It was not quite the week that Thaddeus Young expected, when he accepted the
invitation as one of 33 top high school players to participate USA Basketball's
2005 USA Development Festival and International Sports Invitational.
This year's festival allowed Young and others to compete against some of the
most elite domestic talents in the 2006 and 2007 classes, as well as
international competition against top junior players from Russia, China, Canada
and New Zealand. This is how the best get better, and that is a scary
thought for the already dominant 6'8" 208-pound small forward.
Scout.com currently ranks Young #2 in the nation at his position and #5
among all players in the 2006 class.
After an opening few days of practices, the Memphis (Tenn.) man and his Team
USA Blue were the last of the three American squads to play their first game.
They ripped New Zealand to shreds Wednesday evening, 188-57, with a pressure defense and athletic
attack in transition. In an impressive display on both ends of the floor
by Team USA Blue, there may have been no player more impressive than Young.
But his game and tournament were quickly cut short early in the third quarter
when he twisted his body awkwardly upon a collision with one Kiwi. Young
suffered a second-degree ankle sprain. He was officially listed as "day to
day" by USA Basketball officials but had no chance of returning to the floor for
what was still the bulk of his team's tournament. Team USA Blue went all
the way to the gold medal game before dropping to a loaded Team USA White, and
observers could not help but wonder what difference Young might have made in the
championship.
The athletic forward is an explosive but fluid leaper who can rebound and
score in heavy traffic around the rim, and the matchup becomes only more
difficult away from the basket with Young's improving shooting touch.
Though he played just a couple minutes past halftime in his team's opening game
Wednesday night, Young was dominant with 16 points in 16 minutes on 6-of-9
shooting, including 1-of-1 outside the arc and 3-of-3 at the free throw line.
The lefty's brief performance was titillating and sensational, leaving us hungry
for more. Any normal kid who traveled across the country for this event
would have been despondent and disgruntled, but Young kept a smile on his face
as he meandered the San Diego State campus the remaining several days on
crutches.
"I've been basically enjoying the entire event," he told The Bootleg
in an interview Thursday night. "Most of the best guys in my class are
here - playing with and against them. I don't see too many of the same
guys any other time of the year."
"It's great just to be in the U.S. Last year I was in Germany," he
adds. Young was part of the U.S. team that traveled last April to
Mannheim, Germany to play in the Albert Schweitzer Basketball Tournament.
That trip took him off American soil for the important AAU events during the
April evaluation period, which limited his exposure. He then spent the
bulk of his summer at a top summer school enrichment program at the Taft School
in Connecticut, with studies ranging from chemistry to creative writing.
College coaches and recruiting scouts shook their collective fist at the sky
at the lost opportunities to watch Young much of last spring and summer.
There was one tantalizing appearance for the Memphis underclassman at the
AAU Nationals in Orlando (Fla.) the last week of the July period. Despite
his lack of exposure, Young has suffered no hiccup in his recruitment or
rankings. He has more scholarship offers than he can recite - estimating
between 40 and 50 at the end of his junior year.
"Right now I'm telling everybody the same as it's always been. It's all
open," Young declares, continuing his refusal to name any favorites among his
monster list of schools. "I don't know too much right now, to be honest."
35 of Scout.com's top 100 players in the 2006 have already concluded
their recruitment with commitments, and most of the remaining blue chip
prospects have whittled down their list to a narrow group of final favorites. In
contrast, Young has consistently welcomed the efforts of any serious suitor,
unconcerned and unhurried.
"Some people say it is late in recruiting. To me, it's early," he
proclaims. "Me and my dad and my cousin - we'll narrow the schools to a
top five or top seven at the end of July. Then I'll start to take visits
before my high school season starts."
With dozens of schools still permitted to recruit him, you can imagine the
volume and complexity of communications that Young and his family have been
receiving, including the in-school visits from college coaches.
Regrettably, this Mitchell High School star has seen little to differentiate the
mass of messages.
"Everybody came in and spoke with me, but nobody said anything different.
They all had about the same thing to say," Young laments. When asked if he
wished the schools had delivered more unique messages, the forward recruit lets
loose a roar of laughter, nodding his head vigorously.
No matter how you ask the question, you cannot pry anything resembling a
favorites list. The converse line of interrogation for any particular
school comes up snake eyes as well. But Young does have some comments on
the Cardinal, who have invested efforts recruiting the student-athlete.
"Stanford has been in contact. I last talked to them maybe two months
ago, but they send a lot of handwritten letters," he shares. "Right now, I
am taking every school into consideration."
Though a longshot for several reasons, Young has Stanford's attention as much
for his 4.3 GPA and top five class rank at Mitchell High School as his athletic
abilities. Memphis is a challenging area for Stanford admissions, but
Thaddeus Young is not your average student-athlete. Take for example how
he spent his Saturday in San Diego. Knowing in advance that it would be
the final day of the International Sports Invitational, with a likely spot in
the championship game, Young had the date circled on his calendar for other
reasons. In the weeks and months leading up to this event, the #5 recruit
in the nation made the phone calls and arrangements to have USA Basketball
facilitate the ACT test for him on Saturday. He was the only player among
the 33 in attendance to take the standardized test in San Diego, and it only
happened because of his initiative.
"I'm aiming for a high score," he said on Thursday. "I've been going to
nonstop prep classes and listening to recorded tapes."
Young says he has scored in the range of a 24 on his practice tests, which if
achieved on the actual ACT could make his recruiting relationship with the
Cardinal a little more interesting.
"If I got a high enough score for Stanford, I would probably have to consider
them pretty seriously," he allows.
Don't hold your breath, but don't sleep on Thaddeus Young. We'll check
back with the Memphis man in a few weeks for an update on his test score and the
resulting outlook for Trent Johnson and the Cardinal. The fab forward has a knack for surprises, as he continues to follow his own unique path.
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