Another big game, another Hummel visit

If there is a big game, Robbie Hummel is going to be there. The 6-foot-7, 200-pound small forward from Valparaiso (Ind.) High School was on the sidelines for the best football game of the year this season and on Wednesday, he'll be sitting courtside for one of the best match-ups in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

Hummel is taking full advantage of the numerous offers to attend games on campuses around the country. He took in the thrilling USC-Notre Dame tilt in South Bend, Ind.

"I had a lot of friends that week when they found out I had tickets to that game," Hummel said.

He'll have a lot of friends this week, too. Hummel is headed to Bloomington for the Indiana-Duke tangle. This will be his first trip to IU.

"I don't know what to expect. I know it's going to be a good game. I was watching Duke the other day and they looked pretty tough but Marco Killingsworth is really good, too. You have to wonder how good they'd be if D.J. White was there but I heard A.J. Ratliff is going to play. It's going to be a good game."

Hummel recently took a trip to North Carolina and checked out the UNC Charlotte, Duke and NC State campuses. Even mononucleosis couldn't stop him from visiting the three schools.

"That was really impressive," Hummel said of his trip to Charlotte. "It's a really nice school. It was really big. I thought it was going to be small but I didn't realize it had 30,000 students. They have nice facilities and everything was nicer than I expected.

"Then I went to Duke and it was totally different. It was all gothic and really pretty cool. Cameron Indoor just blends in with the rest of the campus. When the coaches told me we were there I was just like, 'wow.'"

The next day, he spent a day with Herb Sendek and the NC State program.

"That is an incredible campus and the RBC Center is really cool," Hummel said. "You can't find a lot of places bigger than that in college or even in the pros. They were pretty impressive and I like the opportunities there."

With his junior season now in session, Hummel said his unofficial visit tour will be put on pause.

"I don't really want to take any more visits," Hummel said. "I might go to Iowa and see how that goes. After that, I kind of want to stay home and focus on getting to state and winning the championship."

Hummel is holding over a dozen scholarship offers and has about the same amount of schools watching him this season. But he knows it's getting time to trim the list down to a manageable number.

"I'm keeping it open but I'll probably narrow it down after I go to IU," Hummel said.

Hummel is averaging 17.5 points a game in two games of action this season for Valparaiso (2-0).