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Timpview junior Dean Rueckert drives to the basket during the 5A semifinal game against Olympus at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Timpview junior Dean Rueckert dunks the ball during the 5A semifinal game against Olympus at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Timpview's Dean Rueckert goes up for a shot against Orem in a Region 7 boys basketball game on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.

Darnell Dickson. Daily Herald

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Timpview star Dean Rueckert deferred to his teammate's to carry the scoring load during his team's 81-53 win over Maple Mountain. January 23, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Timpview forward Dean Rueckert drives hard to the hoop to score two of his 12 points scored in a win over Dixie on Wednesday. December 10, 2025

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Timpview's Dean Rueckert finishes off a dunk during his team's 76-61 win over Dixie on Wednesday. December 10, 2025

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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It’s notable what Timpview coach Brad Kitchen leads off with when asked regarding Dean Rueckert’s best attributes.

He doesn’t lead with what is widely apparent to most people, which would be his superior size and athletic combination which earned him consensus 4-star ratings from the top recruiting services. Nor does he lead with the 6-foot-8 prospect’s smooth shot from behind the arc, which helped earn him a rare scholarship offer from BYU, which he readily accepted.

For Kitchen, and perhaps for several coaches who have helped develop our 2026 Utah Valley Player of the Year for boys basketball, it’s all about his character and coachability.

“He’s truly a special player in every way you could imagine,” Kitchen said. “He’s someone with high integrity who truly cares about not only his teammates, but everyone within his community and his classmates. He’s someone who works extremely hard to be as inclusive as possible, he’s a great student, and on top of all that, he just happens to be a very, very high-level basketball talent.”

As far as Rueckert’s obvious basketball talent goes, Kitchen also deferred to an aspect that again may be sort of inconspicuous.

“He’s a very coachable player, and I really do think that’s the best thing about him,” Kitchen assessed. “His ability to take criticism and then apply it is exceptional. His drive and work ethic is also phenomenal, so when you put that all together, it’s easy to believe he’s going to fare very well at the next level.”

It’s all humbling to Rueckert, as could well be imagined.

“I have so many people involved in my development and I’ve been so blessed to have great teammates at every level,” Rueckert said.

This past season for Timpview he did it all, averaging 20.5 points per game and 2.9 3-pointer made. He also averaged 5.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists while proving to be the model of consistency and versatility with his overall play.

Rueckert’s journey in arriving at his current level has been a long time in the making, and like many top athletes it started at a very young age. As for his own memory of when it all started, Rueckert himself can’t exactly recall the exact moment.

“I can’t remember ever not playing basketball,” he said. “My father played basketball in college and it’s always been a big part of my life.”

What was also big was Rueckert himself from an early age.

“I was always the tallest on the teams I played on growing up, so I mostly played center,” he said. “It wasn’t until later when I started to get to play other positions and what I play mostly at now.”

What Rueckert is now is a premium wing player capable of beating an opposing team from both the perimeter and inside when slashing toward the basket. It was a status coaches first began to notice in earnest by the time he began playing in AAU tournaments around the ages of 14 and 15. Unironically it was around that time when Rueckert began to realize he could play and compete among the best in the country.

“It was around when I was in eighth grade, I think, when I began I could play against players a full year older than me in tournaments,” he recalled. “I think I really began to get confident around then and had some colleges offer, which was really a big thing and something I was incredibly grateful for.”

Weber State was the first to offer Rueckert with many other programs following suit including one in particular that caught his notice.

“I’ve always been a big BYU fan growing up and that’s the program I always wanted to play for,” he said. “So when Mark Pope, who was BYU’s coach at the time, offered me it really was a dream come true. He offered me during my sophomore year at Timpview, but then left for Kentucky right after that. But fortunately Coach (Kevin) Young came in and decided to keep my offer open, which I really appreciated.”

The plan is to join BYU’s program immediately upon graduation where Kitchen believes he’ll continue to tap into his high potential while contributing well to the Cougar program.

“He’s going to fit in really well there I believe,” Kitchen said. “I see him as sort of a Zach Seljaas-type player for them. He’ll be a 3-point specialist who can rock the rim when he needs to. He’s also worked very hard on becoming a great defensive player and he’ll enter BYU as a very well-rounded player who is very coachable. He’s a unicorn athletically and he definitely has NBA ability, in my opinion.”

As for Rueckert’s own goals, developing into an NBA player is where his eyes are set along with serving BYU and his community in the best way possible. In fact, that process has already begun with an idea to spread good deeds in whatever way he can.

“I started something on my instagram called ‘Dino’s Deeds’ to help do service projects for people who are struggling and going through a tough time in their lives,” he said. “It’s something that’s very important to me and I want to use basketball as a platform to reach people and to help out as much as I possibly can. I’ve been blessed so much in my life and this is just one idea I had on how I can give back.”