Frankly, folks, this is remarkable. Former Monmouth University men’s basketball player Travis Taylor was supposed to be heading to Boston College to play basketball in the fall. Well, the word on the street is that the plan to go to BC isn’t going to happen after all. Below is a portion of an entry from The Hawks Nest blog which talks about the reason why the plan wound up falling apart.
Former Monmouth forward Travis Taylor is now back on the market and won’t attend Boston College.
I’m hearing BC wasn’t aware that Taylor had been suspended for seven games last season for “violating team rules.” Really? How do you not know that?
Anyway, the 6-foot-7 Taylor, a Union, N.J. native, will visit Xavier Tuesday and is also considering Miami, Cincinnati and Arizona State.
“Travis and his family want to utilize the three remaining official visits he has left before he makes a decision,” a source with knowledge said. “Considering we’re about to enter the second live period this could drag into August.”
Taylor averaged 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds last season.
Boston College Says No
Second, let me echo what the Asbury Park Press’ Tony Graham wrote above – how did Boston College NOT know that Taylor was suspended for seven games in the middle of last season?! Really? They didn’t know that? Who does the recruiting up there? Were they asleep at the wheel? I don’t know the details of the situation, but one could make a strong argument that the primary reason why Taylor is leaving Monmouth is because of that suspension. So did the recruiter at Boston College say, “Why are leaving Monmouth?” and accept a generic answer like, “I’m trying to raise my profile?”
I mean come on!
And finally, I wanted to repost a comment that someone named redskin22 posted on The Hawks Nest blog:
This is very sad- Ego’s is what this move is all about. The damage that his mom and mentor have done to this kid is unbelievable.
Has far as taking him back to MU – No Way!!!! He, his mom and his mentor have burn that bridge. This is what happens when people who think they know college basketball get a hold of a kid. they screw it up almost always.
Look, I don’t know what the core reason was for Taylor wanting to leave Monmouth. There were rumors that Dave Calloway’s coaching style was too aggressive for most of the players and that he treated them like kids rather than young adults. Who knows if that is true other than the players? The comment above suggests that Taylor’s Mom wanted him out of the program – who has anyway of knowing if that is true besides Mrs. Taylor and her son? Was it Taylor’s “mentor” that brought the Mom and son delusions of grandeur? No one can know for sure.
What we do know at this point is this: Taylor was suspended for seven games in the middle of the season for violating team rules. The rumors suggest that it had something to do with smoking some weed, which was a very poor decision on Taylor’s behalf as it negatively impacted his teammates during the season, the health of his team after the season ended, and his own character in the college basketball world (as the Boston College story above represents). What we can all, I think, safely speculate at this point is that this was a tremendously bad decision on Taylor’s part and that it probably wasn’t worth the few hours of a high that he may have received from smoking up.
Then again, are we now expecting college kids to consistently act with the type of responsibility that we expect from ourselves as adults? I sure hope not because the vast majority of college kids don’t take into account what impact their actions have on tomorrow, let alone what impact those actions will have on their character a few months afterward!
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