Taylor Rochestie will be an integral part of the Washington State basketball team this winter, and is slated to spend his junior year as a starting guard.

Because the Cougars had all of their scholarships committed for the 2008-09 season, Rochestie volunteered to give up his own scholarship in order for the program to sign highly-touted recruit Marcus Capers.

Rochestie is giving up his scholarship because his family can afford to pay his tuition to attend Washington State next year. With the Cougars going 26-8 and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament last year, Rochestie figures this is a way to give back to the program and help keep it among the nation’s elite for years to come.

This is a selfless act and certainly benefits Capers and the Washington State community. Whether or not Rochestie and his family can afford the $25,000 for tuition is largely irrelevant – they are still parting with a large sum of money for the benefit of others. The act is generous and should be loudly applauded.

The larger issue that is raised, however, is whether coaches would ever take advantage of financially-privileged recruits and encourage them to pay their own way for the “greater good” of the program. In my opinion, it would be a highly unethical recruiting strategy, and I don’t actually think it would happen. What do you think? Could coaches use well-off recruits to help chase national championships?