By CHIP MILLER & ADAM ZAGORIA
Tyler Dorsey of Bellflower (CA) St. John’s Bosco is the Rivals No. 8 player in the Class of 2015 and one of the hottest prospects in the nation right now.
The 6-foot-4 Dorsey has heard from Kentucky, Duke and Michigan this week alone.
His high school coach, Derrick Taylor, listed UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State, Kansas, Florida, N.C. State and UConn among the others heavily involved.
“Tyler’s upside is huge,” Taylor told SNY.tv. “He has made the transition from two guard to point guard very well. He is athletic, a good passer, a good shooter and a good teammate.
“Tyler is also a willing listener. He will allow you to coach him. He is also a hard-working gym rat.
On Monday, Kentucky assistant Orlando Antigua called and spoke with Tyler and his father, Jerrid Dorsey.
“We had a real good honest conversation,” Jerrid told SNY.tv. “They only go after the top [players] whoever they think can work for them in their system. He said, “I’m starting to hear some John Wall comparisons.”
Duke associate head coach Steve Wojciechowski also checked in.
“He is going to have Mike [Krzyzewski] call us,” Jerrid said. “Mike is in San Antonio doing something with the Spurs. When he gets back, he will get us on line with Mike.
“I’ve been in contact with him [Wojo] for a while now. He said they’ll be tracking him hard. He said that he believes Tyler could play with another point guard. They said their best teams, they always had two good ball handlers on the court. Wojo is like, they are going after [2014 point guard] Tyus Jones, and if he ends up coming there, they don’t know yet. But if he does and Tyler came in the following year, they could play together. With them there at the same time, they would kind of have a better team with two super dribblers out there at the same time.”
Of course, Jones may only end up staying one year wherever he goes. He is planning on playing in college with Jahlil Okafor, the 6-10 forward from Chicago Whitney Young, and possibly Justise Winslow, the 6-6 forward from Houston St. John’s.
“As I see him play against higher competition and he does what he does, then I would probably believe that [he would be one-and-done],” Jerrid said. “Like I do with Tyler, I say look, ‘Let’s go out and play and see what you can do under those conditions, then when we play with the college guys out here in L.A., then you get your chance to finally play with some pro guys at UCLA when they start working out. We can [put] him in there and kind of feel it out. He did really well playing against some of the UCLA players and USC players. As the year goes by we will be able to tell if he will be in there [college] one or two years. I think if he gets as strong as I think he’s going to get, we can narrow it down to that one-year deal.”
As for Michigan, coach John Beilein also called and compared Dorsey to Trey Burke.
“He said he could play the same style as Trey Burke, you know off the screens and pass and do everything else, fast break ball,” Jerrid said. “He’s definitely one of his type of players.”
As for other offers, Jerrid listed, “pretty much the whole Pac 12, Louisville, Texas, all the Texas schools pretty much. Alabama, Auburn. LSU just called, Georgetown, UConn is a real heavy recruit right now. Kevin Ollie really loves him. Florida, N.C. State offered him a couple of days ago. Iowa offered. Minnesota offered.”
Tyler Dorsey just competed in the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville (Va.) but was battling an injury.
“He was hurting a little bit at the NBPA,” Jerrid said. “He had an injury where he couldn’t jump as high as he normally does, so he had to play a little speed game instead of the high elevation speed game that he always plays. [The camp] was really nice. If he would have been really healthy, I think he would have made the All-Star team.”
As for his upcoming summer schedule, Dorsey will attend the LeBron James Academy, the Fab 48 in Las Vegas and Adidas Nations in L.A.
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