Rudy Gay - High School Career

High School Career

Gay played his first two years at Baltimore County's Eastern Technical High School, a magnet school in Essex. He played varsity basketball both years. Although Eastern Tech was a Blue Ribbon academic institution, Gay's parents were concerned about his college preparation and during the summer of his sophomore year solicited help from Coach Collins who suggested several private schools in the area, including Archbishop Spalding High School. After reviewing each school's long term academic curriculum, it was decided that Gay would attend Spalding. Gay began playing for Spalding his Junior and senior years. He was one of the top recruits entering college play after attending Archbishop Spalding High School where he earned first team All-Baltimore Catholic League honors as a junior and senior, and was also honored as the Baltimore Sun's co-player of the year. He was the Washington Post All Met Basketball Player of the Year, McDonald's All-American, and a Parade First Team All-American in his senior year after averaging 21.2 points per game, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks.

Gay's college recruitment and decision to attend the University of Connecticut over the University of Maryland were controversial. Gay had expressed a desire to attend Maryland and said that he grew up rooting for the team, but he ultimately chose UConn. Because of the heavy involvement of an AAU coach and a high school coach, there was the appearance of impropriety, although no NCAA recruiting violations were discovered. The NCAA adopted a new scheduling rule after UConn paid $25,000 to schedule a game against the Beltway Ballers, an ad hoc AAU team that consisted of Gay's former teammates. Although it violated no standing rule at the time, media observers and Connecticut staff considered it directly connected to the recruitment. According to individuals close to Maryland head coach Gary Williams, the recruitment demonstrated that rule bending is often necessary to secure highly touted players, which Williams said he is unwilling to do, even at the expense of recruiting.