Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Three-star center visits Michigan State
By Dave Telep
Three-star senior center Gavin Schilling (Chicago/Findlay Prep) is a hot name right now. Three days before Jabari Parker picked Duke over Michigan State last month, both the Blue Devils and Spartans visited with Schilling at his high school in Las Vegas.
At that point, you knew he was a viable option at the highest level. Duke landed Parker and in turn isn’t on Schilling’s list of 10 schools. But the Spartans are.
Uncommitted senior center Gavin Schilling took an impromptu visit to Michigan State last weekend.
So when his father was in Chicago last week, one of the best available big men in the Class of 2013 loaded up the car with his pop and drove to East Lansing, Mich., for an unofficial visit with the Spartans over the weekend.
“My dad was in town from Germany for a couple days and it was a three-hour drive (from Chicago) so we decided to go up there,” Schilling said. “It worked out well for all of us.”
The Spartans had one eye on Schilling and the other on game prep for Monday's contest at Minnesota, but to get the Chicago native on campus with a parent who works out of the country was a good score. Schilling said he’d return to meet Tom Izzo for an official visit later this winter.
Schilling has a list of 10 finalists: Michigan State, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, Georgetown, Ohio State, UCLA, Kansas State, Missouri, Oregon State and Villanova. Each has offered save for Georgetown, which only recently came into the picture. It’s a big list -- big enough that Schilling keeps it in the “notes” section of his phone -- and he only has four official visits remaining.
This past fall, Schilling visited Minnesota but didn’t sign. He wasn’t ready. We know he’s going to take an official visit to Michigan State, and he added that UCLA was also a strong probability to receive a visit. Not bad for a guy who was actually a backup player to Parker on the Mac Irvin Fire travel team.
“With Mac Irvin we had a lot of big guys and they used me at the five, but I’ve gotten better since the summer,” he said.
Schilling is a confident kid, and that’s an evolution from the summer. He was recently named all-tournament at the Iolani Classic, the holiday event national No. 2 Findlay Prep won. Before the high school season began, Schilling was a valued piece because of his ability to rebound and play in traffic. Now he’s carving out a larger role for himself.
