Interesting read. Maybe, this kid should have stayed closer to home from the beginning.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/01/29/king-ditches-hoops-royalty-naia-comeback/#

Maybe, this kid should have stayed closer to home from the beginning.

I would agree with this. Not smoking a daily pack of cigarettes and working hard would have helped, too (in his earlier college days).

Glad to see he has outwardly turned his life around for the better. I always hoped he would end up one of my favorites at Duke. I loved that confidence he always displayed in believing that any shot he took, whether from 8 feet or 40, was going to fall in. Not many players have that kind of self-conviction. He was a gunner, sure, but entertaining when "doing his thing."

What were his off the court issues discussed in the article? I understand the partying and drugs, but there seemed to be more to the story.

You know, dynasty, I've always wondered that myself, especially since King was a Blue Devil and his end there so abrupt and sad. There is a deeper piece to this narrative. I just don't know what that is, and have never read or heard anything carrying enough validity to make a reasonable guess.

I do know this, though. Without all the incautions that disturbed his career at the Division I level and with a level head, King could have scored more points than most college players ever dream. He was a killer spurt scorer with a remorseless outside stroke who never saw a terrible shot and understood that defense was where scorers went to lose their defenders. The school of Brent Price and, more comparable to King, Brendan Plavich.

He seemed so lost when he was playing at Villanova.