Peterson: Will Oskaloosa's Xavier Foster be the next Raef LaFrentz?

Some fortunate college coach is going to successfully recruit possibly the best post player ever to dunk, block and intimidate on an Iowa high school basketball floor. There, I said it.

Xavier Foster for president? 

Not yet, but that’s the kind of respect this 15-year-old sophomore phenom from Oskaloosa gets these days. Someone actually wrote those words on a sign she held in the balcony Thursday at Wells Fargo Arena.

Xavier Foster for president.

I hung out during the first Iowa state high school tournament of this kid’s life last week. From Section 101 and through all seating sections beyond, everyone had at least heard of this personable lad. College coaches watched him, including those from our state. Television cameras caught his every move — and if you were lucky enough to have the proper cable hookup, you’d even have to agree.

PREVIOUSLY:With Kansas, Duke calling, secret's out on Xavier Foster's huge talent

This 6-foot-11, 210-pounder, one of the top dozen or so high school players nationally in the Class of 2020, has a wonderful basketball future, but first, this word about letting him being a kid:

He’s 15, for golly sakes. He can’t legally drive by himself. His dad says he still has to take out the garbage, yet he’s already been offered a scholarship to (in alphabetical order) Creighton, Illinois, the two largest of our Big 4 programs, and Texas A&M.

That’s heavy stuff for anyone, let alone for a 10th-grader whose recruiting scrutiny will become even more intense during every single day until he makes the decision of his life.

“He’s just a kid,” said DaJuan Foster, Xavier’s father and assistant coach. “It’s basketball. You may be talented, but you’re no different than any other kid and anybody else.

“You just play basketball.”

Xavier had an all right first state tournament. His team finished runner-up to Glenwood in Friday night’s Class 3A final. His performance could have been better, but we must remember:

He’s a 15-year-old sophomore.

“Being in the middle of something like this — it’s a little overwhelming sometimes,” Xavier said.

The first basket of the first state tournament of his life was a 3-pointer near the free-throw circle.

FULL BRACKETS:All the state basketball results from every class

He showed nice form on a turnaround jumper in front of the rim. He faked one way, went another way, elevated and then ...

Swished.

He passed neatly out of double teams he constantly faced.

He ran the floor like a guard — better than most guards, even.

He handled the ball well.

He tip-dunked. He also intentionally fouled a player before that player inbounded the ball under the basket with less than a minute to play in the championship game.

Everyone has an "oops" moment, but I repeat:

He’s a 15-year-old sophomore who was playing before the largest crowd of his life — in the state championship game of his first state tournament.

He gets a pass on that one. Stuff happens, even to the college guys sometimes.

Xavier Foster is a lot more than just the tallest player on the floor. His all-around game is beyond his years, and it’ll advance even farther.

I asked people who have seen as many, if not more, Iowa state high school tournaments than me this question:

If Foster improves like everyone believes he will, what former Iowa high school post players might he be compared to by the time his senior high school season rolls around?

Former MFL of Monona wing and post Raef LaFrentz, the Kansas star of yesteryear, was the most common answer. Former West Des Moines Valley star Matt Bullard got some love, too.

Both played a lot of years in the NBA, and, duh, that’s Foster’s dream destination, too.

But first, this word from the 15-year-old’s dad:

“We’re enjoying the process of getting through high school,” Xavier’s father told me. “When high school’s over, we’ll decide what the next level’s going to be. You hope that every kid plays in college.

“It’s one of the best places to develop, and you can do it while still being a kid.

“I’m sure the NBA sounds all fine and dandy, but I want my 18- and 19-year-old kid to have the ability to be a kid, and not have to be an adult right away.

“College is important. There will be so many memories in college.”

Xavier could decide on a college right now, if he wanted, but he’s not in any hurry.

He’s just a sophomore, remember.

The handful of solid offers now will at least double by this time next year after what will be a hoops-filled summer.

“We’ll be travelling a lot,” Xavier said. “All June will be in camps. The rest of the summer, it’ll be travelling basketball.”

By the March of his senior year?

I can’t even imagine — and Roy Williams hasn’t even come calling yet. You remember him, right? He’s the coach that plucked Raef, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich out of our state and brought them to Kansas. He also was the coach that borrowed this state’s Harrison Barnes and Marcus Paige for his North Carolina teams.

"Sports Illustrated did a deal many years ago on high school sports," Williams recalled for me the day before Iowa State beat his Tar Heels in a 2014 NCAA regional in San Antonio, Texas. "When they did the state of Iowa, one of the questions they had was 'what sports figure did Iowans dislike the most?'

“The answer was 'George Steinbrenner,' and I never was able to figure that out, because there was no major-league team in Iowa, I wondered why you'd hate my Yankees so much.

"And the second-most hated man was Roy Williams. That was in Sports Illustrated."

So ...

“Haven’t heard from him yet,” Xavier’s father said.

Dad handles his son’s mail. Remember, the kid’s just 15 years old.

“I don’t pay attention to it. That’s all my dad,” Xavier said.

He’s got the frame to become a 230-pounder. He’s got the stroke of a sweet-shooting perimeter player, and the under-the-basket chops of a guy that could someday average a college double-double.

Notice I didn’t say anything about free throws — his all right statistical line after Thursday’s victory against Waverly-Shell Rock went like this:

5-of-5 from the field, including 1-for-1 from the deeper NBA arc that’s on the Wells Fargo floor. There were a couple blocked shots, too, and many more times when he made someone think twice about taking the ball to the rim, but what about that 0-for-8 from the stripe?

It’s not like he’s just heaving it up there a la Shaq. Like I said, Foster’s got a sweet stroke — sweet enough that he’s legitimately dangerous from 3-point range.

So why was he so horrible (his word, not mine) on this night?

Maybe because he’s just 15. Maybe because it was the semifinal round of the first state high school tournament in his life.

Foster ended that 0-for-8 drought with his first attempt against Glenwood. The Osky crowd went nuts, and you should have seen his dad’s reaction on the bench. Immediately after that, Xavier swatted a shot into the third row.

He’s already a consensus five-star recruit. He’s on the national radar. He seems grounded.

“The fact that he’s so laid-back makes it easier,” his father said. “He’s even-keel. He’s mellow.

“It’s easy for him to enjoy just being a kid, but I’d be crazy to say that I didn’t want all this to happen; it just happened way too fast — maybe a year or two ahead of schedule, with all the college offers.”

Xavier called it a “rush.”

And it’s just getting started.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been with the Register for parts of five decades. Randy writes opinion and analysis of Iowa State football and basketball. You can reach Randy at rpeterson@dmreg.com or on Twitter at @RandyPete.