Dan Burt calls himself the Grim Reaper when it came to recruiting Tess Myers to the Duquesne women’s basketball team.
Myers went to North Catholic and was eventually named all-state three times in her high school career. Her dad, Joe Myers, played for the Dukes in the 1980s and was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the ’83 NBA draft. All of Burt’s assistants had seen Myers in action and spoke positively of her play.
Yet, as Burt tells it, every time he went to see Myers play, something was off.
“Every time I would go to see her play, and I mean literally every time, Tess did not play well,” Burt laughs now. “And I’ll never forget her dad, Joey, would tell me: ‘Danny, Tess is a good one. Trust me on this one.’ And my assistants would always see her play well. But every time I went to a game, for some reason, she didn’t play well.”
Burt trusted his assistants, and he says Myers’ success playing for USA Basketball and several scholarship offers from big schools let him know that her performances in front of Burt were exceptions.
From there, it was an easy recruitment, both Burt and Myers say. Joe brought Myers and her siblings to Duquesne games all the time growing up. She also acknowledges that she is a bit of a homebody and wanted to be near her family. So when Burt offered her a scholarship, there wasn’t much more that had to be said.
“[My family] being able to come to my games and seeing them in the stands was really important to me,” Myers said. “I just thought it would be amazing to play for the city I grew up in, and then obviously my dad playing here.”
Myers insists, however, that while she knew her dad played at Duquesne, she really wasn’t aware of any sort of legacy she was stepping in to. Every now and then she’ll hear from someone who watched her father in action, and she knows his nickname, “Sonar.” Beyond that, she says she has never gone back and watched any of his games.
Maybe that has made things easier on Myers. Stepping in to play at the alma mater of a successful parent could provide undue pressure on a player. Myers hasn’t felt that at all, though.
“Sometimes coach Burt will bring up some things that I didn’t even know about, but I feel like I came in here being myself,” Myers said. “Not following any kind of legacy or whatever.”
So far this season, that has seemed to work. Last year, Myers came off the bench, playing 15.5 minutes per night and averaging just over six points per game. Considering her status on her high school team, it took some adjusting to get comfortable as more of a role player.
This year, in part due to injuries on the team, Myers’ role is much more prominent. She has played 30 or more minutes in seven of Duquesne’s first 11 games and is averaging 11.6 points per game and 3.4 rebounds. She opened the season with three consecutive games in double figures, and against Saint Francis (Pa.) last Saturday, she scored a career-high 23 points.
The reason for that growth is mainly two-fold. For one, Myers worked hard over the offseason. Burt says the Dukes’ coaching staff challenged their players to make at least 20,000 3-pointers in individual workouts this past summer. He says Myers surpassed that mark by a wide margin.
Additionally, Myers is more confident now. She knows that she has a substantial role at Duquesne, and that her coaches trust her to be on the court for most of the game.
“It helps a lot to know that you can go out there and play a little free,” Myers said. “Maybe by default with some injuries and stuff, but I think all my teammates now can play a little more free, knowing it’s OK to miss a shot and whatever else. It definitely has increased my confidence knowing that they want me to [play] and shoot the ball.”
That last part is appropriate. Joe was known as a sharpshooter, after all.
The difference is just that they are different. Myers doesn’t feel pressure to fill any expectation for what she should be. As the season goes on, though, Duquesne’s newest Myers is blooming anyway.
Mike Persak: mpersak@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPersak
First Published: December 18, 2021, 11:00 a.m.