For different reasons, two of the top high school basketball players in the state this season announced their commitments to the University of Central Arkansas on Friday.
Farmington's Layne Taylor and Lake Hamilton's Ty Robinson, both 3-star prospects according to 247Sports, shared a graphic on social media Friday wearing UCA uniforms to announce their commitment to new Bears Coach John Shulman.
They are the third and fourth scholarship commitments Shulman has earned after previously getting ones from forwards Tyler Lee of Knoxville (Tenn.) Fulton and Cole McCormick of Chattanooga (Tenn.) Notre Dame.
Taylor and Robinson will also be joined by summer teammate Owen Dehrman. The Bentonville senior announced Tuesday he accepted a preferred walk-on spot with the Bears.
"I think it's a great opportunity for me," Taylor said. "Being able to do it with some of my best friends and Coach Shulman and [associate head coach Brock] Widders and people that I really respect and have a similar vision with, it's really exciting.
"I think there's something really special there. I think we're going to turn it around. I think Conway is going to really get behind us and get behind UCA basketball, and I think it's going to be a neat deal when we look back on it in a couple of years and just smile upon it."
Taylor signed with North Texas but due to a private family matter was released from his national letter of intent last week and re-opened his recruitment to stay in Arkansas. He had Zoom meetings with UCA, Arkansas State and Arkansas-Little Rock.
"The first time [Shulman] called me a couple days ago, he told me we'd cut down nets if I came to UCA, and that kind of stuck with me," Taylor said. "That's a goal of mine is to win and win championships, and that's his vision. So our visions really lined up together."
Robinson had signed with Florida Atlantic, but when Dusty May left to accept the head coach position at Michigan, he was released from his NLI and re-opened his recruitment.
"[Shulman's] got a vision to change the whole program around, and I think that me and Layne can both contribute to that, and we believe in what he does and what he thinks," Robinson said. "His offense, it's perfect for me and Layne. We're both great shooters, [and Shulman] likes to shoot a bunch of threes. He's a smart, energetic coach, which is something that I've always looked for, and he recruits great kids."
Taylor, a 5-11 point guard, was named the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps player of the year after averaging 25.3 points, 6.6 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals per game for Class 4A runner-up Farmington.
Robinson, a 6-4 wing, averaged 25 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists for Lake Hamilton, which reached the the Class 5A semifinals. He was named to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps second team.
The duo has shared a backcourt before as a part of AAU Flight. They had discussions of teaming up in college last summer but their recruitment initially took Taylor to Denton, Texas, and Robinson to Boca Raton, Fla.
When Taylor was released from his NLI, Robinson was one of his first calls.
"It's really fun because he's one of my best friends, but he also makes me a lot better, so it's a win-win in every category," Taylor said. "In games, knowing what we're good at, knowing our spots, knowing when to give each other the ball, it just makes it a lot easier. It's going to make transitioning to college, I think, a lot easier for the both of us."
It doesn't take long to find examples of freshmen stepping onto campus in Conway and finding immediate success.
Bentonville West graduate Tucker Anderson was named the ASUN Freshman of the Year this season after averaging 14.5 points and 3.7 rebounds and hitting 38.1% of his three-pointers. Bryant's Camren Hunter was named the ASUN Freshman of the Year in the 2021-22 season after averaging 14.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
Robinson and Taylor noted that Widders, the lone holdover from former coach Anthony Boone's staff, was a key to their recruitment due to his part in Anderson and Hunter's development.
"UCA likes to play freshmen," Robinson said "They have great freshmen, they're able to develop freshmen, which is a great thing that really opened my eyes because a lot of guys, they'll come in as a freshman, they'll get little minutes. UCA has a past of playing freshmen major minutes. So that's very appealing, especially to freshmen from Arkansas. ... They both showed that you can have success as a freshman."
"Freshmen have kind of always had a chance to play at UCA," Taylor said. "And that's the vision with Coach Shulman is that I'll come in and earn and fight for a role, but they're expecting me to earn that role and have a chance to have a really good freshman year."
This season, UCA finishes 9-23, its sixth consecutive losing season. With just one winning season (18-17 in 2017-18), Robinson and Taylor said they are excited by the possibilities under Shulman.
"Our plan is to come in and flip the whole program around," Robinson said. "We want to win the conference, that's the plan. There's nothing short of that. We don't plan to get second, that's not the goal at all."
"It's going to be very challenging," Taylor said. "It's going to be a daily grind, day-to-day thing working our butts off to turn it around. But that's the beauty of it. It's such a great challenge. And if we're able to win championships and completely turn it around, we'll be known as the guys in Arkansas that did that."
Lake Hamilton junior Ty Robinson (33), is shown in this photo. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Farmington point guard Layne Taylor (33) announced his commitment to the University of Central Arkansas and new Bears Coach John Shulman on Friday. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)