January 13, 2010
Taylor is Available
Oakland High junior TJ Taylor very early on liked what he saw down at Santa Clara and decided to link his name to the Bronco basketball program while still a sophomore. But that decision is on hold as Taylor has now opened up his recruitment. So will he or won’t he be matriculating and hooping along El Camino Real come 2011?
Taylor is a free agent
The 5-foot-9 Taylor is averaging 22 points per game this season -- leading his squad early on. That average will probably dip as league play picks up but not do to any slippage in play by Taylor. If such a thing happens, it’s due to the fortunes of the 2010 Wildcats being recently bolstered by the addition of points producer Jabari Brown. Does that concern Taylor? Not at all.
"Jabari is a great talent and scorer so now I can be more of a point guard," Taylor said. That’s actually a personal bonus since colleges will be looking at him to man the point.
It’s really a win all-around since a greater number of recruiters will also now be attending more Oakland High contests.
As for Coach Kerry Keating and the Broncos, it’s a location still under consideration. Here’s Taylor on the subject: "I committed when I was very young. I haven’t eliminated Santa Clara at all but more a wanting to see what other options might be out there."
Asked if he had a sense of when a final decision will be made, Taylor offered, "I don’t know. It depends on who is out there and who offers."
What remains in concrete is what Taylor wants collegiately. "I want to be at a school that is strong academically because academics comes first in my family. As for basketball, I’d like it to be a coach I can relate to and talk with and a program that wins and gets to the tournament."
Most predictions are generally worthless but we’ll definitely stand by this one: the various cell phone companies are going to benefit greatly by Taylor’s recent decision as a bevy of college coaches will now quickly add another phone number to their list of contacts.
By the way, the Wildcats won a close one 65-63 at Castlemont on Tuesday, keeping them undefeated since Brown’s enrollment.