Schools lining up for Cheek

When it comes to scoring the basketball, few do it better in the class of 2009 than New Jersey native Dominic Cheek. Now in the final months of AAU basketball and individual camps, the five-star guard is one of the elder statesmen on the circuit and he loves every minute of it.

The 6-foot-5, 170-pound guard from St. Anthony High School in Jersey City said he's trying to enjoy every last moment he has over the next two months.

"I don't feel like an old man. Not yet, at least," Cheek said. "This is the last year. I want to make the best of it. I want to win every tournament and get my name out there even more and make sure I make the McDonald's All-American game. I think I need to work on every part of my game. I'm going to do that right now."

The five-star guard is currently at the NBPA Top 100 camp and trying his very best to prove his worth as one of the elite guards in the nation and punching his ticket for the prestigious all-star game next March.

Outside of playing at a level that keeps him at the top of his game, Cheek has been listening to recruiting pitches from some of the top teams in the nation.

"Recruiting is going good right about now. New schools are getting into the picture just about every day. Memphis just called. Louisville just called the other day and they want to recruit me," Cheek said. "Everyone thought I was going to go to North Carolina so they backed off a little bit. Now everyone is jumping back in the picture."

Everyone includes Villanova, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Texas, Southern Cal, Rutgers, Seton Hall, "and I could probably name just about every school out there."

Cheek said he isn't in a rush to make any sort of decisions about the direction his recruitment goes either.

"I'm going to take my time. I think it's smart. Sometimes [recruiting] gets a little annoying but I feel like I can wait if I need to," Cheek said. "I'm trying to look for a school where I can win a National Championship. That's very important. I'm used to winning in high school. I'm used to winning in AAU. I want to win in college.

"I'm trying to find somewhere that I can get to the next level from and make a big impact. I need to go to a school that has a great education just in case basketball doesn't work out for me so I can have something to fall back on. There are a lot of schools that are really far away from me so I'm going to try and take as many visits as I can. Location shouldn't be a problem."