Tyrone Garland plays basketball rhythmically. His braids bounce along his head with each step he takes, and the closing two or three defenders who try surrounding him bounce along with them. But everyone who’s ever tried to trap Garland, anyone who’s ever tried to break that rhythm often winds up failing.
If you don’t know who Tyrone Garland is, you better introduce yourself fast to the 6-foot-1, 165-pound Bartram High (Philadelphia, Pa.) junior point guard—because he’ll blow right by you.
Garland enters the most important summer of his playing career. He’ll begin next season as the best scorer in the Philadelphia area, probably the state, after leading the city in scoring last season with a 28.9 average.
He has LaSalle, Nebraska, Temple, St. Bonaventure, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Seton Hall, Providence and Butler all very interested, though he’s probably going to wait until January to make a commitment.
In the meantime, Garland’s goal is a simple one: Improve his stock. He has a big summer planned ahead, featuring a full AAU circuit, playing for the Cuttino Mobley 17-and-under club team, and invitations to the Pangos All-American Camp in California in June, followed by the Reebok Camp in Philadelphia in July.
“This summer is very big for me,” Garland said. “My goal is to try to play well and make one of those big all-star games my senior year, like the McDonald’s All-America, but I basically want to work on getting better. That’s the priority. I know if I get the opportunity, I know I can do some things.”
Garland doesn’t need to convince Tyree Johnson, the starting point for PIAA Class AAAA state champion Penn Wood. Johnson and Garland are teammates on the Mobley AAU team and go way back to when they were both 12-year-olds, playing at the Myers Rec Center and the courts on Kingsessing in Southwest Philadelphia.
“I remember the first time we played against each other,” recalled Johnson, who’s receiving attention from Richmond, Houston, Virginia and Rice. “We were 12 and Ty was bringing up the ball and they kept telling to me get up on him, he’ll out a trey once he steps over halfcourt. He’s been scoring sever since.
“Tyrone is very good and very talented. In my opinion, he deserves more attention than he actually gets. The reason I say that is because I saw him do what he does best throughout the whole country. It’s not just in the Philadelphia Public League, or in the district or state playoffs, he does it throughout the country—and that’s score. He’s special, because he can shoot and drive, and he has a lot of moves. It’s to tough to defend someone like him. He’s hands-down the best player coming back in Philadelphia. No one can score the ball like Tyrone. It’s his will to score that does it. He has a mindset that he’s going to go out there and do what he does best.”
That’s score.
Garland has been doing it since he was 10. But that scoring ability didn’t really develop until recently.
For a while there, Garland was languishing in being misused. He’d get quality minutes on school and AAU teams, and then find himself on the bench wondering when he’d play next. The yo-yo existence didn’t exactly stimulate his game, which burst out this past season.
But it was right after his sophomore year at Bartram that convinced Garland something good was ahead.
“Going into last summer, I got a little taller, felt a little stronger and that showed up in my game,” Garland said. “Going into my junior year, I knew I had to do more. I played in a lot of camps and tournaments to prepare. I started to feel a difference in my game in a lot of ways. I was going to the basket stronger and I just felt more confident.
“Before, it was sometimes like I wasn’t there. I had guys being picked over me and a lot of people didn’t know anything about me. But as I started playing better last summer, I noticed people begin to pat attention and see for themselves.”
Garland grew up watching Allen Iverson play for the Sixers and he tries to pattern his offensive game after the lightning-fast AI. And like Iverson, Garland will again deal with double and sometimes triple-teams designed solely to stop him.
So he’ll bounce his way up to floor, and the defense will try to converge around him. But before they’ll be able to blink, Garland will be gone … another basket.
* Editor's Note: Look for Garland in MaxPreps' Pre-Summer Class of 2010 100 to Watch, set to be published Monday.
Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a frequent contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.
