Why wait?
In search of 'can't miss' talent, colleges target commitments from recruits as young as 14 years old
By John Clayton
Posted: 10/28/07, 11:18 PM EST Section: Sports
The commitments are non-binding, meaning at any time either recruit or recruiter can dissolve the agreement. Still, it's a trend that has some coaches, including Martelli, concerned.
"I'm not sure that kids that age know whether they want a Pepsi or a Coke at lunchtime, much less where they want to go to college," Martelli said. "I don't know if it's a healthy turn of events for the kids or for college basketball, to be honest with you."
For better or worse, the trend is hard to deny. According to Scout.com, 15 of the top 100 players from the 2010 high school graduating class have already verbally committed to a school. Ohio State has secured three of those pledges, while Kentucky and Baylor, which finished 9-7 and 4-12 in their conferences last season, have received two commitments from high school sophomores.
And those players aren't even the youngest to make a tentative choice on their respective futures. This past summer, Southern California received a pledge from Ryan Boatwright, a 14-year-old point guard from Aurora, Ill. It was the second-straight year USC head coach Tim Floyd received a commitment from an eighth grader. A year earlier, he snagged forward Dwayne Polee Jr., now a sophomore at Westchester High School in Los Angeles.
As a coach who has already benefited from the trend, Boeheim didn't see it as a problem.
"If they commit to us, it's good," Boeheim said about the trend. "I do think kids do commit earlier - sophomores are not unusual, juniors for sure. If they make up their mind, I mean, it's imperfect whether you decide then or your junior or senior year. It's a hard choice either way. I don't think it's that big of an issue."
In the case of Waiters, Syracuse coaches spotted him at an open gym at Neumann-Goretti (Pa.) High School, where Waiters' cousin, SU freshman guard Scoop Jardine, played. Waiters was an eighth grader competing against players three or four years his elder.
"They saw him working out with the older kids; he pretty much drew their attention right then and there," Waiters AAU coach and Neumann-Goretti assistant Aaron Abbott said. "The coaches just couldn't believe how mature he was, and after that, that was all she wrote."
"I'm not sure that kids that age know whether they want a Pepsi or a Coke at lunchtime, much less where they want to go to college," Martelli said. "I don't know if it's a healthy turn of events for the kids or for college basketball, to be honest with you."
For better or worse, the trend is hard to deny. According to Scout.com, 15 of the top 100 players from the 2010 high school graduating class have already verbally committed to a school. Ohio State has secured three of those pledges, while Kentucky and Baylor, which finished 9-7 and 4-12 in their conferences last season, have received two commitments from high school sophomores.
And those players aren't even the youngest to make a tentative choice on their respective futures. This past summer, Southern California received a pledge from Ryan Boatwright, a 14-year-old point guard from Aurora, Ill. It was the second-straight year USC head coach Tim Floyd received a commitment from an eighth grader. A year earlier, he snagged forward Dwayne Polee Jr., now a sophomore at Westchester High School in Los Angeles.
As a coach who has already benefited from the trend, Boeheim didn't see it as a problem.
"If they commit to us, it's good," Boeheim said about the trend. "I do think kids do commit earlier - sophomores are not unusual, juniors for sure. If they make up their mind, I mean, it's imperfect whether you decide then or your junior or senior year. It's a hard choice either way. I don't think it's that big of an issue."
In the case of Waiters, Syracuse coaches spotted him at an open gym at Neumann-Goretti (Pa.) High School, where Waiters' cousin, SU freshman guard Scoop Jardine, played. Waiters was an eighth grader competing against players three or four years his elder.
"They saw him working out with the older kids; he pretty much drew their attention right then and there," Waiters AAU coach and Neumann-Goretti assistant Aaron Abbott said. "The coaches just couldn't believe how mature he was, and after that, that was all she wrote."
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