High-major interest in two-sport Sidorakis

Perennial football power Jenks High School in Tulsa, Okla., has a high-major basketball recruit in three-star 2007 prospect Nick Sidorakis. A standout for the Tulsa Bulldogs AAU club, Sidorakis is just now getting his basketball legs under him after playing a backup role at both quarterback and receiver on the Jenks football team, which finished as state runner-ups. Sidorakis, a 6-foot-4, 170-pound shooting guard, recently visited a Big 12 school and is hearing from others in the southwest.

"Nick is playing well," said Jenks head coach Clay Martin. "Football set him back, and he didn't shoot the ball well early. But he contributed in a lot of other ways.

"Now he is shooting it like he normally does and has scored 20 or more points in six or seven of the last eight games."

Jenks begins the playoffs tomorrow, and after not getting five of their top nine players from football until mid-December is hoping to have some momentum building for a run through the playoffs.

On the season, Sidorakis is leading the team in scoring with 13.5 points per game. He also is tops in steals, averaging 2 per game, and he is averaging 5.5 rebounds per game.

At this point, Coach Martin sees Sidorakis as a college basketball player, but that could change, since he attends such a football powerhouse.

"I'm sure Nick will have opportunities in football as well as basketball," said Martin. "He played at least 100 snaps this year at either receiver or quarterback, but he has always said that basketball is his love. I don't know how that will end up, though, being at Jenks."

Coach Martin did rattle off a list of schools that are hoping Sidorakis will play basketball for them in college.

"I took Nick down for an unofficial visit to Oklahoma last Wednesday," said Martin. "He was also down there during the football season. Oklahoma definitely has interest in him, and I would imagine that it will increase over the years.

"He's getting literature from Illinois, and some of the same people are calling about him. Colorado State, New Mexico State, Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Texas have called about him."

Named the MVP of the 15-under division at the Tournament of Champions last spring, Sidorakis does not hit full stride as a basketball player until the spring because of his playing football.

"Nick definitely plays his best ball in the summer," said Martin. "I look at it as my job to make sure he's ready for the summer season."