Heady Comparisons
October 28, 2003 10:51 AM | General
october 28, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Some have already begun calling West Virginia freshman point guard Tyler Relph the next Gerry McNamara.
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| Guard Tyler Relph was named New York's Mr. Basketball last year as a prep senior. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
McNamara, now a sophomore at Syracuse, was named to the NCAA Tournament All-Final Four team last year after making six three-pointers in the first half against Kansas to lead the Orangemen to its first NCAA title under longtime coach Jim Boeheim.
McNamara finished 23rd among NCAA freshmen scorers and his 467 points were the fourth-most by a freshman in Syracuse history.
If Relph can manage to make half the impact at West Virginia that McNamara has made at Syracuse, there will be a lot of happy people in Morgantown during the course of Relph’s career.
For his part, Tyler doesn’t mind the comparisons.
“We play alike,” said the freshman. “I played against him a lot in AAU and I’ve heard that comparison a lot the past few years. I’ve watched him play and we have the same game, so I think it’s a good comparison.”
Relph says he has studied McNamara and likes the way he plays, “He’s good, he knows how to shoot and he knows how to run the team obviously because they won the national championship. He can play ‘D’, too, so I think he’s got the whole package.”
Tyler Relph also possesses a pretty good package.
A native of Victor, N.Y., located near Rochester, Relph was named New York’s “Mr. Basketball” after leading nationally-ranked McQuaid Jesuit to a 27-1 record. The two-time Rochester player of the year averaged 21 points per game his senior season on a team that possessed a couple of other Division I players.
He was voted MVP of the New York state tournament after his team captured the state title, and he also was named MVP of the prestigious Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Relph’s performance in Myrtle Beach in front of several prep scouts earned him national attention.
Relph finished the season ranked among the nation’s top 100 prep prospects by Bob Gibbons and Prep Stars, and was also rated among the top 150 players by Hoop Scoop.
Tyler was able to avoid the drawbacks of instant celebrity and the accompanying phone calls from college recruiters when he decided to commit to West Virginia coach John Beilein before the start of his senior season.
“I wanted to make my decision early,” said Relph. “I made my decision before I went into my senior year. I liked the coaching staff, I’m here, it’s a good feeling and hopefully we can do some big things this year.”
Relph is certainly the type of player West Virginia can build it’s program around. Making the transition easier for Tyler is the fact that he doesn’t have to play right away.
West Virginia has a very capable point guard in Jarmon Durriseau-Collins, who although not a prolific scorer, proved steady handling the basketball, playing defense, and running the offense last year as a freshman. Durriseau-Collins will enable Relph to take things slowly until he better understands the system.
“Whoever runs our stuff the best is the one who will play – it’s not a matter of whether you are a freshman, a sophomore or how highly touted you were,” said Mountaineer coach John Beilein. “It’s whoever is the best one.”
Relph says his first day of practice was an entirely new experience for him, “It was tougher than high school but I felt I did pretty well. The upperclassmen are helping us through so hopefully we’ll learn quickly,” he said.
“I think all of the freshmen’s heads are swimming,” said Beilein. “I don’t go to a lot of other college practices obviously but I think our stuff to learn takes more time than others. Once you learn it it’s a little bit better, but their heads are spinning right now.”
Making the transition easier for Relph is the fact that he had already done a lot of the drills during preseason individual workouts. He says the biggest thing he’s learned so far is that you can’t slack off for even a second.
“You go hard every minute,” he said. “It’s not like high school where you can take breaks. This is Division I; it’s Big East basketball. The thing I learned the most was to go hard for as long as they tell us to.
“It’s not like high school where you don’t really know what you’re doing before practice and you don’t know how long the drills are going to be,” he added. “It’s a whole new brand of basketball for me.”
Considered an outstanding three-point shooter, Relph’s deadly accuracy will make a good shooting lineup even better. His pairing with Durriseau-Collins at point guard gives West Virginia another outside scoring threat to loosen up defenses for forwards Drew Schifino and Kevin Pittsnogle.
“They recruited me because I can shoot the three and I can pass and run the point,” said Relph. “We’ve got Jarmon and I think we can be a great tandem. Both of us running the show should be fun.”
Relph says its important that he learn the system quickly. Obviously the faster he learns, the more comfortable he will be in games.
“I’ve got to pay attention more than anyone else because I don’t want to mess up,” he said. “They’ve given us a good idea of what to do in individuals. All of it is not new but some of it is.”
Because he’s only 6-feet tall, Relph is going to have to work extra hard on defense. Tyler realizes that but he also believes he’s up to the challenge.
“You can’t be scared of anybody. I played against some big-time guys like Sebastian Telfair people (2004 top 10 recruit),” he said. “It’s nothing new. I’m not scared of anybody in the Big East.”
With his lofty credentials come big expectations. Relph says that simply comes with the territory.
“You can’t consider it pressure,” he said. “You’ve just got to go out turn that into hard work and see what comes out of it.”
