Virginia freshman Derrick Byars is an enigma.
On the outside,
you see a 6-foot-7
basketball player
who exudes the
confidence that the Gatorade Player of the Year in Tennessee should. He sports cornrows and a diamond earring on his naturally athletic frame.
The inside, however, is a different story. There is Derrick in the classroom, where he finished high school with a 3.9 GPA, even raising his GPA by a tenth of a point his senior year. There is Derrick in the community, where he assisted with a 9and10 year-old AAU basketball team. And there is Derrick as a person, with a quiet, reserved demeanor that meshes with the rest of him. Derrick Byars is as far as one could imagine from the typical big-time college basketball recruit.
My teammates would "say I'm quiet and shy," Byars said. "They've been trying to get me out of my shell, but that's the type of person I am."
Byars is a rarity who relishes playing defense and other fundamentals of basketball, which he calls a lost art. Yet, like the best players of his generation, he can do things with the basketball that boggle his teammates' minds.
"I've heard [junior center] Nick [Vander Laan] say to me that I do creative things on the court," he said.
In fact, when you ask the Virginia basketball team about freshman Derrick Byars, their eyes light up when they talk of his athleticism.
"Derrick Byars is a good player," sophomore guard Jermaine Harper said. "He's an athletic wing for us. He can shoot, he can slash to the hole, and he can really jump out the gym."
The freshman swingman was a fourth-team Parade All-American at Ridgeway High School in Memphis and also was a finalist for the 2002 USA Basketball Junior World Championship team. He was the sole high school recruit to commit to Virginia for this season.
"When I came on my visit, I liked the coaching staff," he said. "I was impressed by the whole campus. When I got a chance to hang out with the players, everyone liked everybody. It seemed like it was a family over here. I liked the education factor. The situation they had losing [seniors] Chris [Williams] and Adam [Hall] gave me an opportunity to play."
Even with those losses, Byars will still be forced into tough competition for playing time with sophomore wing Devin Smith, Harper, junior guard Todd Billet and even sophomore forward Jason Clark.
"I think [Derrick] is going to have a big impact," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "It's a big jump up from high school to the ACC schedule we're going to play, so he's not going to have to be our savior and carry the team on his back. I think he's going to compete for a starting job at the three and at the two and play a lot."
Byars definitely will catch Gillen's eye in the coach's newfound emphasis on defense. Unlike most players his age, Byars has an uncanny passion for playing defense. In the ACC, he could easily be matched up against players such as Duke's Dahntay Jones or N.C. State's Julius Hodge, both of whom are known for their athleticism.
"They're great players, but I don't back down to anyone," Byars said, grinning at the possibility of guarding them. "If I'm asked to guard the best player on the other team, I'm not going to be afraid. I'm going to go do it. I'm going to do my best job at it, and I feel like I'm going to do a pretty good job at it."
He also is looking forward to running the court, something he often did in high school. He's eager to continue pressing here at Virginia.
"I love to press," he said. "I think I'll fit in well with the defensive schemes of Virginia basketball."
In practices and pick up games thus far, Byars displayed this versatility and upside that made him the No. 35 player in the country, according to ESPN.com. All-Star Sports ranked him among the 12 best in his class last summer at the Adidas ABCD Camp.
"Derrick is real athletic and quick," Clark said. "He's going to help us out running up and down in the pressing game."
However, the most important asset Byars could bring to the Cavaliers could be an intangible -- he knows how to win and exudes a quiet confidence. He led his team to the Tennessee Class AA State title this past year, earning MVP honors, and also won a state championship as a sophomore.
"I'm a winner from high school," he said. "Every level I've played at I've won and that's all I want to do here. I want to win."
The adjustment to the college game looms as a challenge for Byars, as the physical aspect of basketball in the ACC will be much tougher than anything he has seen in high school. He will be battling seasoned veterans and smarter players in what he termed the elite conference in the country.
Yet Byars stands ready. He has put 15 pounds on a slender frame since graduating high school by participating in a rigorous lifting program, now topping out at 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds. His vertical leap was 33 inches his junior year, and given his rigorous training, may be even higher now.
In high school, he put up gaudy numbers, averaging 23.5 points and 10 rebounds per game as a senior. He also shot 37 percent from three-point range, something not typical in high school for someone his size.
"Derrick Byars is a good player hands down," sophomore forward Elton Brown said. "He's athletic, he can jump out of the gym, he can shoot, [and] he can dribble. He's really going to help us."
Byars merely hopes to contribute this season, a small goal for an athlete upon whose shoulders the future of Virginia basketball could very well rest. He wants an ACC title and strives for a national championship. Like any other basketball player, Byars hopes to make it to the NBA one day. You just won't hear him talk about it.
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