Loucks looking at spring decision

Luke Loucks, a 6-foot-4, 192-pound guard from Clearwater (Fla.) High School, feels like he is in a good situation. His team is rolling right along and aiming for a trip to the state tournament and his offer list seems to grow each week. Loucks said he's hoping to do some big things in the next couple of months.

Loucks is averaging 16 points and 8.5 assists a game for Clearwater (24-4) this season and running the point guard position full time. He said he is looking forward to getting back to the state championship game, a place where he ended his freshman year on the losing end.

"Since then, I've been working as hard as I can to get there again," Loucks said. "I realized how hard it is to do that."

The work is paying off as Loucks is showing off his point guard skills and overall great feel for the game. A number of schools are watching him develop as well.

Florida State and Georgia Tech recently offered a scholarship in the last month, Loucks said. The ACC programs join Central Florida, Florida Atlantic, Ole Miss, South Florida and St. Joseph's as teams that have tendered a free ride.

Loucks said Pitt, SMU, Wake Forest, West Virginia and Xavier have all been down to see him at least once this year. Iowa, Missouri, Virginia and Virginia Tech are also interested, he added.

At times, the attention can just be overwhelming.

"There is so much behind (the recruiting process)," Loucks said. "There are so many phone calls, emails and thousands of letters. That's the hard thing about it. It can get insane."

It begs the question: just how long will he let the recruiting process go on before he commits to a school?

"That is the million dollar question right there," Loucks said. "I would like to commit somewhere before the spring AAU season. I don't want to drag it out until the summer…I'd like to get it done early but I'm not going to think about it until after my season when I can talk to my family and coach about it. I want to win a championship first."

Loucks, the No. 80 ranked player in the class of 2008, said he would like to get to a couple of campuses on his list, if time allows, before joining Nike Team Florida on the AAU schedule this spring.

"We'll look at a list of who is really interested. I'm sure at some point we'll sit down and come up with a top four or five," Loucks said. "I already have one in my head but I'm not sure I'm ready to let that out yet."

Location and education, two things that are always in the equation for any prospect, are things Loucks said he is taking into consideration.

"It will be important, maybe not as much to me but more for my family. They definitely want to come and see me play. But they said that if the place for me was in California then they'd support me," Loucks said.

"The way I look at it, any high-major university is going to give you a good education. That's the good part. I don't think I'm in a bad situation with that."