College Commitment: Bryce Dyer (2022 North Medford)

Jed Tai April 25, 2022 @ 05:21 PM

The first thing Bryce Dyer Bryce Dyer 6'5" | PF North Medford | 2022 State OR needed to do with his college recruitment was determine which sport he wanted to pursue. Basketball was the pick for the hard-working 6-foot-5, 190-pound forward, so once the North Medford senior made that decision, it was where he would play at the next level. After sorting things out it whittled down to two schools in the Cascade Conference in OIT and Southern Oregon and from there, he made the call to commit to head to Ashland and SOU.

"It was a really tough decision," Dyer said. "SOU always had the edge because I grew up going to their games all the time, getting to watch people like Tristen Holmes and Brad Allen who went to North Medford before I did. Me and the Neff twins and some of our other close friends even began to do the mopping of the court out there when someone fell or during timeouts and called ourselves the ’mop squad’. So I obviously had the nostalgia piece with SOU and I had a couple of football buds who were going out there too, so SOU felt almost like a cinch there for a while."

"However, when OIT reached out to me later in the process, I knew that they had a great program and a great school and so I went out there for an open gym and got to play with their guys, including Kaison Faust who’s from North Medford and has carved out a pretty great career out there for himself so far, along with meeting Coach Parnell and was super impressed with what I saw," Dyer continued. "I ended up going back out there for an official visit about a week later and got to see all of the campus and talk to the coaching staff some more and eventually receive a great offer. I wasn’t expecting at all what I saw out there and was thoroughly impressed with the program Coach Parnell runs out there and just how cool of a guy he was."

"I eventually was able to nail down what my offer was from SOU and talked over everything with my parents," Dyer concluded. "It took a lot of discussion and thought, but all eventually agreed we thought SOU would be the best place for me to end up. I’m super excited to play with the great players they have out there already and feel like I’m a great fit with what they have already!"

Dyer can’t say enough about what’s going on at Southern Oregon, the school and the hoops program. "SOU is an extremely beautiful school with a great business program, which I plan on studying there," Dyer said. "It’s also close to home and I’m pretty familiar with it so I get to go in feeling a little more prepared. As for the basketball side, the guys there are awesome. From the first time I went there for an open gym they went out of their way to not only introduce themselves to me but also try and make a connection and find stuff out about me. They’re really a fun group to be around and I’m excited for these upcoming years."

One thing that could have been of concern is that there will be a coaching change at Southern Oregon as long-time head coach Brian McDermott, affectionately known as Coach Mac, is retiring. Dyer felt comfortable making his commitment despite the fact the new coach is yet to be named. "I absolutely trust any decision made by the program and I know they have some good guys out there making decisions and they aren’t going to put this program in jeopardy," Dyer said. "Also, Coach Mac is still helping run the Spring stuff right now and I know that he’s going to be coming to practices and games often to help make sure the program that was his for so long starts it new chapter off on the right track."

With his college decision in the books, Dyer is now ready to go to work this off-season. "I think that this summer I will be focusing on improving my catching and shooting," Dyer said. "I also am trying to put on some muscle to make sure my body is ready for the college level. Other than that I think I want to learn how to play in SOU’s system and then maybe tighten my handle a little bit."

Dyer currently ranks as the #16 player in the PrepHoops Oregon Class of 2022 rankings. Our congratulations go out to him and his family on his decision.