Tyler Zeller

About Tyler Zeller

Tyler Paul Zeller (born January 17, 1990 in Visalia, California) is an American basketball player who is currently a freshman at the University of North Carolina. At 7 feet and 220 pounds (2.13 m, 100 kg), he is as tall as most centers, but currently plays more as a forward.

Zeller grew up in Washington, Indiana, attending Washington High School. In his four years at Washington High, his team won four sectional titles, as well as state Class 3A championships in his freshman and senior years (2005 and 2008). In his senior year, he averaged 33.1 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, and also shot 69% from the field and 82% from the free throw line. In his final high school game, the 2008 Class 3A final against Fort Wayne Harding, he scored 43 points, which broke a record for scoring by a player in an Indiana boys' state championship game that had stood since 1970. He was not only a basketball superstar, but also played on Washington High's tennis team for three years, and finished his high school career with a 3.97 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, good for third in his graduating class. After the 2008 season, he was named "Mr. Basketball" in Indiana, arguably the state's highest honor for high school players, three years after his older brother Luke was honored with the same award, and was also named a McDonald's All-American.

During the early signing period in November 2007, Zeller signed a letter of intent to play at North Carolina. When the university announced his signing, Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams said about Zeller, "I think he is the finest running big man in the country and he has a tremendous shooting touch to go with that ability to run the floor." Zeller notably exhibited that shooting touch at a high school all-star game during the 2008 Kentucky Derby Festival, at which he won the event's three-point shooting contest.