BUCYRUS — Bucyrus basketball coach Barry Egan is hoping to rebuild the Redmen hoops program. A big part of the effort involves the kids in grade school and middle school.
To give more kids an opportunity to attend his camp this year, Egan enlisted the help of community businesses and members at large to donate so that any Bucyrus student, grades 4-8, could attend for free. The camp is for the weeks of June 7 and June 14, Monday through Friday, 9-11 a.m.
Campers will receive a T-shirt, a basketball, and instruction in basketball skills by the Bucyrus basketball staff and players. But Egan took the camp one step further: He invited a guest speaker to address the campers on Tuesday.
That speaker was Matt Terwilliger, former Ohio State basketball player who played for Coach Egan for two years at Troy High School and for four summers of AAU basketball.
Terwilliger, standing 6-foot-9, was a post player at Ohio State from 2004-08, playing for Coach Thad Matta. Terwilliger was a junior on the Buckeyes’ national runners-up team that lost to Florida, 84-75, in the national championship game in 2007.
After college, Terwilliger played three years professionally and part of a year in Finland before retiring from the game. He had played for Egan from 200-02 at Troy and for two years on Egan’s Team Ohio and two for a Cleveland-based team, Ohio Basketball Club, both AAU affiliated. He is currently married with a family and is a financial adviser in Upper Arlington.
But Terwilliger did more than relate his experiences on the court. As he noted, part of his development as a player was befriending and emulating people of character.
He told the campers that three of his best friends in basketball were Evan Turner, Mike Conley, and Greg Odon — all former Ohio State players and all made it to the NBA, with Conley still playing with the Utah Jazz in this year’s NBA playoffs.
“They are my friends, not just because they are good basketball players, but because they are incredibly good people, fierce competitors on the court,” Terwilliger said. “They were always curious, ready to learn. They never thought they knew everything. They were sponges.”
The AAU that Terwilliger and Egan were involved in was different from what would normally be seen here. It was on a national level. Terwilliger said that it was a major part of the commitment he made to basketball.
“It was the only way to get true exposure for recruiting,” Terwilliger said.
That, combined with hours in the gym on his own prepared Terwilliger to play at the highest collegiate level.
“It’s like going into a fight,” Terwilliger said. “You don’t want to get there and realize you’re not prepared. You want to be ready ahead of time.”
Terwilliger also encouraged the kids to play multiple sports. Besides basketball, Terwilliger tried football, soccer, baseball, and hockey in high school. He said that skills learned in all these sports helped him become a Division I college basketball player.
Egan’s and Terwilliger’s message: a player may not grow to 6-foot-9 or play Division I basketball, but the principles applied can make a better player at the high school level and the disciplines learned can help for a lifetime.