Just like his sophomore year at Compton High School, barely scraping by in the Southern California League, by his junior year, after two months he realized he could be arrogant, he went as wild as he could...
There are no walls that don’t let wind pass through, and before long, the word had spread.
Tatum, who has a bigger mouth than Tam!
Zhang Yang didn’t blame Tatum; after all, his teammate was known for being loose-lipped, and besides, he hadn’t told him not to share.
However, the feedback he received after the news spread was beyond his expectations.
He had thought that having just finished his junior year, and skipping his senior year, the colleges wouldn’t be that interested. Yet, no sooner had the information leaked than their school’s phone was nearly exploding. Even his mom called to say that many colleges had contacted their home, and some college coaches wanted to schedule home visits...
The gap between what Zhang Yang had expected and the actual situation could be "blamed" on NCAA regulations.
College teams could contact high school players, but only if they were seniors.
Not only was contact prohibited, but college teams weren’t even allowed to evaluate players below the senior level.
If they did, they faced fines, and if the player joined that college later, it might trigger a suspension clause.
Even when Farmar almost skipped a level to join UCLA in the summer of 2003, no direct contact was made. UCLA merely made a statement during an interview to avoid breaking the rules.
Over the past few months, Zhang Yang had been keeping an eye on which colleges were recruiting high school students. He had never seen his name pop up because of this rule.
Thomas hadn’t mentioned this to Zhang Yang because the colleges Zhang Yang was interested in—Stanford, USC, UCLA, University of Arizona—all had connections with people Thomas knew. Given Zhang Yang’s talent, any college he recommended would surely agree.
Zhang Yang’s situation was different from Farmar’s; his SAT scores were already out, and he had officially applied to Compton High School for early graduation. It wouldn’t break any rules for college teams to contact him now.
Facing this situation, Zhang Yang... was so glad he hadn’t casually handed out his cell phone number, or his phone would have been bombarded too!
Now, he was suffering from decision paralysis. Originally targeting colleges in and around California, he thought only local colleges would be interested in someone skipping a grade. But now, North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky... all had contacted his school with requests for calls. North Carolina, having just lost four minor players, even wanted to pay a visit...
Just as he was caught up in this dilemma, someone brought him a new, terrifying option.
On April 10, a Sunday, Zhang Yang was at the school’s sports field watching a women’s volleyball match.
Usually, when he watched women’s volleyball, he was very focused—the ball going straight... no, the striking power... no, in any case, women’s volleyball was more pleasing to watch than women’s basketball!
But today, he was distracted, struggling with where to go.
USC had many upperclassmen, UCLA had Farmar and Afflalo, Kentucky was said to have the strongest player development, North Carolina had a legacy of airborne greats, and Duke’s tactics were also good, plus McRoberts as a helper...
At that moment, a man sat down next to him and handed out a business card, "Jack, sorry to disturb your game-watching, but I’m Arn Tellem, a professional agent. You might not know who I am, but you’ve definitely heard of a high school player I signed in 1996. His name is Kobe Bryant..."
Today 11,000 words, seeking monthly tickets and recommendation tickets!