Young Going for the Legend

There's a scene in The Sandlot when Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez is contemplating the difficult decision on how to retrieve a baseball signed by Babe Ruth that was knocked over the fence of a mysterious "beast."

"The Great Bambino" himself appears in Benny's bedroom and lends this pearl of wisdom to the undecided youth:

"Remember kid, there's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die."

By committing to Oklahoma, 2017 Norman (Okla.) North five-star point guard Trae Young has now put himself into position to become of the Sooner State's favorite sons and is the most popular basketball player in the state not named Russell Westbrook.

The temptation was there for Young.

Traditional basketball powerhouses like Kentucky, Kansas, and Duke all made strong pushes to land one of the nation's elite scorers, but it was ultimately his longtime relationship with Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger and assistant coach Chris Crutchfield that gave the Sooners the edge.

Bill Self and John Calipari argued their track record of getting guys to the NBA quickly, but it was she Sooners who sold the local five-star that their roster and style of play would be tailor-made to his talents. Expect OU to hand the keys over to Young and let him set the tone for their young, talented roster until he's personally ready to take the next step.

That kind of longterm attention and investment is one of the perks for the nation's No. 14 overall player staying close to home. Oklahoma did an effective job throughout the recruiting process of convincing Young of how committed they are to making him as successful as he could possibly be - a luxury not necessarily available at every school, something Young may have noticed if he looked at the state's history of five-star basketball recruits.

Despite being the lowest ranked of the five-stars the state has produced, Blake Griffin found by far the most success among the group. Looking at the three that left the state, you can see the pressures top recruits feel at these blue bloods to move on or get out of the way for the next group. J.R. Giddens transferred out of Lawrence after two seasons, while both Xavier Henry and Daniel Orton left for the NBA after one season without reaching their maximum value.

The window for Young's success at Oklahoma has no expiration date. He'll join two of the Big 12's best true freshmen from 2016-17 in Kameron McGusty and Kristian Doolittle, so if he is not a one-and-done, the Norman North star would still have McGusty, Doolittle, Rashard Odomes, and Jamuni McNeace to fill out the starting lineup. Khadeem Lattin will also be a senior for Young's freshman season. He'll also be joined by fellow class of 2017 members Harrah (Okla.) Rivals150 power forward Brady Manek and 6-foot-11, 265-pound Helsinki (Finland) Basketball Academy center Hannes Pöllä. Both Manek and Pöllä will join Matthew Freeman as offensive threats in the front-court, while Lattin and McNeace provide a defensive presence.

Even just making the NCAA tournament as a freshman will endear Young to OU fans who just endured the program's worst season since Billy Tubbs' first year in 1980-81. Without Young, most Oklahoma fans would have been probably taken an NIT birth in 2018. With Young, Sooner nation's imagination and excitement in their basketball team will come flooding back.

That's because Young, like Griffin and Hield before him, is not only a great player, he's an entertainer. Griffin not only led his team to a 30-win season and Elite Eight with 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds per game, he did so with a high-flying, powerful gusto that made him a regular in SportsCenter's Top 10. Hield led OU to the school's fifth Final Four with a flurry of threes as the nation's top scorer and did so with an infectious smile and personality.

Like those unanimous national players of the year, when Young take the court at the Lloyd Noble Center, he'll be the best show in town.

Young's game is more Hield than Griffin as a high-volume shooter, but it is uniquely his own. The 6-foot-2, 170-pound point guard is a special scorer, averaging over 44 points per game as a senior, not just because of his shooting percentage, it's how he's able to creatively make a variety of shots off the dribble, the range he can reach comfortability, his quick release, and the sheer number of attempts he can put up with efficiency throughout the course of a game. When Young set the Oklahoma 6A single-game scoring record with 62 points, he scored 40 of those in the game's first two quarters.

As a point guard, Young will be a little unconventional in the amount of shots he takes, but that don't let that fool you into believing he is lacking as a passer or ball-handler. Part of Young's ability to find his own shot, creative dribbling and great court vision, also make him an ideal floor general. Essentially, expect Young to have the ball in his hands more often than not.

There will certainly be an adjustment period for Young to the college game, but it's also important to remember that he should have much more space than the constant double-teams and face-guarding allowed the five-star in high school.

It's also important to remember Young not only has a track record of winning. As a junior, he brought the Timberwolves to the brink of their first state title. On the AAU circuit, he and Mokan Elite teammate Michael Porter won a national championship. Young would not pick OU without the expectation of winning.

If he bring this program back to the NCAA tournament, leads the nation in scoring, and becomes a lottery pick, he'll be a Sooner hero.

If Young somehow can do that and win Oklahoma their first national championship?

He'll be a legend.