Conway narrows college choices
High-scoring Dulaney guard wants to make smart move, cuts the finalists to 6 schools
Dulaney junior guard Ryan Conway has been a showman on the court, lighting up opponents with his scoring ability, court vision and basketball IQ. As a result, many colleges have courted Conway to become part of their program.
Six schools — Seton Hall, Marquette, Providence, Rutgers, Stanford and Vanderbilt — have made the cut.
Conway, who also boasts a 3.75 GPA, made sure schools that he is considering have a strong academic legacy in addition to being places where he could succeed on the court. Each of the schools had strong guard play in the past and they also give him the chance to make an impact as a freshman.
“I put Seton Hall in there because they’ve been there from the start,” Conway said. “They’ve been great with guards in the past. I’ve developed a great relationship with the coaching staff. So, I had to put them in there. I put a school like Stanford in there because who would want to pass up the opportunity to play at Stanford, along with an amazing degree. I put Rutgers in there — their coaching staff was amazing, the unofficial visit that I took there was around October and that’s when the offer came from them.
“Those are the three reasons why I put those schools in there. The other three had something to do with those reasons. I feel pretty strong about the six that I chose.”
With 1,481 career points through his first three seasons, Conway is well on his way to putting himself among the greatest scorers in the history of Maryland Public School boys basketball. He says he came into high school wanting to prove he could succeed at a high level with a program such as Dulaney, which traditionally doesn’t produce highlevel basketball talent at the same rate as some of the nearby private schools.
“I went there and everybody was like ‘Oh Ryan, you can’t get offers from here or here. You’ve got to go here to get that,’ ” Conway said of his decision to attend Dulaney. “In my head, I was like ‘I’m going to show everybody. It doesn’t matter where you go. If you’re good, they’ll find you.’ I started off my legacy that way and I just want it to go on from there.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, many players have had to make changes to the way they’ve gone about their recruitment. With the thought of a possible postponement to next season hanging over his head, Conway decided to streamline his decisionmaking process.
“That’s part of the reason why I started to narrow them down and commit soon,” Conway said of the coronavirus. “Before I did that, a bunch of coaches were still reaching out who aren’t in it right now. High major coaches maybe would’ve offered me a little later in the process, but I’m OK with giving that up because, in my mind, I really know where I want to go. I decided, why wait to put something out, and I had a big talk with my family and it wasn’t an easy decision with this pandemic going on.
“I did a virtual recruiting visit with Yale the other day. We did some film — coaches were FaceTiming me. Coaches in my top six were FaceTiming me, showing me love. Coach [Mike] Schrage from Elon, he FaceTimed me — he’s been amazing during this recruiting process. It was one of the hardest decisions that I had to make to cut him out of my top six. He’s such a great guy, amazing. Yale and Elon, I want to give a big shout out to them. They’ve been very, very great during the recruiting process. I visited both of them and they were great.”
The Dulaney rising senior is rated as a three-star point guard, 21st-ranked in the country and the sixth-rated player at his position in Maryland, per 247Sports. Conway displayed his scoring prowess on Jan. 15, with a career-high 55 points — 45 in the first half on 12 3-pointers.
He has the ability to get to the bucket — going right or left, taking defenders off of the dribble, taking midrange jumpers and floaters inside the lane. As a junior this past season he averaged 27.3 points, 4.8 assists and 4.4 steals per game, while also shooting over 80% from the free-throw line and over 40% from 3-point range.
Dulaney coach Matt Lochte coached Ryan’s brother Chris, who eventually ended up at York College. He’s known the Conway family since Ryan was in the second grade, coaching the rising star in basketball camps through the years. Lochte and Ryan Conway have almost been inseparable since, with Lochte joining Conway in the gym to shoot, even in elementary school.
“As a middle schooler, he really started making a name for himself,” Lochte said. “He was a kid with unbelievable ball skills, was a dribbling machine, was playing on these elite middle school teams and scoring 25, 30 points for some of these teams. When he decided to come to Dulaney, one of the reasons was that he was comfortable with us. He knew me, his family had already been a family that’s been in our program. His brother, Chris, played for me for years and I’ve had a relationship with the Conway family for like 10 to 12 years.
“To have Ryan play for us and see him develop and to see him become the young man, the student-athlete that he’s become, it’s really no surprise to me because I’ve spent so many hours in the gym with him.”
Last month, Dulaney saw its hopes of a second straight trip to the state 4A classification final four dashed in a 78-44 loss against Mervo in the 4A North Region I semifinals. Despite graduating a few seniors, the team had eight juniors in its rotation and, with a 16-6 record (10-1 in
Baltimore County), Lochte has big goals for next winter.
“With Ryan leading this group, and with Jaylin Webster and Jaylen Amoruso and Latrell Harper and Cre [Crevon] Adams, we have some lofty goals,” Lochte said. “Those goals are winning a league championship and ultimately getting back down to College Park and winning a state championship.”
Conway’s goal for himself is to be an example for the future generation at Dulaney.
“I want to set an example for kids in the later days,” Conway said. “They can go to any school and conquer their dreams or win their dreams. You don’t have to go to a prep school out in the middle of nowhere. You can go to your neighborhood school and play for a coach that’s known you since you were 5 years old. I feel like that’s the story that I want to have. It would be amazing to come back and leave a legacy. I live in Baltimore County. That’s where I’m from, that would be amazing for me and to put up Dulaney’s first state championship.”