Robinson discusses his six finalists

After a slow start to the travel season back in April, Douglas County (Ga.) shooting guard Brandon Robinson bounced back with a strong showing in July. The month started off with him helping the Georgia Stars win the Nike Peach Jam. He finished the month playing with Team Loaded NC and put up some big numbers alongside five-star prospects Dennis Smith and Edrice Adebayo.

The four-star guard, whose father, Frank, has helped coach at high schools around Atlanta, held a number of offers before the most recent travel season.

More offers arrived during July, most notably from Louisville and North Carolina. Those two, along with Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Maryland make up Robinson's final list of six schools.

He recently used his first official visit on Louisville.

"I like the style of play," Robinson said. "They get up and down and they press. Coach (Rick) Pitino lets his guards play. I like that about them. The campus was nice. The basketball facilities are great. They just have a great tradition there."

Florida State has long been rumored to be one of Robinson's top schools because of his relationship with assistant coach Charlton Young dating back to when Young was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech.

"My relationships with the coaches there, especially Coach CY," he said. "I have a great relationship with the guys committed there right now too. They have been talking to me about going to play with them. The coaches have been telling me they might lose a couple guards, so they need me to come and play right away. They think with the team they have right now and the recruits coming in that they can do something special."

Maryland assistant Cliff Warren, like Young, was on Georgia Tech's staff under Paul Hewitt at one time and he's helped make the Terps a serious player in Robinson's recruitment.

"They have been on me since I first started getting recruited. They have been on me hard," he said. "Coach Cliff and Coach (Mark) Turgeon, I have a great relationship with those guys too. Coach Turgeon always tells me how he sees me in his offense because he loves the way I score the ball and make plays for others. He said that's a big part of his system."

North Carolina's recruitment of Robinson began in February when Roy Williams came to Atlanta to see Jaylen Brown in a state playoff game. Robinson fared well against the 2015 five-star prosect, and impressed Williams enough this summer to earn an offer from the Tar Heels.

"North Carolina is a great program," Robinson said. "They are known for their great tradition. North Carolina is something you have to look into. They have a great coaching staff. Coach Williams is one of the best in the game."

If one school had an advantage going into the recruiting process, it would be Georgia Tech.

"That's the school I grew up rooting for," he said. "Just being around the program for such a long time as a kid going to their camps and going to the games with my dad, I just have to look into that program. It was always my dream growing up to play there. I'm very close with Mario West because he went to my high school and played there. I was just with him Friday and he was telling me things about Georgia Tech. He was telling me how every time he goes up there Coach (Brian) Gregory is telling him how much they want me."

Georgia reeled in two commitments early in the 2016 class, and fell off a bit in their pursuit of Robinson. That seems to have changed as Robinson said he's been talking regularly with Mark Fox lately and sees that he could fit nicely alongside Jordan Harris and Tyree Crump.

"Coach Fox has been telling me when he watched some of his workouts over the summer he saw there was a need for me," Robinson said. "He thinks it's a great situation for me. They have been calling and telling me about that and trying to get in the picture. I've liked what they have been saying to me and I think it's a great situation."

Heading into his last few visits, Robinson says the six schools are all even.

"The visits are going to be important because it will be a chance to sit down with the coaches face to face. I don't like talking on the phone," he said. "I look people in the eye and talk to them in person. My dad raised me that way. He said the most important thing is to look people in the eye and that means a lot more. I'm looking to talking with the coaches in their offices, watching film, and seeing how they see me in their system."

There is no date set for a commitment, but Robinson knows he'll take all his visits and knows when he'll be signing early.

"I'm shooting for October, but that can change. I know I'm definitely signing early and making my decision before basketball season. My mom isn't going to let me decide before I take all these visits. She's making me research all the schools and making sure I hear everybody out."

With the prior relationships his family has with the coaching staffs on his list, particularly Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Maryland, Robinson admits telling all but one staff he won't be signing with them will be rough.

"It's going to be hard to turn some of these coaches down because I have such great relationships with them, but I just have to make the right decision for me not just based on relationships because this is the most important decision in my life," he said. "It's definitely going to be a tough decision because I've known these guys for so long and they are family friends with my dad."

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