Terence Martin has a marvelous song titled
"The Way It Didn't Go" all about a missed opportunity for a relationship and the subsequent turns of events that didn't take place. Taking that scenario and performing a 180 degree turn, Tyler Ott's future is now so very different simply because he participated in a summer basketball tournament in San Francisco.
The 6-foot-5 Ott and his Utah Select teammates traveled from Utah in early July to play in Gerry Freitas' Bay Area Hoop Review event. Witnessing Ott perform were coaches from the UC Davis basketball program. There was an immediate attraction, it became mutual and now Ott will be signing an Aggie letter-of-intent come November. Yes, it's impossible to say with any certainty but it appears that he would be developing other plans minus his being witnessed in July.
So why Davis?
"It's what I wanted a campus to look like and how I wanted to live," Ott explained. "Plus, Coach [Jim] Les is an amazing guy and that made me want to be part of the program."
He added, "Before Davis started recruiting me hard, I didn't know what I was going to do. There were two schools I liked but I just wasn't sure."
Ott committed on his official visit to the campus west of Sacramento.
"Besides everything else, I felt comfortable with the team," Ott continued with his explanation. I knew Tyrell Corbin (a fellow Utahan and freshman backcourter) a little bit from playing against him so it was a cool thing to see a familiar face." Ott also connected well with Tyler Les, a sophomore guard and son of the head coach.
As for what position he sees himself playing, Ott said, "I'm guessing a wing but it's the decision of the coaches. I really trust them to put me in a position to succeed."
So who are the Aggies getting?
Asked his best basketball skills, Ott replied with a holistic view: "I'm an unselfish scorer who can score or drop it off to a teammate but I'm trying to get to be a complete player.
Addressing the latter, Ott said, "My Utah Select Coach Dwayne Schallenberger would analyze my game and then we would take a couple of weeks to work on drills, working on the parts that were not where I wanted them to be."
He divided his best moments on the court between his prep and AAU basketball. participation "Our school loves basketball, the students fill the gym and it's so loud. Playing in front of our crowd leaves your ears ringing after a game. That's my best high school memory. With AAU, it's playing against top players like Shabazz Muhammed -- I loved the challenge -- seeing Coach K (Duke mentor Mike Krzyzewski) at a game and beating the Oakland Soldiers (the top team in northern California)."
Reflecting on the recruiting process itself, Ott said, "When I was in seventh, eighth and ninth grade, it was like whoever wants me, I'll play there."
But with greater confidence and added skill development, that attitude morphed into the realization he would have choices. "On the first day I could be contacted, BYU and Utah State were the first calls," he remembered.
Recalling the trials and travails of his early high school basketball play, Ott said: "As a freshman, I got some good varsity playing time but I was so anxious going into games I was playing too fast, going 100 miles per hour trying to keep up. But now with maturity, I play within myself, not thinking I have to hold my own. I make the game play at my pace."
What's interesting is that baseball was in competition with hoops for Ott. "I was born in St. Louis and grew up there as a huge Cardinal fan." The Cards remain his favorite baseball team but basketball as a participatory sport won out when "I was 13 and got my first dunk. As Ott put it: "It was wow! It was so much more exciting than anything in baseball." Being invited to play on the Utah Select was the clincher and Ott dropped baseball his freshman year.
However, Ott remains a high school golf and track participant. In fact, he was the state high jump champion the last two years.
A subject of interest to Aggies fans is the timing of Ott's LDS mission. He explained,"I won't be 18 until June and that's a little young. So my plan is to attend college for a year, perform my mission and then return to Davis."
A shooter with range, displaying excellent hops and a solid basketball IQ, Ott will become one of the centerpieces of Davis basketball.
Here's a video interview with Ott.
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