Choosing to become another or a program maker

Budding high school basketball talents of all levels, especially here in California, dream of heading to Arizona or UCLA and now, San Diego State. These are either perennial national title contenders or, in the case of the Aztecs, a trendy newcomer to the big time.

Nobody with options, especially a so-called bluechipper, considers heading to this or that school, a place where mediocrity, or ups-and-downs, are a roundball staple. There's no consideration given for seizing the opportunity to become the face of one of these teams, the force who (hopefully) turned around a program and made it a winning one. Even going with a successful school but one never talked about when national titles are discussed is not a possibility.

Yes, being at an Arizona will garner gobs of television facetime, the facilities are extremely plush and the chances to contend for a national championship far, far greater (we'll ignore the influence of shoe sponsorship for now). But a talent at a perennial contender will be one of many and often a nice complement rather than a standout or THE standout one.

The decision to go 'big' is more comprehensible for one-and-dones because it's having a single shot to win the Big Dance versus a sole season at a heretofore program receiving minimal attention.

But at say a UC Santa Barbara or a UC Irvine, the outlook for a three or four-year player is of becoming The M-A-N, a Mr. Basketball of that school, emblazoned as the player who elevated the status of a program, and that is a forever stellar association.

Granted the latter is certainly a more chancy proposition as recruitment may or may not go upward as a result of your signing and thus those surrounding teammates simply make you the target of double and triple-teaming or specialized defenses. Plus the odds of a coaching change sometime during the next four years are higher at this level.

Making a decision of this importance at 17 years of age does not lend itself to Solomon-like thinking. It would take a very special young man and set of parents to forego the glitz, the national media coverage and an almost guarantee of team success by choosing the heavy lifting.

But here's hoping someone, a trailblazer, gives it a shot just to see what happens.