Four Schools For Shaun Livingston

Shaun Livingston, a 6-foot-7, 170-pound point guard from Peoria Central High School in Peoria, Illinois has seen three schools emerge as the leaders for his services. While it is still early, Rivals.com’s second best player in the class of 2004 is making a real push for that No.1 spot.

Livingston was simply amazing during the NBA Players Association Camp in Richmond, Virginia and he hopes to have a similar performance this week (June 26-29) during the USA Developmental Festival in Colorado Springs.

“Things have been pretty hectic for me lately, but I’ve put together a list of schools that I really like,” Livingston said. “There are a total of four schools on my list right now. Illinois, Arizona and Duke are the three schools that I really like a lot. Florida is the fourth school that’s on my list, but they aren’t as strong as the other three schools.”

It should come as no surprise the Duke appears to be the overall leader for Livingston’s services. During the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions, he unofficially visited the Duke campus.

“I took an unofficial visit to Duke and it went really good,” he said. “The visit was everything I thought it would be. I had a chance to speak and spend time with the coaching staff, which was nice.”

Illinois and Arizona are very much in the mix for Livingston, but getting him on campus for an official visit will critical for both programs.

“Illinois and Arizona are two schools that I really do like,” he said. “I’ve had the opportunity to speak with Coach Pastner from Arizona several times and I like him.

I’ve also been talking with the new staff at Illinois,” he added. “It was kind of tough on me when Coach Self and his staff left for Kansas, but I like what I’m hearing from Coach Weber and his staff.”

While the Florida Gators appear to be on the outside looking in, Coach Donovan has the ability to make up a lot of ground in a short period of time.

“Florida is a program that I’m just learning about,” he said. “Coach Billy Donovan and I have had several conversations on the phone and I like him. I don’t really know a lot about the program, but I do like Coach Donovan.”

Livingston indicated that he plans to take three official visits, but has not decided what schools he will visit. Unless the Gators make a real push, look for Arizona, Duke and Illinois to receive those visits.

Livingston will be in Colorado Springs this week (June 26-29) for the USA Developmental Festival.