Worried, disappointed, nervous

Always disappointing to hear that an athlete you have a vested interest in is selling out somewhat.  I wrote about Brett Favre the other day; well this one is a bit different.  I'm going to move from the pros to the high school ranks, from the Minnesota Vikings to the Thurgood Marshall Cougars, where junior Juwan Staten has announced he will be transferring to play for Oak Hill Academy next season.  Staten is one of the top point guards in the nation, which is why he will be trying his hand at playing for the perennial powerhouse in Virginia.  Why do I care?  Because Staten has verbally committed to play for Dayton starting in 2010-2011.  So what right? Sounds good.  Well, now I'm not so convinced that the Flyers' prized recruit is going to come, and I'm not sure that he is who I thought he was anyway.

Oak Hill Academy is not your average high school.  It recruits players from all across the nation.  I guess my main problem is this:  High school sports to me are still about the school, pride, and enjoying playing the sport.  College sports and even professional sports used to be like this too.  Gone are the days when a team would have the same group of guys playing together for 10 years, and gone are the days when star players would stay at colleges for four years.  The Florida Gators of a few years ago that won it two years in a row are probably the last team we will ever see with the same group of guys playing together for very long.  I suppose the natural progression is that this trend would continue to high school, but I was hoping it would at least take longer.  Instead we have schools like Oak Hill that have brought the world of recruiting and transferring to high school.  It is not a good thing in my opinion.

Now, Staten says he is still coming to UD, but I'm not going to hold my breath.  In the world of high school sports, Oak Hill is the New York or Los Angeles to any high school in Dayton's, well, Dayton I suppose.  It's more exciting.  It's glamorous.  Thurgood Marshall was probably fun, but not like Oak Hill will be.  I sure hope that Staten decides to stick to his what he is saying now.  I'm just saying that there is a lot he doesn't know about in the world, and he is going to be exposed to all of that now.  Thurgood Marshall does not travel nearly as much as Oak Hill Academy.  UD does not travel nearly as much as some of the bigger schools that will surely start to recruit Staten more heavily now that they have heard about his move.  Neither Thurgood Marshall nor UD garners much national attention; Oak Hill and bigger, more prestigious basketball schools do.  You get the picture.

I was hoping that Staten would see his opportunity to do something special at a smaller school.  Something similar to what he could do at UD--win an A-10 title, maybe make some noise in an NCAA tournament a year or two.  The reality is he's not going to win a national title if he goes to UD.  That's the reality at Thurgood Marshall too.  There is no national implications or USA Today notoriety to be gained there.  But there is the possibility of carrying his team to a state title, something Staten just missed out on this past year.  He scored 25 points, but they fell short of winning the game.  Deciding not to come back the next year just doesn't seem quite right to me.  If you've committed to a school, what more could you want than to win a state title?  Going to Oak Hill just seems like he's looking to get his name and play out there for the rest of the nation to see.  I hope I'm wrong.