15 Proves Too Young to Go Steady With Bruins

Taylor King is loving this.

“North Carolina, it has my favorite style,” King said. “Villanova, they’re cool. Coach K [Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski] called and [Arizona’s] Lute Olson, he’s a great guy.” The words tumble faster and faster out of King’s mouth. His thoughts bounce everywhere -- north, south, east, west.

“USC, wow, a great new coach who everyone says is very good, and a new arena. Great things are happening at USC. Washington, love that fast pace. That’s how I like to play basketball -- fast, fast, fast. And UCLA’s still talking to me. That’s OK too.”

King, a 6-foot-7, 180-pound small forward, is completing his sophomore year at powerhouse Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana. In August 2003, a few weeks after finishing eighth grade, King made headlines by announcing he would accept a scholarship offer from UCLA’s Ben Howland, then new on the job, beginning in 2007.

Though the oral commitment was nonbinding, King -- 15 at the time -- became perhaps the first player to accept a major college basketball scholarship before entering high school, saying: “UCLA made a huge commitment to me and now I’m making a huge commitment to them.”

Last month, while playing in a postseason tournament in Las Vegas, King declared he was no longer bound to UCLA and that it would be just fine if other college coaches wanted to court him. Which they have begun to do, with fervor, though NCAA rules preclude them from calling King directly. They may speak to King only if he calls the coach.

Now his life is a snapshot of enjoyable chaos for a teenager who has decided being worshipped by many beats being faithful to the first love.

“I made my decision way too early,” King said this week. “It was too early to know what I wanted. Now it’s all out there for me. I want to take my [recruiting] trips. I want to explore opportunities. Duke’s been calling, you know? Lute Olson and Roy Williams call [Mater Dei] all the time to see how I’m doing. That’s so great.”

King’s situation reflects the changing dynamics in college basketball, where the Internet and the proliferation of travel teams are showcasing talented players as young as 9 or 10. With top high school players skipping college and heading directly to the NBA in growing numbers, the pressure on college coaches to sign and retain elite talent is greater than ever.

But early commitments pose risks for both parties, some experts contend.

“No eighth-grader is in a position to make a lifetime decision,” said Dana Pump, a local coach of traveling summer league basketball teams. “It’s foolish for schools who are racing to get a kid to commit at such a young age and it’s foolish for a young man to make a decision like that at such an early age.”

When Howland replaced Steve Lavin as Bruin coach two years ago, he was eager to show that UCLA would quickly return to the national recruiting scene, especially with the top local talent. And King was a precocious young player who had grown up in Orange County starry-eyed about UCLA’s 1995 national championship team.

“UCLA was always my team, and I loved how the 1995 team played,” King said. “They were my guys, you know? I watched them a lot. It was where I wanted to go.”

But in the last two years, as he has developed physically and slipped easily into a starring spot on one of Southern California’s consistently top high school teams -- he led Orange County in scoring and was third in rebounding this season -- King has also watched how the world can be for a top athlete.

Steve King, Taylor’s father, takes some of the blame for the early commitment. Two of Taylor’s older sisters were highly recruited high school athletes, and the process was stressful, he said.

“So I probably took the lead in Taylor’s early decision,” Steve King said. “It was all done in good faith and respect for UCLA, but for a kid that age, I think it was probably premature. In retrospect I don’t think he was ready to make that kind of decision.”

Sonny Vaccaro, who has represented shoe companies and organized high school all-star games for two decades, said he wasn’t surprised when King announced he was reopening the recruiting process.

“Taylor’s a top-level player now,” Vaccaro said. “He wants to be courted. Hall of Fame coaches are calling him, top schools are after him. He gets a little wanderlust.

“In my opinion it was a little silly of him to commit so early and maybe a little silly for UCLA to offer the kid. But for Ben it was a quick hit in the media and good hype for UCLA when the best top-rated eighth-grader in the country wanted to go to UCLA.”

Coaches may not comment on potential recruits until they have signed a letter of intent, usually during their senior season.

Arizona’s Olson, speaking in general terms, said that it would be a rare occasion when he would think it was wise for a top program to offer a scholarship to an eighth-grader.

Olson said he would accept a commitment from a player before his high school senior season only if the player was willing to hold a news conference and make a public announcement.

“If the kid is willing to make an official announcement, covered by the media, the parents have talked with us quite a bit, then I’ll offer the scholarship,” Olson said. “We actually have gotten a player [Jawad McClellan] in his sophomore year in high school. But not a kid as young as eighth grade.”

Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said that King’s wavering was about more than wanting to make visits to other schools and talk to other famous coaches.

“I think, in Taylor’s case, he’s concerned about some of the other people UCLA is recruiting, they’d guard the same people he would guard, they’d play the same spot Taylor would play. He is a little concerned about the personnel situation and he wants to take a step back,” McKnight said.

King is playing for the Southern California All-Stars this summer and the next stop for the team is the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions this month in North Carolina, where King and his father will make unofficial visits to Duke and North Carolina.

And how about UCLA, his most favorite team way back in 2003?

“They’re still recruiting me,” King said. “I might still go there. I’m looking for up-tempo teams, fastbreak teams, just run. That’s what I want to do. Just run.”