July 10, 2008
Sypkens is a Renaissance man
Sacramento is well known as the home of The Terminator these days. But a very human-looking and often unstoppable non-cyborg is also doing his part to bring some notice to this area, an often overlooked but fertile basketball territory.
Ryan Sypkens
We first noticed Ryan Sypkens at one of Carl Foster’s Super 100 events and the primary reason he caught our attention was because his play was smooth and under control at an event where some participants think only the spectacular gets noticed.
The 6-foot-3, 180 pound backcourter out of Franklin High School is not a highlight reel type of player, not unless you count doing what it takes to win games as the primary focus. Sypkens goes about his on-court business simply, with no concern about shock and awe. He certainly compiles nice personal numbers but more importantly supplies the skills and on-the-floor decisions it takes for his team to be its most competitive.
As he puts it when asked about his best skills, "Making the play," adding "I’m a point, a really good playmaker and on-the-ball defender." The former is the task ultimately tied to success in any sport and, as for the latter, yes, his long arms aid his defensive prowess but it’s also his attitude and focus that are must-mention factors.
Plus, do notice the absence of any sort of points per game mention and numbers altogether by Sypkens.
The son of a South Alabama alum and basketballer -- class of 1984 -- Sypkens responded with this after queried about what he is working on the most this summer, "My strength but I’m told I’m good at most things but not great at any one thing." Call him a jack of all basketball trades, skilled in versatility.
It appears Iowa State is the college expressing the most interest at this point. At a recent Cyclone summer camp, Sypkens and his father had a long conversation with ISU Coach Greg McDermott.
Plus, West Coast Conference powers St. Mary’s and San Diego are also eyeing him and even greater exposure is upcoming. As a member of the Bay Area Hoosiers, Sypkens is soon heading to Las Vegas, the nexus of all that is prep basketball in late July. Plus there’s a Double Pump camp. The list goes on and on, the exposure greater and greater.
His cumulative core grade point average is 3.2 and he tallied 1640 on his SAT, numbers that will warm the heart of even the most jaded college recruiter in these days of NCAA-mandated Academic Progress Rates. But Stanford recently engaged Sypkens and he is readying to retake the SAT in hopes of earning an even higher score. Scanning the far off horizon, Sypkens is considering a college major in either sports psychology or kinesiology, with the thought of eventually entering the coaching ranks.
By now, the question is being begged: is there anything this young man cannot do?