Pondexter made believers over summer

Prior to the summer, people wondered if Quincy Pondexter was an elite high-major guy. When the questions were being asked, the 6-foot-7, 195-pound wing was in the gym at six in the morning working on his game. Now with two major tournaments wins and a co-MVP performance at the adidas Showtime Nationals, the questions have stopped and two high-major programs have climbed to the top of his list.

Pondexter took full advantage of what summer basketball is all about. He had a plan: win basketball games and show that he's more than just a great slashing wing forward. Mission accomplished. He was a huge reason why EBO won so many games in July and coaches began to realize that the West Coast product was for real.

"Beginning of the summer people wanted to know if I could shoot it from the outside because last summer I wasn't stroking it," Pondexter said. "But I feel like I shot really well in July during the evaluation period. I worked really hard to get to that point."

He's not kidding.

"Hopefully (coaches) learned that I'm a really tough player that tries to do what he can to win basketball games," Pondexter said. "I'm not afraid to work hard. In fact, I was up at 6 a.m. today and ran three miles."

When he's not running, he said he's in the gym at the same hour shooting 1,000 jump shots. Sounds like a page out of John Chaney's practice schedule. That hard work has brought the high-majors out in a big way.

"A lot of schools weren't showing me attention but now they are piling it on," Pondexter said.

Washington and UConn are sitting a top his list at the moment, he says. Now the No. 50 ranked player in the class of 2006 has two official visits set up with the two schools.

He'll trip to Storrs, Conn. and see UConn for the first time on Sept. 2. Then it's up to Seattle and the University of Washington on Sept. 9. Pondexter said he as agreed with Memphis on an official visit but has not set up a concrete date.

Louisville, Kentucky and Oregon are "all creeping up, too," he says. "I'm open but I'm closed at the same time. I think I know deep down inside on what I'm going to do but I'm trying to get these visits set up first.

"I really want to go to a place where I feel comfortable. I want that home away from home feeling. It doesn't have to be close to the house because I want to be somewhere that has a good vide to it. That coach-player relationship is going to need to be good. I want to relate to him. And of course academics are going to be a key, too."