. But he handled himself like a pro. And I suspect that’s what he’s going to be very soon.”
NO CHOIR BOY
Many project the Louisville-commit to be an NBA lottery pick down the road. When that is depends largely on his ball skills, toughness around the basket and court demeanor.
He’s not nearly as skilled or polished as Walton at this age. He’s been compared to another California product Tyson Chandler (Dominguez-Compton High), the second overall pick of the 2001 draft and now with the New Orleans Hornets.
Tyler is no choir boy on the court. He barks at teammates, referees and even, at times, coaches. San Diego head coach Kenny Roy doesn’t always care for Tyler’s outbursts, but he likes and relates to the fire in his belly.
The only one more demonstrative than Tyler is the passionate and personable head coach.
“He just wants to win and I love that about him,” Roy said. “He cares. He’s competitive. He always wants to his best and I’ll take that any day of the week over the alternative.”
It rubs some the wrong way – he was even booed off the court by largely Santa Rita fans – after Friday’s game, something that clearly bothered Tyler.
“We’re in San Diego right?” he asked rhetorically. “And we’re the San Diego high school. This is where we should be getting love and support. I don’t get it. It hurts. I mean, I know I’m the big guy with the target on my back. But this is our house.”
But big guys have traditionally been large targets. Smaller players and small-thinking fans – even at the high school level – try to get under the big men’s skin with excessive pushing, shoving and trash talk.
Alcindor/Jabbar, Chamberlain, Shaq all had to take their share of physical and verbal abuse. It comes with the territory and Tyler is smart enough to understand it.
Being mature enough to deal with it is another matter. He’s just 16 after all.
Clearly, Saturday’s monk-like display showed critics, opponents and even Louisville head coach Rick Pitino a stronger side, one which a very small Eisenhower squad will need to deal with tonight.
The Eagles don’t have a player taller than 6-4.
“He’s a load that’s for sure,” said Eisenhower 6-1 senior point guard Andrew Bock, who has signed to Creighton. “We’ll try to swarm him front and back and take him out of his game.”
But Tyler’s game is reaching longer than his frame or wingspan. His competitive edge, controlled or not, makes him nearly impossible to stop.
No matter the competition.
“As soon as I step on the court whether my opponent looks me eye-to-eye or is much shorter, I’m going all out to win for my team,” he said. “That will never change.”
TOURNAMENT NOTES: Torrey Pines Head Coach John Olive said Friday’s attendance at Torrey Pines was the largest opening-night crowd in the 19-year history of the tournament. … The California Interscholastic Federation, the state’s governing board, is still ruling on coach Roy’s appeal of a San Diego Section ruling that made Boyd, Smith and Franklin ineligible for alleged transfer violations. Roy said all three made legitimate residential moves into the school’s district. … If the appeal is upheld on any of the three, San Diego will emerge from local to state power. The Cavers will be a national power if all three are allowed to play. … Boyd, a 6-5 shooting guard who played at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, is a top 40 recruit in the country. Smith is a 7-foot junior who would take great pressure of Tyler and Franklin is a talented 6-1 guard. … Bellevue (Wash.), which takes on Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) in the other semifinal, features sons of former Seattle Supersonic standouts Jack Sikma and Detlef Schrempf. Alex Schrempf, a 6-5 senior wing, is a starter for the Wolverines, and Nate Sikma, a 6-3 sophomore wing, comes off the bench. Nate’s older brother Luke, was the team’s leading scorer last year and now plays at the University of Portland. See story. … Detlef Schrempf was in the stands Saturday during Bellevue's 57-48 win over Windward (Los Angeles), which got 10 points from Malcolm Washington, son of actor Denzel Washington. … Yet another son of a famous player, Nick Kerr, a 6-2 sophomore is a standout for host Torrey Pines. Kerr, who made three 3-pointers in a 54-35 Mayor’s Division win over Bingham on Saturday, is the son of former Chicago Bulls shooting star Steve Kerr. … See story on Torrey Pines’ extremely young backcourt. … The “Working Overtime” tournament award Saturday went to Otay Ranch (Chula Vista) which won two games, beating Westview (San Diego) 55-40 before knocking off Lakeside (Lake Elsinore) 56-50 in Major’s Cup play. Alex Perez and Isaiah Hill combined for 67 points on the day for the Mustangs (10-4). … Torrey Pines Associate Head Coach and tournament expert Jon Moore went out on a limb early Saturday afternoon and predicted Newark Memorial would win the balanced and hard-to-read National Division. That branch came crashing down a couple hours later when Newark was upended by O’Dowd 62-55 in overtime.
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
