Budinger schedules first visit

Now that his junior year of volleyball has ended, Chase Budinger will spend quite a bit more time focusing on his recruitment. In fact, the 6-foot-7, 190-pound small forward from La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad, Calif., has scheduled an official visit to UCLA during the first weekend of June. Budinger, the No. 33 ranked player in the class of 2006, will likely take the remainder of his official visits in the fall.

"Chase is taking an official visit to UCLA during the first weekend in June," said Duncan Budinger, the father of Chase Budinger. "We have talked about taking some additional visits in the fall, but nothing has been scheduled yet. The trip to UCLA is the only visit we have scheduled at this time."

Aside from being one of the truly elite players in the class of 2006, Budinger is also one of the top volleyball players in the country. There was a time when it looked like he might pursue both sports in college, but that no longer appears to be the case.

With schools like Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Southern Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Utah and others hoping to get Budinger on campus, he knows that making a decision about his future will not be easy.

However, once Budinger returns from his official visit to UCLA, he will turn his attention towards wining a junior volleyball championship and, more importantly, his recruitment.

"Right now, Chase is concentrating on volleyball, preparing to take the SAT and just being a kid," said Budinger. "His volleyball team has a real chance to win the junior volleyball championship.

"I do not think that Chase will be playing volleyball in college, so he is enjoying this experience right now," he added. "We will decide how many schools to visit and what schools to visit towards the end of the summer. We really haven't given much thought about what other schools Chase will visit in the fall."

Scouting Report: Extremely bouncy and athletic, Budinger excels at filling the lane in transition and either attacking the basket or spotting up behind the three-point line. Also has a nice touch from the midrange. Ball handling and passing have room for improvement. Although he is not a physical player at this point, his active feet and jumping ability make him a good defender and rebounder.