Featherston: Czyz Ready To Learn From Duke Staff

DURHAM, N.C. ? Polish names can be tough for Americans to handle.

Just look how long it took to learn that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's name was pronounced “Sha-shef-skee” or that the best way to handle Steve Wojciechowski's five vowels and eight consonants is to call him “Wojo.”

On paper, Blue Devil freshman Olek Czyz has a far less intimidating name. Just four letters long, how hard can it be to pronounce?

As it turns out, it might be the toughest Polish handle in the Duke basketball program. Trying to help a writer spell his name phonetically, Czyz balked at “Shiz” and “Chiz”. And it wasn't quite “Chu-iz” ...

“It's tough ? there are so many ways,” Czyz said. “There's not really a right pronunciation in English.”

But however you say it, Olek Czyz is a welcome addition to the Blue Devil program ? a physically gifted 6-7, 240-pound forward, known for his flair with the slam dunk.

“What he has is an amazing amount of athletic talent,” Duke assistant coach Chris Collins said. “He's strong, he can jump out of the gym and he can really run. He just needs to continue to develop his ability and learn the game.”

Czyz, who grew up on the shores of the Baltic Sea in the Polish port city of Gydnia, is a late-comer to the sport of basketball.

“As I was growing up, I would go out and play soccer with my friends,” he said. “Soccer was always the first sport to me as I was growing up. When I was 8 or 9, my mom brought me to basketball practice. But back then, they told me I was too small and shouldn't play yet. So I couldn't practice. I didn't play for another year or two. I came back when I was 10 years old and started practicing with other kids.”

Several factors seemed to be pushing Czyz towards basketball. Not only was Olek growing taller than his classmates, but the family lived next door to a Polish school that specialized in basketball instruction. Gydnia was a basketball hotbed ? the city's professional team, Prokon Trefl Sopot, is usually the champion of Poland. Czyz's father, Waldemar, didn't play professionally, but did play at the university level.

Waldemar Czyz left the family when the future Blue Devil was three years old, but has remained in touch with his son even after the family moved to the United States.

“When I go back every summer to Poland, I get to see him and we will go on the playground and play a little bit and talk a little trash,” Olek Czyz said.

So who wins those playground battles?

“It goes both ways ? he'd old, but still good,” Czyz said. “He's 6-8, so I still haven't outgrown him. He can't jump [as high as me], but he still can dunk.”

The younger Czyz began his basketball education at the age of 10, when he first applied for admission to the basketball school next to his home.

“There were tryouts,” Czyz explained. “In all the tests, I took first place. Like we had this vertical reach, everything with height and speed. All the coaches were saying, ?Wow, you're doing these drills quick. You have a chance to be someone special. Let me introduce you to the principal of this school.'

“I went there five times a week. I had basketball like three, four days a week. One day we'd have agility workouts or we'd go swim once a week. So it was a good program.”

But the rapidly growing Polish kid had big dreams.

“The NBA ? we always talked about it in my basketball school,” he said. “That was something everyone wanted to do. There was not a Polish basketball player in the NBA yet ? ever. I had that dream. I want to be that first Polish kid to make it in the NBA.”

Czyz and his family realized that it would be a lot easier to realize that dream in the United States. When Olek was 13, his mother remarried, wedding American Bill Avery. Just before his freshman year in high school, Avery took the family to Reno, Nevada, where he had family.

“My Mom knew that my dream was to play professional basketball and making that happen, we have to come here and play for good coaches,” Czyz said. “Back in Poland, the coaching wasn't as good as it is here. It's a whole different level.

“So when we moved to Reno, we wanted to play for the best coach in town. We looked through high schools and heard stories and read some reviews and they decided to put me in Reno High School, because there was a coach there, the year before I came there, he was the coach of the year. I wanted to play for the best coach.”

Unfortunately, the coach that Czyz wanted to play before left before he joined the varsity at Reno High School. Fortunately, according to the young player, “another great coach took his job.”

Czyz's career at Reno High didn't get off to a very auspicious beginning.

“In tryouts my freshman year, I was at the varsity tryouts,” he said. “But when I got to the layup line, I was going for a dunk and I broke my leg. When I came back from that, I played junior varsity.”

The injury was just one aspect of Olek's difficult transition to an American high school.

“It was tough,” he said. “The language barrier ... that was the toughest thing about it. There were different kids and a different culture. I had to adjust to everyone else. That first year I was really shy. I didn't know what to say and I didn't even know how to say it. But as the years went by, I learned more English and made more friends. I was a basketball player on the high school team, so kids started to get to know me.”

Czyz found out that for all his focus on basketball back in Gydnia, he still had a lot to learn.

“When I started playing with all those kids in America, I realized that I had so much to improve on,” he said. “I couldn't play defense at all. When I started playing against those kids, I was just standing straight up. I couldn't guard them ? they would just go by me every time. I felt terrible. I felt like they were just kicking my butt ... that's something I wasn't used to.

