Taylor King is having a tough time sticking around any college basketball program. Villanova announced that King would leave the program due to “personal reasons.”
Scuttlebutt around the internet suggests this isn’t really the case. Stories abound that King was a hard partier who didn’t take basketball seriously and may or may not have failed a drug test or two. There is also a story going around that he got in Jay’s doghouse by prank calling him (read: drunk dialing) in the middle of the night, something he did with Coach K as well. Overall, the sentiment is that he wasn’t a good influence on the team.
This explains a lot about King’s performance during the 2nd half of the year. King looked like a great addition to start to season, but averaged just 4 ppg over his final 16 games and shot 12 for 50 from 3-pt range. His drop in production definitely contributed to the very poor finish to the Nova season.
The good news is, Nova has enough talent next year that they can lose a rotation guy and still be OK. Here’s how I would project their rotation for next year.
G – Corey Fisher (Sr.)
G – Maalik Wayns (So.), Dominic Cheek (So.)
G – Corey Stokes (Sr.), James Bell (Fr.)
F – Antonio Pena (Sr.), Isaiah Armwood (So.), Jayvaughn Pinkston (Fr.)
F – Mouph Yarou (So.), Maurice Sutton (So.)
Good luck to him. This is a kid who committed to UCLA as a young teen, he was bound to get burned out and frankly I am surprised that it doesn’t happen more often with high profile D1 teams. When transferring from Duke to Nova didn’t keep the light going for the sport of basketball, it was probably the best move for him to walk away. I commend his difficult decision to walk away and finish his degree at the same school. I am sure it was a very difficult decision for him to make, regardless if underlying immaturity may have been a root cause.
Haha all I have to say is a karma is a bi*ch. I can’t tell you the number of Nova fans telling me Taylor King left Duke cause coach K is a prick.. and everything will be better and different at Nova for him… it had nothing to do with the fact he was a chain smoker with a piss poor attitude or anything. The Duke players hated him for his partying habits and lack of maturity. It looked especially bad when Nova whooped Duke last year with King’s goofy smile on the sideline. Well ive come to the conlusion that unless you have a rediclous amount of talent ala Kentucky last year… chemistry is by far and away the most important thing in college basketball. Taylor King hurt Dukes chemistry two years ago (although Paulus didn’t help it) and he absouletly hurt Novas chemistry this year… ( although the whole corey fischer scottie reynolds fiasco didn’t help) This past years Duke team wasn’t one of the most talented or athletic Duke teams but had amazing chemistry and thats a big part of the reason they won it all. This is absouletely addition by subtraction as Nova won’t have the distraction of Taylor King anymore.. no more wondering if his head will be in it.. no more headache for Jay Wright…. Nova just got better.
Another cover-up by Villanova’s basketball program. These coaches should be teaching a public relations course to undergrads. Anyone who would take the course would lose the 3 credits he got in ethics class.
Another cover-up? Do you think they’re going to burn a kid’s future by stating what truly happened? Why should they make it public? They gave him an option: withdraw from the team and be allowed to finish your collegiate career at Nova or transfer, or we are going to kick you off the team (potentially out of school) and it’s going to be made public. Kid took the best option that worked out for both him and the University. I’m assuming the comment comes from a St. Joe’s or Temple fan who is bitter about Villanova’s recent success.
Like Chuck said, this is definitely addition by subtraction. I personally am very disappointed in what happened with King, as I’ve been following him since H.S. (and was PISSED when he chose Duke – after he reopened his commitment). The kid had the talent to be a strong 6th-7th man on a championship caliber team and completely blew it. I get the desire to party in college, but Christ, wouldn’t the thought of potential NBA or European dollars make you think twice about going anywhere but the gym at night?
With the way last year ended for King, he was going to end up being one of the Cat’s last men off the bench. Now his minutes can be spread amongst the other forwards on the team. I hope this is a wake-up call for the rest of the guys; Nova ain’t your typical Basketball U school. They’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself (i.e. Reggie Redding), but you don’t have a pass to do what you want just because you’re a basketball player.
Nova ain’t your typical basketball school? V for Villanova! – - Very Voluminous and Velvety recruiting. The one atypical aspect of the basketball-proud school is its relatively small size. In most other respects, it’s business as basketball factory-usual. Sanctimonious Stance annually plays center.
as someone who watched taylor king since his duke days, i always loved him because of the fact that i thought he’d step in for JJ as the 3-point sharpshooter. Now, my next-door neighbor was a sophomore at nova next year and he had some pretty interesting stories about King as well as Scottie Reynolds. As someone who is going to Nova next year, i’m a little disapointed that king wont be there ( i love 3-point shooters), but they are still going to be a solid team.
This is a late post but I just saw the article.
I’m glad King is gone. He played well at times, but his excessive fouling was a serious problem. Once his shoit stopped falling he wasnt helping the team much except mfor some tight defense down low.
I really like the Nova team this yr. Its great they have a little bit more of a set rotation. I agree with the starting lineup and depth chart (except the new guys that havent formed an identity here yet).
I wouldnt be surprised if Cheek takes a lot of playing time from stokes. Stokes and seemed disinterested when the game got a little tighter. Cheeks is a great defender. I also wouldnt be surpised if Sutton really picks his game up. This is yr 3 and his size alone is unique and a luxury for a nova team.
Nova might won this yr by subtraction (King, Redding and Stokes made for some bad chemistry last yr).