Appleby Reduces List

Ryan Appleby, a gifted 6-2, 160 pound point guard from Stanwood H.S. in Stanwood, Wash., has narrowed his field to five schools as the summer evaluation period approaches.

Appleby told Rivalshoops.com that he is seriously considering Florida, Stanford, Missouri, N.C. State and California.

Appleby has taken official visits thus far to Gonzaga and Florida, but it appears as though the Zags are out after getting a commitment from Derek Raivio late last week.

"I probably won't go there now that they got a point guard,' Appleby said. "It's kind of tough to bring two point guards in the same class."

Appleby officially visited Gonzaga the weekend of June 9 and Florida the weekend of June 16.

His trip to Gainesville was a productive one.

"It was good," he said. "I liked the campus and everything and the coaches were nice. They definitely improved their chances."

Appleby will have three official visits to use in the fall if he so elects. Right now, he has not pledged any visits to the other four schools on his list, and has not ruled out considering other schools who want to get involved this summer.

"I don't really know when I am going to make a decision," he said. "A lot of people ask me that, it just depends on how well I get to know a lot of the coaching staffs. I could make a summer decision or I could make one during the school year."

Appleby added that he expects any new schools who want to get involved with him this summer will do so once the July evaluation period gets under way. He said he does not want to make any wholesale changes to his list once the summer is over.

"There's a chance I could add some schools to my list, it just depends on who wants to come in," he said.

Appleby just returned from the University of Oregon team basketball camp in the last 48 hours, and his summer will only get busier in the weeks to come.

First stop for Appleby will be the Nike All-American Camp in Indianapolis, followed by the finalscore.com Invitational in Seattle. When the second live period picks back up, Appleby will travel with the Emerald City Pioneers to the adidas Big Time and Best of the Summer Tournaments in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, respectively.

A dynamic presence on the court blessed with keen awareness, Appleby is one of the top point guards in the Class of 2003. He says he had modeled his game after the late NBA great Pistol Pete Maravich and the Memphis Grizzlies' Jason Williams.

We expect to catch Appleby in action quite a bit in the weeks to come, so please stay tuned to this site for more updates on him and other key targets in the Class of 2003.

*For Russ Blake's coaches' service, email Russ at rblakeiii@aol.com