Tough as a Truck
October 26, 2008 01:09 PM | General
October 26, 2008
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| Darryl Bryant |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia’s Darryl “Truck” Bryant is a typical New York City point guard: tough, confident and athletic. What Bryant doesn’t bring with him to Morgantown is all the New York City flash and pizzazz.
“Everybody says we have crossovers and handle but I’m not that type of point guard,” Bryant says. “I can do that but I just choose the easy route. I’m more of a laid-back point guard without all of the style and all of the handle.”
And that suits West Virginia coach Bob Huggins just fine. Huggins was looking for a tough, physical guard that could take the basketball to the rim. Bryant fits that description perfectly.
Bryant became St. Raymond’s all-time scoring leader during his senior year, exceeding the scoring totals produced by famous alums Allan Ray and Julius Hodge. Truck averaged 22 points and six assists per game as a senior and scored 1,399 points for his career. Bryant was invited to play in the Jordan Brand Classic regional all-star game at Madison Square Garden.
“Truck has been good,” said Huggins. “Truck is coming in and playing against Joe Mazzulla who has played for two years. Joe is playing with a lot of confidence and maybe has worked as hard as anybody we have all summer to get better. Once (Truck) gets comfortable I think he is going to produce a lot more.”
Mazzulla is the leading candidate to take over the starting point guard job. The junior played well in the NCAA tournament last year as Darris Nichols’ backup and Bryant admits it has been tough going up against Mazzulla every day in practice.
“He’s a tough point guard like myself,” Bryant said. “We’re going to battle every day and try and get each other better.
“I’m learning from Joe because he’s been through this situation already,” Bryant said. “He’s showing me step by step. Once I pick it up I should be fine.”
Bryant says he is adjusting to the college game.
“This is way different,” he said. “Everybody is bigger, stronger and faster so it’s a different game. I’m just starting to get used to it and I’m think I’m doing a pretty good job with it right now.”
The one part of Bryant’s game that he needs to work on is his defense – something Huggins has said applies to all of the incoming freshmen.
“Defense is a big part of it because in high school we all know the people are slower and that college is a different game,” Bryant said. “I’m just trying to get better and learn how to play defense better.”
Bryant wants to play better defense not only because it will help him become a better player but also because it will keep him off the dreaded treadmill.
“He has been mentioning the treadmill because of my defense,” Bryant said. “I’m just trying to stay off the treadmill.”
Bryant, who says he models his game after Jazz guard Deron Williams, believes he will eventually bring a well-rounded game to the Mountaineer lineup.
“I think I bring leadership, toughness; a scoring point guard and a point guard that can get my teammates involved,” he said.
Earlier this week, West Virginia was picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big East. Bryant believes the Mountaineers may surprise some people.
“We’re picked (ninth) in the Big East right now but I think we’ll do much better as long as we work hard in practice every day and get better every day.”
Bob Huggins will certainly take care of that.
