Tyler Perkins committed to Villanova on Sunday. (Photo: Perkins' social media)
By AARON BRACY
April 14, 2024
Big5Hoops.com
Tyler Perkins is looking forward to playing in a Power 6 conference in a program known for stellar guard play.
Perkins committed to Villanova on Sunday after a successful freshman season at Penn, where he averaged 13.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists.
“It was a great fit,” he told Big5Hoops.com on Sunday. “Villanova guards play hard, compete and play downhill.”
Perkins, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound guard from Lorton, Va., showed the ability to do all of that in his first season for the Quakers, including when he had 22 points and six rebounds in the Quakers’ 76-72 upset of Villanova at the Palestra on Nov. 13.
“I’m super excited,” he said. “I can’t wait.”
Leaving an Ivy League school and an Ivy League education is not an easy decision by any means. But in today’s NIL world, where Power 6 conference players make well into the six figures per season, it is difficult not to at least look at such a move for players of Perkins’ status.
“I know this was best for my future,” he said.
Still, leaving Penn was not easy.
“Leaving a team that got along really well, that was the toughest part,” he said.
Perkins promised to leave everything on the court, something for which Villanova guards also are known.
“I’m going to work hard and compete and put everything on the line,” he said.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Big5Hoops.com is his second website dedicated to Philadelphia college basketball. His book on 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s will be published next season. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages.