Bermuda basketball coach Sullivan Phillips and captain Yusef Te’Jour Riley have expressed their excitement about Ralph Scott committing to University of Tennessee.

Phillips, who did not make the cut at the 2002 NBA Draft after playing NCAA Division II basketball for Columbia Union College, believes that Scott’s move can pave the way for other Bermudian youngsters to follow suit.

Playing in America prepared Phillips, a small forward during his playing career, to secure professional contracts in England, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Cyprus and Germany.

“I’m super excited for Ralph Scott and I wish him well,” Phillips told The Royal Gazette.

“You always want a youngster to come along to open up a new pathway for somebody else. A lot of Bermudians and children in general can look at him — it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can carve out a niche for yourself.

“The sky’s the limit for him. He can go wherever he wants, he has good size and the skill set, so the future looks bright for him.

“There’s no real limit to his abilities. Playing at a great school like Tennessee obviously gives him a lot more opportunity to excel.

“The future looks extremely bright for him. He has a great opportunity to do some amazing things in basketball.

“I’m looking forward to seeing where it ends up for him, where it takes him. I’ll be definitely following his progress down in Tennessee.”

Riley, who played Division II basketball for Paine College from 2014 to 2018, praised Scott’s family for the hard work they put into his career.

“I am truly very happy and proud of Ralph,’’ Riley said.

“It's truly a testament to his grandpa’s dedication, his mum’s dedication to him and even his own dedication to himself to become the best player possible.

“As every Bermudian sportsman knows, it’s not easy to make it out of Bermuda, especially in a sport like basketball, where there’s a very small tight-knit community of people that play.

“Ralph is just a by-product of a lot of people’s wishes and dreams, especially his family. His grandpa has done a great job with him and put in so much time and effort.

“I can’t say enough about Coach Ralph Scott, who truly believed and had a plan for Ralph and his life from the minute that I met him. So Ralph’s story isn’t his story alone, it belongs to his grandfather and his entire family.

“I can’t wait to try to get out to a game in this upcoming season next year.”

Scott’s stock rose in the weeks leading up to the announcement on Tuesday, which saw him surge to No 35 overall in the 2026 class.

“Ralph has the potential as shown by him ranked 35th in America,” Riley said.

“That says so much about him. Think about it — that means he’d be the No 1 player in Bermuda, a country of 65,000 people.

“In America, with a population of 340 million, he’s 35 of more than 500,000 boys who play basketball. That says so much about him as a growing young man and the foundation in which his life and his faith are essentially built on.”

Riley, one of the players not selected at the 2017 NBA Draft, believes that the 17-year-old has all the characteristics to become a successful player.

“I think he has all the potential in the world when it comes to his game and his body,” the 32-year-old said.

“He’s a jump shooter and he’s got all the physical attributes you need to be really good at basketball in today's day and age.

“He’s long, rangy, athletic and I think the biggest thing is that he has all of the major abilities.

“He’s coachable and available. He’s usually healthy and he’s enthusiastic when it comes to playing. On top of it all, he’s a really good guy, he’s respectful and that again boils down to his foundation.”

Phillips is keen to include Scott in future assignments, with the Caribbean Championships next summer likely to mark the small forward’s senior debut.

“As the coach of the national team, we’re definitely interested in him playing for us,” the Maryland-based coach said.

“When we took the team to Dominican Republic over the summer, Ralph had other commitments. Any young rising talent we want to bring in and we’re definitely hoping that we can get him in for sure.

“We have Caribbean Basketball Championships next year. The choice is his and if he’d like to play, he’s more than welcome to join us.

“We know his skill set is good. We’d love to have him be a part of it, but again, we don’t put pressure on people.

“We understand that he has a different path than a lot of others, so we just try to be respectful and hopefully we can get him to come around.”

As one of the senior players in the Bermuda team, Riley is enthusiastic about what lies ahead for the sport on the island.

“I’m excited for what it means for Bermuda basketball going forward,” he added.

“There’s him and a few other guys playing basketball at a high level. He is going to be playing at the highest level for a major D1 school; that means a lot for the sport in Bermuda.”