Hoops scholarship too much, too soon

The University of Kentucky's new basketball coach, Billy Gillispie, just made a scholarship offer to a hot prospect: Dakotah Euton of Rose Hill Christian in Ashland, Ky. Euton is a 6-foot-8 power forward who has been listed as a Top 10 national prospect. It's a coup for UK.

What made me stop and pause is this: Euton is in Rose Hill's Class of 2010, meaning he still has three years left to play. Coaches, recruiters and Web sites that follow prospects have been touting this kid since eighth grade. Given the age gap between the overheated adults and the children involved, it comes weirdly close to stalking.

Euton seems like a kid with a good head, but something isn't right when full-ride scholarship offers are going to athletes three years before they're going to graduate from high school. Such decisions shouldn't be made when you're 14 or 15. It's hard at 18. Hey, if we're going to do that, let's start chasing the math, science and computer stars of the future, too. Did you know that the entire state of Kentucky only graduated one high school physics teacher last year? What's happening to those kids?