April 7, 2008

Lakeland, Fla. - Red Devils' Paul Mixes Leadership With Rare Ability
He led Kathleen in scoring this season but still managed to involve others.

Published: Sunday, April 6, 2008

By Roy Fuoco

Miguel Paul or Kevin Foster? Kevin Foster or Miguel Paul? Internet message boards once exploded with debate on which player was the best freshman in the county. Paul, a guard for Kathleen, usually got the edge because he played more, while Foster, then with Auburndale, was still learning post play.

Three years later, after both players, now teammates, have seen their games mature, the debate still rages. It's an unfair debate in that their roles are so much different, and it's certainly a debate Kathleen coach Drew Taylor wants no part of. Taylor's choice for player of the year: both of them. He knows first-hand how valuable both players were in reaching two consecutive state tournaments.

Among county coaches, Paul received a slight edge over Foster, the only other candidate, but not by enough to make it a slam dunk.

In the end, Paul is The Ledger's 2007-08 Player of the Year quite simply because as a guard, he had a little more responsibility.

It goes without saying that if you're a top player for Taylor, you're not going to be one-dimensional. Paul, like Winter Haven's Tiffany Hayes, could have scored considerably more than the 14.0 points per game he was credited with, but the Red Devils had other scorers. In fact, with a player of Foster's ability playing in the post, Paul was not necessarily the team's first option on offense - even though he was the team's leading scorer.

Paul scored when he had to, but he also played defense - a very-much improved defense this year - rebounded well and often ran the offense.

Although he was the two-guard and Bradley Tumer or Terrell Colston played the point, the offense often ran through Paul. And certainly, if the Tumer or Colston were struggling, Paul had to take over point guard responsibilities.

In many ways, the girls and boys players of the year this year were similar. Like Hayes, Paul developed a knack for knowing when he had to look for his shot and when to make sure his teammates, especially Foster, were getting the ball enough. And like Hayes, he had a burning desire to win.

When Paul was looking to shoot, he was difficult to stop and played in the state tournament as a player on a mission. In Kathleen's semifinal victory over Eustis, Paul scored 29 points and had three assists. He shot 50 percent from 3-point range. He scored 24 points in the finals when the Red Devils' dramatic rally fell short.

Taylor puts pressure on his top players to produce. Big players make big plays, he likes to say. And more often than not, Paul, who has signed with Missouri, has come through.