Coaches check up on Aldrich

Cole Aldrich, the 6-foot-10, 235-pound power forward from Bloomington (MN) Jefferson High School has been an extremely busy man as of late. After trimming his list of schools to three last month, the No. 9 ranked player in the class of 2007 recently invited each of the three programs to his school in order to conduct an open gym session.

"Yes, coaches from Kansas and Minnesota have been to the gym to watch me practice," said Aldrich. "Now that the recruiting period is open, my family and I thought that it would be a good idea to have each of the coaches in to watch me practice in the gym. Kansas and Minnesota came to watch me last week.

"I also know that North Carolina is coming to watch me practice on September 21," he added. "So far, it's been cool watching the coaches' hangout with each other and talk. It's just been fun to watch everybody interact while I practice in the gym."

Now that Aldrich, the No. 9 ranked player in the class of 2007, has trimmed his list of schools to three, he is ready to take the next step forward in his recruitment. The 6-foot-10, 235-pound power forward is scheduled to take an unofficial visit to Kansas during the weekend of October 14.

"Yes, I am taking another visit to Kansas during the weekend of Midnight Madness," said Aldrich. "Once my visit to Kansas is over, I would still like to take official visits to Kansas and North Carolina, and then an unofficial visit to Minnesota, but I don't really know if that will happen.

"There is always a chance that I might commit to Kansas after my visit," he added. "The plan right now is to take some official visits when that time comes, but I don't know if that will happen or not."