Ryanair

GLH takes off with Saginaw Nouvel's Tim Ryan

 

By Jared Field

13 March 2007

greatlakeshoops.com

 

 

Saginaw Nouvel's crafty swingman and GLH's class C player of the year, Tim Ryan, is right on time for his scheduled departure.

 

The senior is poised to lead his team to a regional championship after a less-than-stellar season for the Panthers in 2005-2006.

 

Ryan, it seems, has come full-circle.

 

"It’s a pretty interesting feeling with graduation coming just around the corner," Ryan said. "I'm always used to hearing my coaches talk to the seniors about how this is 'their time', and that it could be over with any game--it never applied to me. But when it’s your senior year, you start to realize what you've heard every coach tell you since freshmen year, and it all starts to make sense."

 

While Coach Warren Wood is making sense, Ryan is making baskets--and a lot of them.

 

But that's not all he's doing.

 

The hustle and flow

 

To fully appreciate what Ryan can do on a basketball court, one must have a love for the intangibles. There's not a player in mid-Michigan who can exceed Ryan's output on the floor--he's a kinetic kid, to be sure. Ryan has a rugged smoothness to his game, seemingly reckless and yet always under control. He has only one setting on offense, fast, and one on defense--unbelievably annoying.

 

He's a hustler extraordinaire.

 

"I would consider myself a slasher who likes to attack the basket," said the 6-3 Ryan, who models his aggressive style after North Carolina's All-American sophomore Tyler Hansbrough. "I can play in the post and can knock down the open jump shot when needed to as well. My junior year I tried to rely more on my jump shot and over time I figured out that it just wasn’t the style of play I enjoyed. I love using my athleticism going up for rebounds, diving for loose balls, and running in the open court. Playing non-stop pressure defense and being physical every play is something that I love to do against opponents because I know what that does to most people and how it affects their game."

Opponents who spend too much time questioning this unassuming player's athleticism, might just get dunked on.

In February, Nouvel welcomed one of those opponents, Flint Powers, into their gym and proved to everyone that they could play with the big boys.

 
"The Flint Powers game we played at home is my fondest memory of the season by far," said Ryan. "Even though it ended up being a losing effort, I think we proved to the state that even though we are a class C school we won’t back down from anyone."

The Panthers found themselves down 53-32 at the half and in danger of being embarrassed by a talented Chargers' team.

The resurgent Panthers dominated the second half, but still felt short 86-82. Ryan, for his part, carved up Powers to the tune of 31 points and 13 rebounds--and one nice dunk.

"It was a huge turning point in the season for our team because we proved to ourselves that we could compete with anyone if we just played our game," said Ryan. "The entire team contributed as well, whether it was scoring, causing havoc on our full-court press, or just hustling for every loose ball."

Ryan has a knack for always being in the right place at the right time, and not just against Powers. Ryan averaged better than 20 points per game this season while playing a tough schedule that should pay dividends as the Panthers move deeper into the stretch run.

"We don’t want to look too far ahead because we need to take it just one game at a time," said Ryan, whose team locks horns with New Haven at 7:00 tonight in Sandusky. "I do really like our chances in the tournament , though, because we are a complete team and we don’t rely on one certain style of play to carry us. We have a number of different styles of players, which is a major weapon when teams are trying to prepare for us. We have seen basically every type of team that you could play against and have gone up against a tough schedule playing talented schools."

Off the court, on the diamond and in the classroom

Ryan isn't sold out to basketball. In fact, this lefty's game on the baseball field will be helping to pay his college tuition. Ryan will be attending Oakland University in the fall on a baseball scholarship.

"Baseball is a huge part of my life, and it’s something I've been doing since I can remember," said Ryan, who was all-state last season and named to the Saginaw News Dream Team. "Getting offered a scholarship and committing to a school was a very exciting time, and I am glad I got that done and over with before my regular season started."

Don't be surprised if Oakland's head basketball coach, Greg Kampe, comes knocking on the door of Ryan's dorm room, either--he knows all about him.

"I have thought about playing two sports in college, and it obviously has its pros and cons," Ryan said, who was recruited to play basketball by both Oakland and Grand Valley. "Getting to continue to play both baseball and basketball would be amazing because I love baseball’s atmosphere and everything about it, but you can’t replace the excitement of basketball and how in ten seconds the crowd can go from total excitement to disbelief."

Being a two-sport athlete in college wouldn't be easy, but Ryan has always kept his priorities in order.

"Academics are very important to me and it’s something that I am always on top of," said Ryan, who maintains a 3.7 grade point average. "Anyone who plays sports knows it’s not always the easiest thing to keep books and sports balanced at times, but I do a good job of managing my time and making sure all of my homework is done."

Remembering Tory

Living in Saginaw, a hotbed of basketball talent, can be intimidating. Ryan, however, has taken his tussles with someone of Saginaw's best and added to his own repertoire.

"(Notre Dame's) Tory Jackson from Buena Vista is the best player I've played against," said Ryan, of one of the Big East's top freshmen. "I played against him five times during my high school career and I think every time we played him it almost got harder. I’ve never seen anyone with a quicker first step, who could attack the rim and hang in the air to make some ridiculous shot and then next time pull up for a 3-pointer and drain it."

Just when Ryan thought five times was enough to figure out the lightning-quick guard, Jackson would throw something new at him.

"Probably the hardest thing about guarding Tory was that it's so hard to find his tendencies," he said. "One thing I look for whenever I'm going up against an opponent is their tendencies and how they like to act at certain times; every time I thought I had Tory figured out, he would come out and show me something brand new, and it would start all over again. I could say that after playing against him enough that I've learned many things from how he played, and I’ve been able to put that into my game which has helped a lot."

Now Ryan's opponents are saying some of the same things about him.

The Cornerstone

Coach Warren Wood is quick to give to credit to Ryan for helping him, in only three years, build a respected basketball program at Nouvel.

"He's been one of our cornerstones over the past three years I've coached at Nouvel," said Wood. "His overall development has raised all of our players expectations in trying to become the best basketball players they can be. By far he has had the most impact on our program."

Ryan is a walking, running and jumping object lesson for younger players.

Last season, in a game against Reese, Tim was going for a loose ball and opened up a gash his chin after diving on the floor.

"He went into the locker room to get attended to by our trainer, and a few minutes later I saw Tim come running out to the bench with athletic tape wrapped from his chin to the top of his head," said Wood. "All I can remember him saying is, 'Coach, I'm ready to get back in.'"

Once he's on the court, it's hard to get him off. For Ryan, basketball is every bit as much a sport for the mind as it is for the body.

"What makes Tim the player that he is is that he has such an enormous appetite to learn more about the game in addition to the outstanding work ethic," Wood said. "He will certainly be missed next season; but, he's been a joy to coach over the past three years. I believe that he will do exceptionally well at the next level, too."

Congrats to Tim Ryan, GLH's class C player of the year.