St. Anthony's Taylor to Ask for Release from Marquette

St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said he plans to ask Marquette to release senior guard Tyshawn Taylor from his Letter of Intent now that Tom Crean is set to take over the Indiana job.

"I would like the opportunity to have him released from his scholarship in the event that we don't like who's hired," Hurley said Tuesday night after his team was honored at the 76ers-Nets game for winning the New Jersey Tournament of Champions.

Hurley said he had already received phone calls from Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech inquiring about Taylor, a first-team All-State selection who averaged 15 points in two T of C games. The 6-foot-3 Taylor, ranked No. 21 among point guards in the Class of 2008, initially chose Marquette over Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. Kansas was also involved.

"They (Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech) would be right there because there's a comfort level," Hurley said.  "He visited both of those places."

Hurley said both Rutgers and Seton Hall were probably set at the point guard position for next year, and he did not expect them to be in the mix. Additionally, rules prohibit a player from signing a Letter of Intent with a second school from the same conference after a first Letter has been signed.

Hurley said Taylor was understandably "confused" about the situation with Marquette, and that Taylor had initially chosen Marquette because of Crean.

"Yes, he liked the school but there's no doubt that the decision was based on Tom Crean," Hurley said.

"It came as a big surprise," Taylor said of the Crean news.

Crean had not called Taylor as of Tuesday night, and Hurley explained that the coach would probably first meet with his Marquette players and then inform recruits.

Hurley, the Naismith Boys High School National Coach of the Year, added that it was "ridiculous" that coaches were permitted to change schools, but that teenage student-athletes were bound to their Letters of Intent. Some student-athletes, such as Devin Ebanks of St. Thomas More, apparently had provisions in their Letters of Intent allowing them to escape if there was a coaching change. Ebanks is looking at Rutgers, Memphis, Texas and West Virginia now that Kelvin Sampson is out at Indiana after repeated recruiting violations.

"This thing of a National Letter of Intent binding a minor is absolutely ridiculous," Hurley said.

Hurley said he planned to attend the Final  Four this weekend and speak to some people there to learn more about the Marquette situation.

"I'm going to find out what the feeling is about what Marquette will do," Hurley said.

Asked if Marquette still had a chance to keep Taylor, Hurley said: "They're going to have to re-recruit him. I'm going to have to really know this guy (the new coach) well."

Comments

[Dre]

With the salary Marquette has been willing to throw around under Fr. Wild at Marquette, they should be able to quickly attract solid candidates.

Given the absolute destruction of the Indiana roster, one would think Crean would be looking to either "re-recruit" Holloway or recruit Taylor to play the point.

With Mo Miller and Iman Shumpert (ignoring Hewitt's job security at GT), it would look like Va Tech might offer the better option of those two.

[1oldshu]

Adam,

Any chance Taylor would look at Seton Hall? I know Bobby G. publicly states that Jordan Theodore is top senior PG in NJ, but Taylor seems to be a better prospect according to the "experts". (DRE-please don't waste space responding with your monotonous Jersey hate drivel.)

[TripleRLtd]

He won't be able to sign with another BE school...unless he wants to sit for a couple of years oldshu.

[RUrising]

oldshu-

Where did you get the impression that DRE/phonyoldschool/rub-ball was anti-NJ? Don't his opinions seem very objective? I mean, his calling Fred Hill a "used-car salesman" was by no means "personal", right?? And bashing Danny Hurley about "sabotaging his career by choosing Seton Hall", what's so "personal" there?

No, the DRE personality of rub-ball/phonyoldschool is a very good read I think.

[Dre]

"RUrising,"

1)I never referred to Freddie Hill as anything other than "a nice man."

2)These other people that you endlessly try to associate me with are, in no way, shape, or form, connected to me. Unless you would like for me to address you by alternative names, please discontinue making this mistake.

[RUrising]

Delusions of grandeur, gentlemen.
No one outside of New Jersey views Rutgers as anything more than a punchline. Fred Hill is a nice guy and salesman...Mike Rosario, athlete-"student," will be a fine addition to that unique campus and culture.
Posted by: Dre | March 25, 2008 at 02:36 PM

It’s one thing for Danny Hurley to sabotage himself by selecting an average Catholic university and basketball program....Clearly, the next time people will have to dismiss Hurley when he wants to pretend that one of his athletes
Is actually concerned with academics.
Posted by: Dre | March 24, 2008 at 11:40 PM

Just a brief refresher Dr.E...

And your degrees are from which colleges again? And I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings about rub-ball/phonyoldschool, so please don't call me any names...

[lengend]

I think if the kid has not attended the school at any point then he or she should not be required to attend the school or sit out a yr should the coach leave before they get there. Also in this case the rule should not prohibit the kid from going to another school in the conference if the student has not taken a class there already, only from going to the school the coach is now at. Considering how big the big east they are a lot of schools that would have loved to take tyshawn. He would fit perfect in systems like louisville, gtown, and west virginia. Since he cant go to a big east school I think he would be a star at USC if mayo leaves. They play no defense out west so he would shut down alot of bums out there.

[TripleRLtd]

I agree with you lengend about the BE LOI/transfer policy. That said, the rules/by laws are set in stone. Let's see if there is some sort of compromise, or updating of said rules.