Kylen Milton is transferring from WKU. Never heard of the kid, but he is originally from Monticello, Arkansas. Went to a prep school in Ga. and averaged 23 points a game. Played very little at WKU, but Rivals had him as a 3 star when he originally signed. Certainly doesn't have the "pizazz" of some of the other Arkansas kids that went to the portal, but he may be one to keep an eye on. Hate to compliment a team that chose to leave the Sun Belt, but I would love to have a program as highly regarded as Western Kentucky and they were apparently impressed enough to offer him a scholarship.
(04-20-2021 08:21 PM)mjs Wrote: [ -> ]Kylen Milton is transferring from WKU. Never heard of the kid, but he is originally from Monticello, Arkansas. Went to a prep school in Ga. and averaged 23 points a game. Played very little at WKU, but Rivals had him as a 3 star when he original signed. Certainly doesn't have the "pizazz" of some of the other Arkansas kids that went to the portal, but he may be one to keep an eye on. Hate to compliment a team that chose to leave the Sun Belt, but I would love to have a program as high regarded as Western Kentucky and they were apparently impressed enough to offer him a scholarship.
While he is listed as being from Monticello, he apparently played at Conway High School. So he must have resided in Central Arkansas. I would think UCA would be very interested.
Mickey, in your experience, do most college athletes want to be close to home so their friends and family can see them play, or do they want to move away to have a new perspective in their lives? Does the "being close to home" factor have any lure to athletes? I could not say.
(04-21-2021 07:33 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]Mickey, in your experience, do most college athletes want to be close to home so their friends and family can see them play, or do they want to move away to have a new perspective in their lives? Does the "being close to home" factor have any lure to athletes? I could not say.
From my observation, college athletes are pretty much like all students concerning whether close to home matters or not. The only difference I can see is that some want to be close enough so their family can see some of their games. But otherwise, like all other students. Some want to be close to home and some would rather see something different!
The biggest factor for basketball players is level- ie- the pecking order of the programs from Power 5 on down.
I don't have any insight on whether college athletes would rather end up close to home or not. I would say they are each individuals, who have different feelings about this issue, just like any other student. My 2 boys were not athletes, but I think both of them, and their parents, believed that going out of State would be good for their growth and development. I'm sure many parents would love to have their kids, who are college athletes, close so they could watch them play. Although I think this too has changed, to some degree, with just about everything available to watch on the internet these days.
I guess my thought on the transfers, who are originally from Little Rock, is that they may be ready to come home after being away didn't work out the way they hoped. But, again this decision will vary from one kid to another. Some of certainly missed home, while others are happy to be away. At this point, we haven't seen one Little Rock player in the portal, come back to LR. With over 1400 players in the portal, most of whom I no nothing about, I just figured it was worth keeping an eye on the 5 or 6 kids originally from here. I really don't care where our players come from, but if LR kids want to come home we are the natural choice.
My college experience may have been somewhat atypical. I was married after my sophomore year, and had a child before my second senior year, and we had no money, so there was a strong pull for us to stay fairly close to home.
Personally, I never considered staying in Arkansas when looking for colleges. I thought there was more opportunity in another state and would help me learn general adulthood (independence, self-care, etc) better. Now I know some kids who wanted to stay close to family because they easily got home sick and also because it was cheaper. However, there were kids like me who wanted to see another part of the country and go learn on our own for awhile. Both have their benefits and their disadvantages but it ultimately comes down to what kind of person you are. I know college athletes may have a different view on this since some of them aspire to become professional athletes and that may require some sacrifice, but they think about whether they want to be close to home or not too.
(04-21-2021 12:20 PM)TrojanTeen2 Wrote: [ -> ]Personally, I never considered staying in Arkansas when looking for colleges. I thought there was more opportunity in another state and would help me learn general adulthood (independence, self-care, etc) better. Now I know some kids who wanted to stay close to family because they easily got home sick and also because it was cheaper. However, there were kids like me who wanted to see another part of the country and go learn on our own for awhile. Both have their benefits and their disadvantages but it ultimately comes down to what kind of person you are. I know college athletes may have a different view on this since some of them aspire to become professional athletes and that may require some sacrifice, but they think about whether they want to be close to home or not too.
Like you, my kids never considered staying in State. Neither applied to an in-State school. Obviously, finances play a role for many folks and staying in State is typically much more economical. Luckily, we had the funds to send our kids out of State, although these funds were far from unlimited. Thus, they chose public over private schools, as well as schools that provided some scholarship money.