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Taylor Co.'s Sloan excited with U of L offer

Cardiotonic

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Jeff Greer

Taylor County High's David Sloan grew up in Louisville before moving out to Campbellsville. So when U of L came calling Monday with a scholarship offer for the Class of 2017 guard, it was "big-time news," said Richard Gatewood, Sloan's guardian and coach at Taylor County.

"All the hard work has paid off. ... He's extremely happy and blessed, but he knows he also has to keep working," Gatewood said.

Louisville's coaching staff has been monitoring Sloan since December, Gatewood said. That's when the 6-foot, 165-pound guard impressed at the King of the Bluegrass tournament alongside Quentin Goodin, his Taylor County teammate who is on U of L's radar for the 2016 class.

From there, U of L has stayed in regular contact with Gatewood, but the offer for Sloan still came as a surprise on Monday.

"The thing that's so special about it is that Louisville is one of the blue bloods, a powerhouse," Gatewood said. "It's a school and a program that's been around for years and years. ...

"He's a Rick Pitino-type point guard. He can score if he needs to. The thing that makes him so special is he is as true a point guard as you're going to get. (Pitino) wants guys who are going to be dogs on defense. We play very similar to Louisville. We guard the full length of the floor. We guard all 94 feet. David has taken that role of guarding the other point guard. Then, offensively he's so gifted. He's got to be the best ball-handler I've coached. He's got that thing on a string."

Gatewood said Sloan received phone calls from several other power conference programs on Monday, including Florida, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Western Kentucky has recruited Sloan for a while and has already offered a scholarship, as has Missouri.

With Sloan playing AAU ball this summer with the older Under-17 St. Louis Eagles team, which has top-ranked 2016 prospect Jayson Tatum on the roster, there's a good chance more schools will jump into the fray for the young guard's services.

He expects to play at Nike's Peach Jam tournament next month, a major recruiting event on the AAU circuit, and he'll play in AAU Nationals in Louisville. Sloan also tried out for the Team USA U-16 team in recent weeks, just missing the cut.

"They're all great opportunities," Gatewood said. "If he continues to play at a high level and continues to blossom like he's supposed to, I have no doubt that he's going to continue to get better and blow up."
 
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