Home grown talent is always the best possible situation, local players having extra incentive to win.

Ray Spalding ended the speculation Sunday, letting everybody know he has committed to pursue his college career at the University of Louisville.

He’s the second four-star basketball player from the community to commit to Hometown U in the past two years.SPALDING,-RAYMOND_6_25_150 Spalding a 6-foot-9, 200-pound center from Trinity High School, will join Quentin Snider from Ballard on the roster during the 2015-16 season. Snider will be a freshman during the upcoming season.

The best possible fit for a youngster who grew up cheering for the Louisville Cardinals, as he told the Courier-Journal on Sunday:

“It’s a blessing and a dream come true. For a humble kid like me coming from Louisville, to be able to say I could play at the university some day, it’s an honor.”

A couple of days earlier, he told the CJ:

“It’s pretty good being a hometown kid getting a hometown (scholarship) offer,” he said Thursday at the Adidas Invitational, where U of L coach Rick Pitino watched his game. “It’s been pretty crazy going from store to store (in Louisville), and (people say), ‘Oh, you’re Raymond Spalding?’ … But it’s been great.”

Spalding averaged 13.4 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.3 blocks last season in leading Trinity to the semi-finals of the Kentucky High School Basketball Tournament.

Added motivation is a big deal at crunch time.

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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.