Miles Plumlee said he kept it a secret, but since he was a kid his dream has been to attend Stanford University.
That dream will become reality in the fall of 2008, as the former Warsaw Community High School basketball player who transferred to Christ School in North Carolina has committed to play hoops in the Pac-10 for coach Trent Johnson."Going to Stanford has been a dream of mine ever since I was little and my mom talked about it the first time," said Plumlee, who will study engineering and play basketball on a full-ride scholarship. "I didn't tell anybody about it, but it's always been a dream of mine to go there. I really like both sides of it. I knew what I wanted to study. Stanford is a very good school academically, plus they're very competitive in sports."
Stanford is the second-ranked engineering school in the United States and its athletic teams play in the same conference as Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State.
Plumlee, listed at 6-foot-9 and 205 pounds, finished this past school year at Christ School with a 4.3 GPA and will join a Division I basketball program that has won four conference championships in the past eight years.
"I'm very comfortable with Coach Johnson," said Plumlee, who scored a game-high 23 points as Christ School won its second state championship in three years, posting a 29-4 record this past season. "He's the kind of coach that I know will push me and make me the best player I can be."
Though he's nearly 6-10, Plumlee said Johnson will play him on the wing, as a number of major Divison I college coaches were impressed with his ability to handle the ball and shoot outside for a player his size.
"I'm really excited because Coach Johnson said he wants to play me at the three (forward/guard position)," said Plumlee. "I'll be able to play some inside and use my ability to shoot the three. I know I still have work to do, but I'm really excited about being able to play the three position."
Plumlee turned down scholarship offers from Virginia, Miami, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Indiana, Northwestern, Penn State, Xavier and Georgetown.
Most recently, Ohio State coach Thad Matta showed interest. Plumlee was going to visit the school in Columbus, Ohio, but had to call back and notify officials of his decision to play for Stanford.
"I fell in love with the school the first time I was there," Plumlee said of Stanford, located in Palo Alto, Calif. "It's a beautiful campus, and I'm very comfortable with the coaches and players there. I'm excited about studying engineering there, and as far as basketball, I think it's the best fit for me."
According to information was given on a visit Stanford, he said nearly 25,000 apply each year to the school, but only a little more than 1,000 are admitted. Stanford currently has approximately 6,000 students.
Notable Stanford alumni include golfing icon Tiger Woods, former tennis star John McEnroe and former NFL standouts John Elway and Jim Plunkett.
Stanford also is showing interest in Plumlee's younger brother, 6-10 junior-to-be Mason Plumlee, who recently has gotten the attention of North Carolina coach Roy Williams.
Both Plumlees recently attended an invitation-only camp at the University of Virginia that is put on by the NBA Players' Association.
Only 100 players from around the country are invited.
In one game (each player on a team plays half a game) Miles Plumlee scored 19 points, including a 4-of-5 effort from three-point range and drew a lot of attention from those at the camp.
Both Miles and Mason Plumlee will return to play for Christ School, hoping to lead the Greenies to their fourth state championship in four years.
Miles will return for his senior season without the pressure of having to pick a college.
"It's a lot of pressure off me," said Miles. "I know where I'm going and I'm very excited about going to Stanford. Now I can focus on getting ready to go to Stanford, in the classroom and on the basketball court."
