Bryant Basketball: In-depth look at star senior wing Earl Timberlake

Why you should know about Earl Timberlake

Timberlake is a former Miami Hurricane and Memphis Tiger and now enters his third season at Bryant. The wing came to Bryant as a former top 40 recruit nationally but was never able to live up to the hype after an injury-plagued first season at Miami and a disappointing season at Memphis the graduate student needed a fresh start. The transfer to Bryant would give him a chance to become the player he knew he could become out of the spotlight. The Bulldogs have a tremendous home-court advantage but the America East conference is rarely on National TV and rarely in the spotlight. That coupled with Rhode Island being close to home. It was a no-brainer for the wing.

If the goal was to resurrect his career he has succeeded. The first season at Bryant showed everyone why the graduate student was so hyped coming out of high school. He averaged 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists. That was good enough to earn him second-team All-America East honors. There was a game that season against NJIT that will put Timberlake in the Bryant record books forever. In that game, he scored 23 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. That is a good game anywhere but that was the best game ever by a Bryant player in the Division 1 era. No other Bulldog has ever put up a stat line like that. The first year in the America East was good for Timberlake but Bryant did not do as well as they thought in the conference so it was disappointing overall.

Year 2 was much better for the wing and cemented him as the best-returning player in the league and a favorite for the league player of the year. Timberlake earned first team all America East and ranked in the top 11 in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. Overall he averaged 15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Included in the year was the second triple-double in Bryant's history, scored 1,000 points, and had a huge game against an SEC school when he scored 19 points and 12 rebounds against Ole Miss. The wing had a penchant for showing up in huge games. The Ole Miss game was a huge game for Bryant and the wing had huge games against the NCAA tournament representative Vermont. Heading into his final season the wing hopes to make it a memorable one.