A former University of Wisconsin basketball recruit pleaded guilty Thursday to burglarizing a dorm room and was placed in a first-offenders program.

Diamond K. Taylor, 18, of Bolingbrook, Ill., had been drinking on Sept. 6 before he walked into rooms at the Evans Scholars private dormitory on Langdon Street and at Sellery Hall and took items that included small electronics and cash.

Taylor pleaded guilty to the burglary at Evans Scholars. The charge from the Sellery Hall theft was dismissed but can be considered for sentencing, should that ever be necessary.

Circuit Judge Sarah O'Brien withheld a conviction on Taylor's guilty plea. He will have to follow the rules of the district attorney's First Offenders Program for a specified period of time. If he completes the program, the burglary charge would be dismissed. Failure to follow the rules could send Taylor back to court for sentencing.

Taylor starts school Friday at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where he was offered a basketball scholarship after he left UW-Madison in September.

"He's truly getting his second chance," said his attorney, Richard Coad.

Also charged is Jeremy C. Glover, 18, a walk-on basketball recruit from Haymarket, Va. He was dismissed from the basketball team but remains a student at UW-Madison. Glover is scheduled for a plea hearing on Oct. 29.