SPENCER — Basketball on the next level will take North Rowan High’s Bryan McCullough well above sea level.
The Cavalier senior, Rowan County Player of the Year for 2001, has signed with UNC Asheville, which competes in the Division I Big South Conference.
McCullough visited the scenic Asheville campus recently and it was a case of love at first sight.
“Bryan called me and was as excited as I’ve ever heard him,” said North coach Kelly Everhart. “He said, ‘Coach, I’ve been to Asheville, and that’s where I’m going.’ ”
McCullough’s decision was a mild surprise to Everhart, because Asheville jumped on the Big Mac bandwagon pretty late. Well after Southern Conference schools Wofford and The Citadel. And a whole lot later than Winthrop, Asheville’s biggest Big South rival. Everhart had a gut feeling all along that McCullough would choose Winthrop, especially after McCullough had a pleasant experience at the Rock Hill school when he played there in the North-South All-Star Classic.
McCullough says Asheville coaches were aware of him as early as last summer when he made an impression while playing with Mason Reddick’s Rowan-Salisbury AAU team in a national tournament in Orlando.
But Everhart hadn’t heard the first word from the Fighting Bulldogs until an Asheville assistant coach called recently and requested video of McCullough. Everhart responded by shipping the Bulldogs the tale of the tape from McCullough’s bruising battles with West Rowan giant Donte Minter. That footage apparently worked wonders.
“Asheville called back — immediately,” chuckled Everhart. “Asheville’s head coach (Eddie Biedenbach) was on the line. He wanted to talk to Bryan.”
Biedenbach convinced McCullough to make a campus visit and the rest is history.
“The visit was great,” said McCullough. “It’s such a pretty town and the players I scrimmaged with treated me like I was already part of the team. I was comfortable there. I fit right in.”
Many of the schools in the McCullough hunt told him it might take him a year or two to work into serious playing time. But Biedenbach, a star player at N.C. State in the 1960s and later a Wolfpack assistant coach, displayed no such reservations about McCullough’s talent.
“He told me I’d have a chance to play a lot — maybe even start right off the bat,” said McCullough. “I’ll be mostly a 3-man (small forward), but I could slide some to the 2 (shooting guard).”
“We’re happy for Bryan and supportive of him. This is a great opportunity,” said Everhart.
“Every kid wants to play, wants to be successful and Bryan could play early there.
“Asheville’s in a great location. Far enough from home for Bryan to build his own identity, but close enough for him to come home on the weekend if he needs something. Asheville’s close enough that his family can see him play and that’s a big consideration. He’s always had a lot of family support.”
Another plus for the Bulldogs is their big-time schedule. Asheville took on Texas, South Carolina, N.C. State and Florida State, among others, while posting a 15-13 record last season.
“Coach says we’re going to play N.C. State (where McCullough will renew his acquaintance with Scooter Sherrill) and Tennessee every year,” said an enthusiastic McCullough. “He’s working on Minnesota, UNLV and Florida.”
McCullough, whose father, Kevin, was also a standout at North, stands 6-foot-6 and played even bigger for the Cavs in 2000-01. He scored 18.7 ppg for a 27-1 team and finished his career with 1,058 points, eighth on the Cavs’ all-time list.
Next season, Asheville sportswriters may be describing their new mountain man as the “Blue Ridge Blaster” or the “Buncombe Bomber,” but Everhart will remember McCullough as a fragile freshman jayvee, who stood maybe 6-1.
“But then Bryan hit a growth spurt and really developed,” said Everhart. “Maturity came and that weak, skinny kid disappeared. He turned into a really good player.”
McCullough was a role-playing shotblocker as a varsity sophomore, transformed into a double-digit scorer as a junior, then emerged as a senior star after a hard-working summer that honed his ballhandling skills and added several feet to his shooting range.
While his hoops skills took time to develop, McCullough’s been an excellent student from his first day at North. Everhart says he knocked out a qualifying SAT score on his first try.
And now McCullough has earned the chance to test himself against the next level of players.
“I’m excited and happy,” he said. “My parents — they’re even happier. They don’t have to pay for college.”
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Contact assistant sports editor Mike London at 797-4259 or mlondon@Salisburypost.com
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