Former Shawnee Mission Northwest hoops standout considering KU, 5 other schools
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- Ethan Taylor narrowed college choices to six, including Kansas and Kentucky.
- Taylor plans official visits to Kansas, Oregon, Oklahoma, Indiana, and others.
- Taylor averaged 9.2 points, 7.3 rebounds in EYBL play with Mokan Elite in 2024.
Ethan Taylor, a 7-foot-0, 230-pound senior basketball center from Link Year Academy in Branson, Missouri, has narrowed his list of schools to six: Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan State, Oklahoma and Oregon.
Taylor, formerly of Shawnee Mission Northwest, made the announcement Saturday on his Instagram page. He played for Mokan Elite’s AAU program and is ranked No. 19 in the recruiting class of 2026 by Rivals.com, No. 22 by 247sports.com and No. 33 by ESPN.com.
On Saturday, Rivals.com reported he’d eliminated Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa, Creighton, Baylor, Tennessee, Houston, Texas, Florida State and others from his list of colleges.
Taylor, who led the SM Northwest Cougars to a pair of Kansas Class 6A state titles (and a 47-3 record) the past two years before electing to transfer to Link Academy for the 2025-26 season, made an unofficial visit to KU on June 24, a school he’s visited unofficially several times.
He will make an official visit to KU on Sept. 26-28. He also will visit Oregon (Sept. 5-7), Oklahoma (Sept. 12-14), Indiana (Sept. 19-21), Michigan State (Oct. 3-5) and Kentucky (Oct. 10-12).
Taylor averaged 9.2 points and 7.3 rebounds in 16.3 minutes per game for Mokan Elite during the past EYBL season.
“My game has taken a huge leap offensively,” Taylor told On3.com. “I used to be more of a short corner guy, but I’ve gotten better at crashing the glass, getting putbacks, and scoring off postups. A lot of my development has been me just turning up my motor. It was kind of hard to grasp that these last couple of years, but my understanding is that now, everything has been clicking for me.”
He noted he wants “to go to a school that has a great history of developing bigs. A program that has a winning culture and a great environment. I want to play for good coaches, ones that will push you, but also understand that you’re human.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
