Chicago small forward upping his game

One of the nicer developments this winter has been the play of Paul White.

A 6-foot-8 junior at Chicago (Ill.) Whitney Young, White entered the season with a pretty big reputation and ranked No. 55 nationally in the 2014 Rivals150. However, he was also considered a bit inconsistent.

This year, that inconsistency seems to be a thing of the past as White has made it a habit of impacting the game in several ways on a nightly basis. He gives a lot of credit to those around him.

"This year I feel like I want to give credit to my teammates for everything," said White. "The improvement has been with my confidence. I've had a lot of people in my corner telling me that I can do it and it has finally clicked and I've started to grasp the concept of being the Paul White that I'm capable of being."

The Paul White that he is capable of being is a long, rangy and versatile swingman who can handle the ball, shoot the pull-up jumper and also play some as a stretch four. Perhaps a bit flat emotionally in the past, White also looks like he's having a lot more fun.

"When you are out there having fun with your brothers, your friends, it makes things so much easier," White told Rivals.com. "Whenever you shoot a shot or whatever you know that they are going to have your back. It make things much more fun and easier."

Of course, college programs have been all over White and he says that he's feeling the love from plenty of places.

"The people that have made me a priority are Marquette, Arizona and Florida I kind of hear from those assistant coaches probably at least once a day," said White. "Notre Dame has definitely been in contact with me. I'm starting to hear some from Kentucky, Illinois."

White would like to set up some visits and mentioned that he and 2014's No. 1 player -- and high school teammate -- Jahlil Okafor could make some visits together. However, he has to decide who to visit and find the time to do so.

White also understands that some schools will move on from him in the process just as he'll move on from some schools.

"We, my family and I, are going to try and sit down and figure out a timetable to figure out the time to take those official visits," said White. "Some schools they have a player that can commit or is committed so they may not need my position still. Sometimes it doesn't work out. It works both ways, I've departed from some schools while others could depart from me."

[rl]