For prep basketball prospects, height and size are often key indicators for college coaches in the evaluation process. But for some of these players, their physical development may lag behind their peers. As a result, they may not get the playing time or exposure to make the necessary impressions on recruiters.
Head Royce combination guard Ryan Diew, fits into this category. Diew entered the Oakland-based program at 5-foot-6 and 95 pounds as a freshman. As a result, he languished on the junior varsity for his first two years. During this past summer, Diew blossomed to a more prototypical guard size at 6-foot-2 and 155 pounds.
Despite being undersized until this, his current junior season, Diew has always had solid basketball fundamentals. His father, Ryant Diew, played collegiately at Pacific and Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) as a 6-foot-4 shooting guard with a stint playing professionally overseas. In addition, the elder Diew is a coach for the Oakland Rebels club, which the younger Diew has been a member since the 2nd grade.
Diew utilized trainer Anthony Eggleton of Ant's Mind and Body and trainer Will Powers of Will Powers Basketball Training to help with his physical development during his high school career. In addition, Diew has a tremendous work ethic and got the proverbial growth spurt to give him the confidence to compete. The elder Diew recognizes how these factors have helped his son's development, "I owe everything to those guys. Both of them took my son under their wing and really built him up. His upside is extremely high and I really feel the best is yet to come for him. He's pretty much how I was at his age, and I turned out ok."
Being the son of a former player and club coach, Diew has solid fundamentals that are highlighted by his lockdown defense and shooting. With a wingspan of 77 inches, he is often in passing lanes and disrupting the opponent's offensive flow. His perimeter shooting is solid as he is at 38 percent for three pointers and 45 percent overall and can extend his range beyond 25 feet.
The Jayhawks finished the year with a 19-8 record and were runner-ups in the Bay Counties League East as Diew averaged 17.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game during his first year on varsity. More importantly, he recently led his Jayhawks to the BCL-East championship as they avenged two regular season losses to Bentley and Diew was named the Tournament MVP. In his first NCS playoff game, he had 30 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in a 72-61 victory over Bay School. Bentley was able to avenge this BCL-East playoff loss in a following North Coast Section playoff rematch 62-45.
As the postseason wraps up and Diew enters his final high school summer, this late bloomer will benefit from another summer with the Oakland Rebels, who plan to make out of the Bay Area stops at the Spring Spectacular (Las Vegas), Pangos Sweet 16 (Long Beach), Adidas Invitational (Indiana), Bigfoot (Las Vegas), and adidas Super 64 (Las Vegas). Last year's Rebels 17U team had a fairly successful excursion across the country as Eric Green (formerly of Tracy West High but now with St. Mark's Prep in Massachusetts that has Arizona committed Kaleb Tarczewski and Michigan committed Nik Stauskas) signed with Holy Cross, Tanner Giddings (Windsor High) signed with Fresno State, Paris Davis (Skyline High) and Rodney Cook (Bethel High) were selected Oakland Athletic League and Solano County Athletic League players of the year respectively.
Even though Diew has not yet received recruiting interest, his academics will be more than ready to make him college eligible. He has a 3.5 GPA and will take the May SAT exam as his best subject is Math and his intended major is in some Engineering discipline. He wants to play for a fast paced offensive scheme and prefers to be in a slower paced geographic setting.
At last summer's West Coast Exposure Basketball Camp in Walnut Creek, Diew was one of the more impressive participants. In the one on one competition, He was nearly unstoppable in his perimeter shooting and dribble drive to the basket against would-be opponents. His performance at the camp and his attendance at a small Division V program would categorize him as an under the radar prospect.
For players who are overlooked due to size or playing for smaller programs, the challenges to succeed are great in magnitude. But do not expect this Jayhawk to relent, as he will "Just Diew It."
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