The first time Elston Turner Jr. went through the recruiting rigors he didn't know much at all about Texas A&M, the school he will soon call home.
Turner graduated from Fort Bend Elkins, but before that he was playing high school basketball near Sacramento, Calif., when he committed to Washington.
"I committed to Washington as a junior, so when I played down [in the Houston area as a senior] I wasn't thinking of anything else but school and basketball," said Turner, who averaged 22.4 points and 7.5 rebounds a game as a junior at Roseville High School. "I came out of high school set on staying on the West Coast since I'd lived there so long."
The second time around, after announcing he was transferring from Washington, Turner widened his horizons.
"I actually was pretty open because I had no idea what schools were interested in me. It was pretty open," Turner said. "When schools started contacting me up here at the University of Washington, and parents and coaches, that's when I had a feeling for what style I liked and where I had the chance to succeed the most."
The 6-foot-4 guard, who started three games and played in 66 total at Washington, narrowed his list that included Butler, Virginia and Tennessee among a dozen schools to just A&M and Baylor before choosing the Aggies last week.
The announcement, according to Turner, was delayed until early this week out of respect to Tobi Oyedeji, the A&M recruit who died from injuries sustained in a car accident in Houston the morning after his school's prom on May 16.
Turner said when he announced he was transferring from Washington that he wanted to find a system that would showcase his all-around skills rather than just his long-range shooting prowess. He believes he's found that and more at A&M, which tied for second in the Big 12 last season and made the second round of the NCAA tournament after a 24-10 campaign.
"The offense will allow me to show a lot of off-the-dribble stuff, coming off staggers and give me a chance to push the ball even if I'm not playing at the point guard position," Turner said. "It gives me a chance to showcase what I can do beside just being a 3-point shooter."
The offense wasn't the only factor for Turner, whose father of the same name played in the NBA and is now an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets.
"The coaching staff is great, the team is great, the area, the atmosphere and it's close to home, so all that factored into being in a place where I could be successful," Turner said.
Turner played against the Aggies this past season in Seattle, getting nine minutes in the game A&M's Derrick Roland broke his leg in two places. Turner did not fare well, going 0 for 5 from the field and getting three rebounds.
As a sophomore last season, Turner averaged 5.5 points and 2.1 rebounds a game while leading the team in 3-point shooting at 38 percent.
Turner will have to sit out the 2010-11 season per NCAA rules, but he has no plans to be idle.
"I'm going to get accustomed to everything -- the school, the classes and then on the court get used to coach [Mark] Turgeon's style of play, what he wants, make myself individually better," said Turner, who plans on taking classes in July. "Most people think of the redshirt year as a year they can't play. I'm going to think of it as the year to prepare myself for the years I can play."
Turner bolsters the Aggies' 2011 group of newcomers, which includes one of the nation's top point guards in Jamal Branch and three-star shooting guard Jordan Green.
"[Turgeon] was glad to hear the news and he feels like I made the right decision," Turner said. "He said he was going to make me work and that he's going to make me the best player I can be. I trust he will do that, and now were just going to see where it goes."
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