It continued at Link Academy in Branson, a town more closely associated with country music than basketball. From there, it spent two years at the University of Michigan, coincidentally now his final opponent Monday night.
That, in a nutshell, is the journey of Tarris Reed, Jr., UConn’s senior center who stands 40 minutes from a national championship that seemed unattainable two years ago, but is now within reach as the Huskies face his former team in the final climb back to a summit they occupied for two years.
“That’s what I wanted coming out of the portal,” Reed said of what now lies before him, the main objective that lured him to Connecticut. “I wanted to go to a school where winning is a big part and everybody just cares about it more than money or your individual accolades, and that’s the main thing I got on my visit. Just being around them and talking to them, they were all about, ‘we want to make it to a Final Four, we want to make it to a national championship,’ rather than worrying about themselves. That’s all I was looking for when I entered the portal.”
Ironically, Reed was not looking to enter the portal when Dusty May took over for Juwan Howard at Michigan two years ago. Even though the Wolverines battled through an 8-24 season, Reed was still interested in staying in Ann Arbor despite May potentially bringing 7-foot center Vlad Goldin with him from Florida Atlantic.
“He basically said, ‘Coach, I know Vlad is coming with you,’ May recalled on Sunday. “‘Do you think you can make that work?’ I said, ‘Tarris, you both are really good. It won’t be easy, we haven’t played like that before, but I’m very confident that because of both of your skill sets and talents, we can figure it out.’”
The dual-center attack did end up coming to pass, just not with Reed involved, as Danny Wolf transferred to Michigan from Yale before becoming an NBA Draft pick. Still, the former Wolverine left enough of an impression during his time in maize and blue that two of his former teammates reminisced on the positive vibe he brought to the locker room over his two years there.
“He’s one of the best people that I’ve been around in my collegiate career,” Nimari Burnett shared. “He’s always been just a happy person, someone who’s always joyful of the moment and just a joyful teammate even during that year where things weren’t as happy. He brought joy, he brought enthusiasm. He’s just a great person.”
“T-Reed is the light that you want to see in the world,” Will Tschetter echoed. “He’s always been a bright spot, whether he’s been at this program or at UConn. It’s been great to follow his journey and see his development, how he’s stayed true to himself.”
In the NCAA Tournament, Reed has unlocked the “big bear” aggressiveness head coach Dan Hurley has clamored for over the past two seasons, averaging 20.8 points and 13 rebounds per contest over UConn’s five games. Even without his 31-point, 27-rebound masterpiece in the first round against Furman, those numbers still equate to impressive averages of 18.3 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. The timely resurgence prompted his coach to quip about his relationship with his big man, once thought to be tempestuous as Reed worked on channeling his tenacity, now reaching a better standing than ever before.
“Now we’re best friends,” Hurley joked. “It’s really improved since he’s been on a tear. But I’ve been saying…go back six weeks, go back two months, go back three months. Our season is going to be determined by what Tarris Reed does, which Tarris Reed we get.”
“He’s a force,” May conceded. “That’s the one thing (UConn has) gotten out of him. He’s relentless. He plays now like their coach coaches. That’s a real testament of (Hurley) finding the right environment for him. I can’t say enough good things about Tarris, because I watched about 20 games of him at Michigan. I see where he is now to where he was, and you don’t make that jump without a lot of hard, intentional work.”
Reed has become cognizant of the finality of his career, something that has not been talked about much while his teammate, Alex Karaban, chases a third championship to conclude his own tenure at UConn. But the chance to cut down the net and be a part of history means just as much, if not more, to the 6-foot-11 gentle giant who committed to the Huskies during their national championship parade two years ago. The opportunity to be a participant this time, rather than a special guest, continues to fuel him.
“You really want to get that national championship,” Reed reiterated. “Coming to UConn on a parade, seeing the whole city of Hartford, city of Storrs all connected together, to want to be in a championship parade with a group of guys with the resilience we had this year. It would be great just to end on a national championship, so I’m going for it all.”
“It’s amazing,” Solo Ball said of his teammate’s career arc. “His story is amazing, just coming from Michigan, being there and not having the best team season, then coming here and being able to come back. That’ll be a motivational story. He’s deserving of everything that’s coming his way, and he works incredibly hard every single day, day in and day out. So deserving of everything.”
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