ABCD CAMP
Chris Taft has had enough of New York.
“I don’t like it here,” said the 6-foot-9½ Taft, who will be a junior at Xaverian. “I’d rather be down south somewhere.”
That’s likely where he will wind up after high school. Two months ago, Taft’s mother moved down to Savannah, Ga., and he now lives with his grandmother in Brooklyn. The only reason he stayed here was because of Xaverian.
“I know it’s a good school and so does my mother,” Taft said at the adidas ABCD Camp at Fairleigh Dickinson in Hackensack. “But after I finish there, I’m definitely going somewhere else.”
He likely will have his pick of where he wants to go. Taft, who is 16, has grown nearly two inches since the basketball season and was one of the top players in the CHSAA as a sophomore. And he understands that this camp can further his hopes.
“I was nervous at first, especially when I saw all the coaches here,” said Taft. “They inspire me, but once you get there, for some reason, you don’t even think about them.”
Rest assured, they are thinking about Taft. He already has three schools that he is interested in: North Carolina, Duke and Cincinnati.
How do the Bearcats sneak in with UNC and Duke?
“I always liked their uniforms,” said Taft.
Another player who is considering traveling to Tobacco Road is Bishop Loughlin’s Curtis Sumpter, who will be a senior. And while many prospects like the style of play at camps like this one because they give players a lot of freedom, Sumpter isn’t high on it.
“It’s tough, because everyone is trying to shine,” said the 6-foot-7 Sumpter, who has drawn interest from schools like UNC, Villanova and Louisville, among others in the major conferences.
“I’m versatile, so it’s easy to overlook someone like me,” Sumpter said. “It doesn’t go to my strengths. I guess I have learn to be mean, but that’s not my personality. I can’t just learn to be a beast on the court.”