Feb. 23, 2006
By Bruce Adams
San Francisco Chronicle
When Drew Shiller arrived at USF at the beginning of the school year, he did something that would be of tremendous help in his transition from high school to college.
"He left his ego at the door," basketball coach Jesse Evans said.
The freshman is a backup point guard, a young player who had to make the transition to Division I basketball.
Back at Burlingame High he was a true phenom, winning 10 varsity letters. At the end of his senior year the school retired his numbers in football, basketball and baseball. Cal-Hi Sports magazine named him the Male Athlete of the Year. Last year he averaged 24.1 points a game on his basketball team, he passed for 3,037 yards as the quarterback of his football team and he batted .300 on his baseball team.
On the Hilltop, he's just another guy.
"It's like being a freshman in high school all over again," Shiller said. "It's definitely a humbling experience."
Shiller, 6-foot, 185 pounds, is averaging 3.3 points a game. He is 14-for-40 from 3-point range. He is averaging 15 minutes a game. On the year he has 17 assists against 20 turnovers. He's made seven steals. His numbers are respectable but not flashy.
At the beginning of the year, Evans appeared reluctant to give his freshmen too much playing time -- not wanting to give them more than they can handle.
That's changed.
When USF (8-12, 4-3 WCC) hosts Loyola Marymount (8-13, 5-2) tonight, freshman forward Jesse Byrd out of Bishop O'Dowd in Oakland will be making his seventh start. And Shiller will be quick off the bench in relief of Armondo Surratt -- and sometimes on the court at the same time with the junior point guard.
"His minutes have gone up each and every game," Evans said of Shiller. "As a freshman, Drew is making really good progress." Evans said Shiller needed to work on his defense and the intangibles -- such as taking charges, improving his assists to turnovers margin, increasing his steals
Shiller said that in addition to adjusting to the increased speed of the game and the higher caliber of players in college, he's had to learn a new role.
"The biggest difference at Burlingame was that most of the stuff was run for me," he said. "Here it's pretty much the opposite. Everybody is looking for each other."
After basketball season, Shiller will join the Dons' baseball team as a middle infielder.
In fact he chose USF -- he was recruited in all three sports -- to be close to home and to be able to play both basketball and baseball.
"I'm happy that he's going to do it," said Evans, adding that Shiller was on top of his academics -- earning over a 3.0. "It gives him an opportunity to continue to budget his time. ... He's made the transition."