After a season that saw an unexpected position change, Parker (Colo.) guard Jake Holtzman is beginning what should be a busy summer league season on Thursday.
Holtzman and his teammates on the Colorado Hawks will take off for Dallas and the Adidas Tournament on Thursday evening. It will mark the summer season in which Holtzman hopes to catch the attention of college recruiters to add to his current scholarship offer from Denver University.
Before he boarded the plane this week, Holtzman was visited by the coaching staff from the University of Wyoming.
"Coach (Larry) Shyatt talked a lot about Wyoming today," Holtzman said. "It sounds like a great place. I was able to go up and visit last summer. We talked about the renovations to their arena and what this summer will look like. He gave me advice to be pro-active. He has been doing it a long time, so he had some good words for me in what I should look for this summer.
"They are looking for a wing in my class," Holtzman added. "They think I would probably fit that bill and they are looking forward to watching me this summer. They didn't give any clear indications of a scholarship offer, but we'll see as the summer progresses."
This winter Holtzman was a part of a Chaparral team that started off slow as it adjusted to the loss of its point guard, Brandon Malone, to an ACL injury during the football season. Holtzman moved over to the point and helped the team make a trip to the Sweet 16 where it lost in double overtime to Rangeview. Holtzman was named First Team All-Conference and Second Team All-State after averaging 16 points, six rebounds, and three assists per contest.
"I worked really hard and improved my ball handling this year," Holtzman said. "I think I improved my shooting, and my consistency. I can keep getting better and that is the goal. This summer I would like to improve on getting stronger, bigger and getting that weight up a little bit while continuing to improve on my ball handling."
In addition to Wyoming and Denver, Holtzman has spoken to Davidson, Cal-Poly, Portland and Stanford. Another interesting set of options could be a number of Ivy League schools which have been in contact. It all makes for a very interesting decision making process.
"You can't ever exclude a Harvard or Stanford," Holtzman said. "Anywhere I can play basketball and get a good education is great. I think I am pretty open to moving away from home. I would look forward to the challenge and the opportunity to go to one of those schools would be great. But staying close to home would great too because I have a great family and it would be awesome to let them come to my games."
Holtzman said he has no plans set for visits this summer yet. He expects to play in tournaments this April and then narrow down a list of schools he wants to visit by June.
Jake Holtzman
Holtzman and his teammates on the Colorado Hawks will take off for Dallas and the Adidas Tournament on Thursday evening. It will mark the summer season in which Holtzman hopes to catch the attention of college recruiters to add to his current scholarship offer from Denver University.
Before he boarded the plane this week, Holtzman was visited by the coaching staff from the University of Wyoming.
"Coach (Larry) Shyatt talked a lot about Wyoming today," Holtzman said. "It sounds like a great place. I was able to go up and visit last summer. We talked about the renovations to their arena and what this summer will look like. He gave me advice to be pro-active. He has been doing it a long time, so he had some good words for me in what I should look for this summer.
"They are looking for a wing in my class," Holtzman added. "They think I would probably fit that bill and they are looking forward to watching me this summer. They didn't give any clear indications of a scholarship offer, but we'll see as the summer progresses."
This winter Holtzman was a part of a Chaparral team that started off slow as it adjusted to the loss of its point guard, Brandon Malone, to an ACL injury during the football season. Holtzman moved over to the point and helped the team make a trip to the Sweet 16 where it lost in double overtime to Rangeview. Holtzman was named First Team All-Conference and Second Team All-State after averaging 16 points, six rebounds, and three assists per contest.
"I worked really hard and improved my ball handling this year," Holtzman said. "I think I improved my shooting, and my consistency. I can keep getting better and that is the goal. This summer I would like to improve on getting stronger, bigger and getting that weight up a little bit while continuing to improve on my ball handling."
In addition to Wyoming and Denver, Holtzman has spoken to Davidson, Cal-Poly, Portland and Stanford. Another interesting set of options could be a number of Ivy League schools which have been in contact. It all makes for a very interesting decision making process.
"You can't ever exclude a Harvard or Stanford," Holtzman said. "Anywhere I can play basketball and get a good education is great. I think I am pretty open to moving away from home. I would look forward to the challenge and the opportunity to go to one of those schools would be great. But staying close to home would great too because I have a great family and it would be awesome to let them come to my games."
Holtzman said he has no plans set for visits this summer yet. He expects to play in tournaments this April and then narrow down a list of schools he wants to visit by June.
Jake Holtzman
