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Texas point guard is doing his homework

If you are recruiting four-star point guard Alex Robinson, there are a few things that you need to know. He would like to decide in the fall, and he's making sure what you say to him checks out.
Many prospects talk the talk about doing their research in the recruiting process, but Robinson walks the walk. A 6-foot-1 senior at Arlington (Texas) Timberview who currently ranks No. 71 in the class of 2014, Robinson is paying close attention to make sure what schools tell him during process is true.
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Not only is Robinson pouring over rosters and keeping track of other point guards schools are recruiting, he is keeping tabs on who is handling his recruitment. If it's not the head coach, he has some concerns.
"It's very important, because if they aren't recruiting me they are recruiting somebody else," Robinson told Rivals.com of how feels in regards to head coaches being involved in the recruiting process. "If he isn't hitting you up, he has to be hitting somebody up because that's his job."
Despite missing the end of July with a shoulder injury, Robinson is poised for a move up the rankings. He controls tempo, gets to the rim and believes his job is to set up scorers. That's why roster research is so important to him; he wants to be sure that there are guys there for him to help make plays.
In addition to online research, Robinson has done a good job of visiting programs. The only official he has set so far is to Texas A&M (weekend of Sept. 14) but he's taken recent visits to places such as Memphis, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh and TCU. He'll soon decide which of those schools to return to officially, and Florida State is very likely to get a visit.
Billy Kennedy and the Aggies have been there for a while -- Robinson visited unofficially last year -- and the senior floor general is a fan of their honesty and he's reciprocated.
"They are really up front with me," said Robinson. "I know when coaches are feeding me bullcrap and I told them I would be up front up with them too."
His visit to Pitt was just before the July live period, and he liked that the school is at the center of things.
"Pitt was pretty nice," said Robinson. "Their arena is pretty big and they tell me that they are like the NBA team because there isn't one there and they are in the middle of the city, which I like."
More recently, Robinson checked out Vanderbilt and Memphis.
"The campus was really nice and the facilities are nice," said Robinson of Vandy. "I like the player development program that they have going there.
"Memphis was nice. You can tell that it is a basketball school and a basketball area. They are losing Joe Jackson so they need a point. I got to play against him, he's strong."
Also high on Robinson's list is feeling comfortable at a school. Because they should have experience returning and he knows the lay of the land, Trent Johnson and TCU have been able to make a bit of a push.
"They have a lot of people there that I really play well with," said Robinson. "That comes back to that comfortable state too. It could be kind of like a Shane Larkin situation where he made a good choice and went somewhere with a lot of experienced guys. My freshman year everybody else would be like juniors and seniors."
A good student, Robinson cares about his academics but also knows he has to be smart from a basketball sense. So, playing time is a very important factor.
"I look at who is my competition," said Robinson. "I'm not scared of competition, but I want to know who I need to go through to start and I want to have the best opportunity I can. Also their playing style. Do they let their point guards play or put them in a box?"
Finally, Robinson doesn't have an exact timetable for when he will make his decision. But he will get it done in time for the early signing period and knows that he has to be able to envision himself at a place for the next four years.
"I'm really hoping that I'll have my decision made up after I take my visits," said Robinson. "I really don't want to sit on it because what's the point?
"If I can't picture myself living there for four years I can't go there. I know it's about basketball but if you aren't comfortable you can't play good basketball."
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