Basketball Feature/Commitment

The "Has anyone really worked with you" thread inspired me to post another article for the writer's workshop. All comments are appreciated.

It's Kansas After All
St. Anthony's Taylor will play with national champs

JERSEY CITY - Consider it a second chance for Tyshawn Taylor.

Less than one month after earning his release from Marquette, the St. Anthony standout announced yesterday that he will attend the University of Kansas next season.

"It was tough, but I felt like I had a second chance at life," said Taylor. "That I could put myself in a better situation than I was the first time. I love Marquette, but now I'm in a better situation than when I started off."

Taylor is the fourth high school player from New Jersey who will be joining the defending national champions. Winning titles aren't the only thing that the Jayhawks and Friars have in common. Other similarities were part of the appeal of Kansas.

"They play a lot like us," St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said. "They're a man-to-man defensive team. They play pretty fast. They rotate players so you can come off the bench and you're going to play. They play a player-friendly style."

Yesterday's announcement concludes a stressful period when Taylor's basketball future was in limbo. Back on November 14, Taylor signed his letter of intent to play with Marquette. But when former Golden Eagles head coach Tom Crean left the school to become the coach at Indiana University on April 1, Taylor wanted to explore other options.

"It's a part of the business in college, but it always affects the kid," Hurley said. "There are no safeguards for the kid other than to get the team to release (him) and after a period of time, they did release him. But it still makes for additional confusion that you didn't expect to happen."

Having Taylor's future in doubt took a toll on Tyshawn and his entire family.

"It was miserable. It was like a world war in the house," said Taylor's mother Jeanell Taylor. "He felt like he lost his best friend. He just was down, he didn't know what he was going to do."

Tyshawn was officially granted his release from Marquette on April 17. Now a free agent, the offers came in from many schools, including Kansas, Florida, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. The Jayhawks were interested in Taylor last summer before he committed to Marquette. After visiting Kansas last week, he knew that the Lawrence-based school was the place for him.

"Kansas is beautiful," Taylor said. "Coach (Bill) Self, I think is going to be a hall-of-fame coach some day. The guys were cool, I really liked the guys. The whole experience was unbelievable."

There is culture shock that can come with moving more than 1,200 miles away from home, but that is not a concern for Taylor who admitted that "there's only one Jersey City."

Getting playing time right away with the national college champs is also not a concern for Taylor. Two of Kansas' starting guards - Brandon Rush and Russell Robinson - will not be back next year and the other starting guard, Mario Chalmers, might also leave for the NBA. With as few as four players returning, the opportunity is there for Taylor to make an immediate impact on the court.

"(It's) a big factor," Taylor said. "I feel like I could move right in and play a lot of minutes. Even if Mario comes back, I have to compete, but I still feel like I can play a lot of minutes."

Taylor may not know how much time he'll see on the court next winter, but at least he now knows where he'll be spending the next four years. He feels like he's grown from the experience the past few stressful weeks had presented.

"I feel like it made me a stronger person," Taylor said. "I felt like it was really tough, but I dealt with it pretty good so it made me a stronger person.

"(I have) no regrets." he added. "I felt like I had a second chance at life. It wasn't a mistake I made, but things just happen."

 

Liked everything except for the lead. For some reason, I'm not getting the connection between a second chance and going to Kansas, since he didn't blow his first chance.

This sentence is also awkward:

Having Taylor's future in doubt took a toll on Tyshawn and his entire family.

You could have rewritten it has: The uncertainty surround Taylor's situation eventually took a toll. And effects weren't limited to him as his entire family noticed something was amiss.

One last thing. You switch between using Tyshawn and Taylor. Stick with one throughout.

 

Thanks for the comments. In the lead, by "second chance" it was in reference to going through the recruiting process a second time.