With the deadline of signing day approaching, the parts of the Big 12 still await decisions from late-choosing 2011 high school prospects. While Trevor Lacey's commitment to stay home and attend Alabama was the biggest story of the day and DeAndre Daniels will steal the spotlight tomorrow with Texas and Kansas still on his list, Kansas picked up a commitment from 6'7 Jamari Traylor. Traylor is probably not an instant impact player, but he's an athletic body that might contribute a few minutes in a fairly shallow frontcourt for the Jayhawks next season.
Traylor is ranked 141 by Rivals, and 32 at the power forward position by Scout.
Unlike Traylor Daniels, a consensus five-star recruit, has the potential to be an instant impact player on the wing for whatever team he chooses. Daniels and Traylor are teammates at IMG Academy, which could influence Daniels' decision (though rumors seem to point to Daniels going to Texas). But it's the high school's direct connection to the corporation, IMG that caught CBSSports' Dennis Dodd's attention:
OK, I'll ask the question: Is IMG steering kids who attend their "academies" to coaches who are repped by IMG?
Some quick research confirmed that Bill Self is in fact represented by IMG (he's listed here as an example). Now, one player going to play for Self certainly doesn't reflect a statistically significant trend. This summer, I'll try to do a more comprehensive analysis (that includes all of the college coaches represented by IMG), but for now I think it's valuable to think about the conflict of interest represented by having a major sports marketing corporation fund a high school.
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