Steve Leven is a solid 6-5, 190 swingman who last season played for the Newport School in Kensington, MD. We first saw this senior sharp shooter at the St. James (MD) Invitational in February. He was very impressive as Newport battled national champion Oak Hill Academy in the tournament finals.

The Sydney, Australia native was recently re-classified as a junior and will be attending the Laurinburg Institute in Laurinburg, NC, for his senior year. This is case where a prep coach, Newport's Chris Chaney, thinks Leven's interests will be best be served in NC. Chaney is letting a player go because it's in the young man's best interest even though Newport would love to have Steve again on its squad.

Coach Chaney is still available for this young man. One way he's helping is by coordinating the recruiting contacts.

Leven said some of the schools he's considering are Indiana, Virginia, Charlotte, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and California. Leven has had unofficial visits at Indiana and Virginia.

"But, Coach Chaney has a better handle on that," Leven added. "There are more ACC, Pac-10 and SEC schools involved than the ones I've listed."

Leven, who plays with the Potomac Valley Blue Devils, will next be at the Nike All-American camp, Peach Jam, the National AAUs, Super Showcase and the Charlie Weber Invitational in September at College Park, MD.

"I'm going home to Australia in August and expect I'm make my choice either just before I leave and when I return."

The young man has a pretty good support system to help him through this process. In addition to Coach Chaney, his parents, his guardian family and his AAU coach, Robert Jesse, are there to the extent he needs their advice. "But really, it'll be my decision," he added.

In making the decision, Leven said location witll be a factor, as will the school's atmosphere, the availability of "court time" and the educational opportunites.

He said he has a 2.4 GPA and got a 990 when he took the SAT originally. "I think I'd like to major in Sports Science or Business Management," Leven said.

Leven had a little bit of trouble Saturday. It seems a pizza from one of the major chains kept him in the one area of the locker room while his team was playing. "Someone told me later that wasn't a good choice for food," he said after competing in the slam dunk preliminary round later that day.

He said, as far as weather is concerned, Sydney and southern California have a lot in common. "Australian players seem to be stronger in the game's fundamentals while the American game is much, much faster," he said.