Audio By Carbonatix
Hyman Taylor, the star center for the 2005 Cardinal Gibbons High School basketball team, was murdered Tuesday evening outside an Ikea store in Emeryville, California, on the outskirts of Oakland. Taylor attended the University of San Francisco on a basketball scholarship.
According to this report in the San Francisco Chronicle, police do not have a suspect in Taylor’s killing, nor a motive.
Local hoops followers may remember Taylor
as a teammate of point guard Taurean Green, who was a year older. After
Green graduated and headed off to win NCAA championships at the
University of Florida, Taylor became a focal point of the Cardinal
Gibbons offense. And at six-foot-nine, he had a way of discouraging
opponents from driving the lane.
After originally enrolling at
Virginia Tech after his 2005 senior season, Taylor had transferred to
the University of San Francisco, which has schooled some of the best big men in
basketball history, including Bill Russell as well as former Chicago
Bulls center Bill Cartwright.
But it would not have the same effect on Taylor, who struggled to find
a place in the team’s rotation. In his final season spanning 2008-09,
he managed just under two points a game. Taylor was 23.
