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SoCalHoops High School & Prep News

Taj McDavid's Eligibility Restored By NCAA--(June 30, 1998)

Taj "Red" McDavid (6'-6" ??? F), who many said had actually counselled (at least that was the implication in an LA Times story) with Ellis Richardson, this year's latest high school player not to be drafted into the NBA, has had his eligibility restored by the NCAA. He told the committee that reinstated him that he had never met with an agent, and didn't know that he needed to reapply to have his eligibility restored.

According to published reports by the Associated Press, the former Palmetto High School star, passed over in the 1996 NBA draft was "doomed to become an example of how not to turn pro". Instead, he now becomes "the first prep player to regain his NCAA eligibility."

The terms of the restored eligibility are that he must sit out a year. After the one year, he'll still have another three years to play. So he can play college ball until, let's say, he's 24 or 25. . . unless, of course, he goes to the NBA after proving that he really can play ball. For Ellis Richardson, we don't really expect that we'll be hearing anything for the next year or so, and then only if he decides to eventually go to college.

McDavid will play for NCAA Division II school Anderson College in Anderson South Carolina.

McDavid made the game look pretty easy in high school, where he averaged almost 26 ppg, more than 12 rpg and four blocked shots per game in his senior year. But he turned out not to be Kobe Bryant or Jermaine O'Neal, both of whom were drafted. According to the AP story, on draft day, McDavid sat by his mother's phone waiting for teams to call, telling reporters he could play shooting guard or point guard in the NBA. "That's what it's about for me. ... Following my dream now, instead of a few years from now," he said in 1996.

But he wasn't drafted, and drifted into obscurity, becoming more of a trivia question for this year's hopefuls who likewise weren't drafted either. Like Richardson.

The AP story put it thusly:

"Ever since, McDavid has become the often cited example for those against high school players skipping college. Draft stories on this year's crop of four prep NBA hopefuls warned them not to be 'the next Taj McDavid.' A South Carolina columnist last week said McDavid 'wasn't even a good junior college prospect.' "

McDavid did issue a statement saying that he was pleased with the decision, also saying about his attempt at the draft: "If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't have entered the draft in the first place."

Carrie Doyle, the NCAA director of student-athlete reinstatement told the Associated Press that she didn't think it was a "precedent-setting decision or that it sent a message to other high school stars eager to see if they can get drafted."

"This is just one young man, one set of circumstances," she said. "If the membership sees this decision and is concerned about the reaction from it, the committee is going to modify it next time."

We'll see what happens when and if Richardson decides to reapply himself.