Dewitz enjoys first 2 visits, has 3 more scheduled

6-8 sophomore forward Nick DeWitz, who saw his recruitment go through the roof after a strong showing at the annual Jerry Mullen Junior College Showcase in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has made two official visits already. Dewitz was at Indiana this past weekend and visited Fresno State two weeks ago. He’ll go to Florida State (9/21), Oregon State (10/4) and Iowa for Midnight Madness (10/11).

Dewitz had a home visit with Fresno State head coach Ray Lopes and assistant David Fizdale on Monday. He’ll have a home visit with Oregon State Tuesday, Iowa State on Friday and Florida State on Saturday.

Dewitz told me that he plans on making all of his visits before making a decision. He said that he is still up in the air about his choice.

“If I had to pick a school today, I couldn’t.”

Dewitz admitted that he is enjoying the visits. He said both the Freson State and Indiana campuses were great and that both schools have terrific fan support. Dewitz said that he only made three visits as a high school senior, visiting junior college programs, Vincennes (IN) CC, Dixie State (UT) CC and Utah Valley (UT) CC.

DeWitz played last season at Utah Valley (UT) CC, where he averaged 9.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game last season as a freshman in just 18.8 minutes per game. He started 27 of 31 games. DeWitz led the team in blocked shots and shot 47.1% from the field, 37.1% from three-point range and 64.2% from the line. The Wolverines finished 21-10 last season. Their head coach, Jeff Reinert, left the team after the season to become an assistant at Oregon State.

DeWitz said that he was definitely surprised by the way his recruitment has picked up in the last few weeks. He said that he felt that the Tulsa event was the first camp that he had ever play up to his potential. He felt that even though the team was a "hodgepodge" group that had never played together before, that they worked well together and surprised observers by winning the Showcase championship.

DeWitz will attend Mesa (AZ) CC, which is only three miles away from his house, in the fall semester. He has already accumulated 40 credit hours and only needs 15 more to receive his AA degree. DeWitz plans to sign in the early signing period and will transfer and practice with his new team in the second semester. He will have three years of eligibility, which has made him very attractive to many top college programs.

Oregon State, Fresno State, Iowa, Iowa State, Arizona State and Indiana are among the top programs that have offered him a scholarship. LSU, Maryland and Kentucky have recently expressed interest in him. Wyoming and Louisiana-Lafayette, coached by former Arizona assistant Jessie Evans, recently offered him scholarships.

DeWitz said that Arizona is his dream school, but they have yet to get involved in his recruitment. He admits that Oregon State, whose new head coach Jay John was an Arizona assistant last season, has recruited him the longest. The fact that John is a former Wildcat coach and having his former JC head coach on staff is a big advantage for the Beavers. However, DeWitz wants to play in the NCAA Tournament and Oregon State has not made the "Big Dance" since 1990 and they have not made it past the first round of the NCAA tournament since 1982, losing their first game the last five appearances.

Oregon State also has to deal with plenty of competition in the Pac-10 from schools like USC, UCLA, California, Stanford, Arizona and Oregon, which all made the NCAA tournament field last season. This could mean that a return to the NCAA Tournament might be a few years away.

Dewitz said that he felt closest to the Oregon State and Fresno State coaches. Fresno State assistant Fizdale recruited him when he was at San Diego and his high school team attended a team camp at the San Diego campus.

He is open to playing away from his home, but you can expect his parents to attend most of his games. His mother works for one of the major airlines and they were able to make most of his games at Utah Valley State this past season.

DeWitz has worked hard on his academics in junior college after failing to qualify out of high school. He has a 2.85 GPA.

We'll keep you posted with more information on his recruitment in the upcoming weeks.