“I had good offensive skills, but I didn't have the all-around game. I just didn't know the game. I had to gain experience ... that's what I was lacking most.”

Czyz started getting that knowledge and experience in his sophomore season at Reno, when first-year coach Kyle Schellin took the Polish import under his wing.

“He started guiding me all over the court, showing me what's help-side and all that,” Czyz said. “He started yelling at me so I took it seriously. I sort of went to work. My junior year, I was getting more knowledge. My senior year, I felt like ?I'm starting to get it'. But I still feel like I still have so much more to learn.”

Czyz averaged a modest 10 points and six rebounds for a state championship team as a sophomore. It was that summer that he first attracted a college recruiter.

“The first offer was from [the University of] Pacific,” he said. “They saw me playing on the Reno Ballers AAU team [in the summer of 2006, after his sophomore year]. They said, ?Hey, you play hard ... we like that.' I went to a tournament in Stockton and they were able to talk to me on campus and that's when they offered.”

But Czyz waited to see where his burgeoning talent would take him. As his understanding of the game caught up with his raw physical ability, more and more schools became interested. He was averaging 18.7 points and 8.3 rebounds as a junior when he got his first major college offer.

“Washington State came around and they told me, ?Hey, we see something in you that no one else sees,'” he said. “That was exciting because Washington State was one of the better programs in the nation. I got real excited about it, but I hadn't had any other offers. Once the summer [of 2007] came around, that's when everyone started calling.”

That included Duke, which was in the market for frontcourt depth. As soon as the Blue Devils entered the picture, Czyz had a new recruiting frontrunner.

“I knew about the program,” Czyz said. “When I was a sophomore, a guy came up to me and said, ?Hey, Olek, if you could play for any basketball program in the country, what would it be?' And I was just thinking of the Cameron Crazies and Coach K and said, ?Duke.'”

He visited the Durham campus last fall ? his only regret was that it was before basketball season and hence, he didn't get to see a game in Cameron. But it didn't take that much persuasion for Krzyzewski and Chris Collins (his primary recruiting contact) to land the high flying Polish forward.

“I was talking about how I was lacking basketball experience and basketball IQ,” he said. “I have so much more to improve on. Duke is all about improving players. They have the best coaching staff in the nation ... in the world. That's something I was always about ? surrounding yourself with the best you possibly can and go from there.”

Czyz finished his high school career strong ? earning all-state honors as a senior and leading Reno High School to a second state title in his three varsity seasons. He had 25 points, 13 rebounds in the semifinals against Foothills High School, then added 18 points and 10 rebounds in the title game victory over Cheyenne High.

Soon after the season, Czyz earned MVP honors in the Capital Classic All-Star game in Washington, D.C. He had 23 points (on 9-of-14 shooting), nine rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot in leading the U.S. All-Stars to victory.

He also put his skills on display this summer in Durham, dazzling fans with his spectacular dunks at a summer league played at North Carolina Central University.

“It was cool,” he said of his summer league experience. “It was nice to show yourself off... to give a little taste to the fans. And, of course, playing with all those Duke guys was very helpful. I'm already starting to adjust to my teammates.”

Although Czyz's strength and leaping ability make him appear to be a natural in the post, his game encompass more than that.

“I see myself as an all-around player,” he said. “I can play inside or outside. But I will do whatever coach tells me to do. I just want to win. As long as we win, I'll be happy. I just want to come in, play as hard as I can and show what I'm all about. I just play hard and get after it. I want to show everybody how hungry I am.”

He'd also like to show off his dunking skills.

“That's something I'm always looking forward to do on the basketball court,” Czyz said. “That's just my favorite way to score. When I don't get dunks in a game, I'm not very happy with myself.”

Coach K is anxious to see what Czyz will be able to contribute this season.

“Olek is still learning the game, but he's a tremendous athlete,” Krzyzewski said. “I hope he ends up being as good as this guy, but he reminds me a lot of Danny Meagher. Just a really good athlete, tough.”

Czyz still has his eye on the NBA prize, although he no longer has a chance to become the first Polish player in the league. Three Polish players have reached the NBA in the last few years, most recently 7-foot center Marcin Gortat of Lodz, who played six games for Orlando last season.

But none of the Polish stars has yet established himself in the league. The NBA has added stars from Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Italy, Argentina, China, Australia and France, but is still awaiting its first Polish headliner.

That's still something Olek Czyz can still achieve. But first, he'll take advantage of his time at Duke to make himself the best player he can become.

Featherston: Czyz Ready To Learn From Duke Staff

Players Mentioned

Olek Czyz

Duke information

Featherston: Czyz Ready To Learn From Duke Staff

Players Mentioned

Olek Czyz

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Duke information