Monday, June 15 was the first day Division 1 men’s basketball college coaches could begin unlimited contact – telephone and electronic – with rising high school juniors. It is an important day, and a hyped one in which coaches often contact recruits after midnight to express interest. For St. Anne’s-Belfield (Charlottesville, VA) star rising junior Justin Taylor, the experience lived up to the hype.

“It was crazier than I expected,” said Taylor, a 6’6”, 200-pound small forward who led the Saints to the VISAA Division 1 quarterfinals last season. “I didn’t expect so many coaches to contact me at midnight. It was a busy day but fun to talk to a lot of coaches. Throughout the day it was pretty busy.”

On June 14, Taylor boasted scholarship offers from Virginia Tech, George Washington, Old Dominion, Liberty and James Madison. Tech’s offer was given on June 14. The wave of interest brought in five new scholarship offers for the sharp-shooting Taylor, who is ranked by 247Sports and Rivals.com as a 4-star prospect and the no. 53 overall rising junior in the nation.

Maryland, a school Taylor has visited before, was one of the five offers with Marquette, NC State, St. Joseph’s and Bryant rounding out the list. Taylor explained that he had been in contact with coaches from most of those schools prior to June 15. Marquette was unexpected as Taylor had no previous contact from the coaches there.

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