Fitzgerald may wait to sign

Baltimore big man Andrew Fitzgerald is packing his bags and headed to Brewster Academy in New Hampshire for his senior season.

The 6-foot-9, 245-pound center is ready for the challenge and ready to mold himself into a better basketball player that can contribute right away at the college level.

"I was talking to my AAU coach and I wanted to go up north and be able to play against my competition, especially against big fellas. The competition around here in Baltimore is pretty much just all guards," Fitzgerald said.

"I'm always the focus of the other team's defense. I wanted to go up there to New Hampshire where I'll be playing with and against other Division I players. It's going to get me ready for college. Playing against those guys, it's going to be much better. It's going to be like college. I want to be a missing piece to someone's puzzle."

Fitzgerald will play along side five-star stud Thomas Robinson, making for a great looking puzzle inside for head coach Jason Smith. Fitzgerald enjoyed a successful summer with Team Melo, showing an advanced post game.

The four-star center said he is looking forward to improving his game this season as well as preparing himself for the next level on and off the court.

"I think this is going to give me a big advantage because you aren't going to be around your families. You are just working out, going to school and playing basketball. You don't have many choices on other things to do," Fitzgerald said. "So that is going to help me a lot because I'm down here with my friends. When I get up there, I'm going to be more focused and more ready to play basketball with my new basketball family."

A number of college programs are hoping to add Fitzgerald to their respective basketball family.

Oklahoma, Xavier, St. John's, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, California, Louisville, Tennessee, Marquette and Kentucky are all "showing a lot of interest," he says.

Fitzgerald said he will officially visit Louisville on Oct. 19. He said he will visit Oklahoma after his trip to Louisville. Fitzgerald also said he will visit Xavier and Seton Hall in January during the basketball season.

Visiting during the college season also means Fitzgerald wants to sign in the spring and not the fall.

"I feel like I can do my homework a little better [if I wait to sign]. I can go online and check out the school a little more, see their roster, see their record, who is committed there, who will be there when I'm there, what players they will have. I want to do my homework," he said.

Prior to the fall visit period beginning, Fitzgerald says there is one school that has made him raise his eyebrows.

"Oklahoma, because they are losing most of their big men. I'm just waiting for the right time and waiting to see what happens from there," Fitzgerald said.

If there is one thing Fitzgerald wants more than anything in college it is being on the floor early and often.

"Playing time is on the top of my list of things I want to find in a school. I don't want to go to a school where I'm going to be sitting down for like two years and play a lot my junior year for the first time. I don't want to be in that sort of situation," he said.