Every other week during the winter, Christ the King’s Isaiah Lewis, one of the nation’s top junior guards, takes us with him on his journey for a city and state Federation championship. In this exclusive diary for NYPost.com, the multi-talented 6-foot-3 Lewis talks about his plans to pick a college on his 17th birthday and how the Royals are preparing for next week’s STOP-DWI Holiday Classic in Binghamton, N.Y.
Everything’s going good as far as basketball and school. My first report card I did really well, I got an 81 average. On the court, I’m just improving and getting better every day. There’s a lot of limelight this year, we’re a nationally ranked team. I’m going to have a lot of pressure on me, but I don’t see it as pressure. I just see it as another big game or another big tournament.
As far as recruiting, I’m thinking about committing on my 17th birthday, which is Monday. Kansas, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Florida and Ohio State are in the mix right now. I’m still finalizing everything with my dad, we’re talking about it. I haven’t made it official yet.
I know about all the schools recruiting me. I haven’t visited all of them, but I talked to all the head coaches. I talked to (Louisville) Coach (Rick) Pitino, I talked to (Kansas) Coach (Bill) Self, I talked to Memphis coach (Josh) Pastner, I talked to Florida coach (Billy) Donovan. That’s really what matters. Wherever I go, I won’t be upset what I see. Those are big-time programs.
I have a feeling where I want to go, I may as well decide now. Me and my dad are going to sit down and talk about it. I have to make sure where I commit is where I really want to go.
My friend Brannen (Greene of Georgia) committed to Kansas today. Everybody’s been calling me about my commitment because he said in all his interviews and I say in all my interviews we want to go to school together. He called me an hour ago, he’s trying to recruit me about Kansas. Brannen is one of my best friends, but I can’t commit (to Kansas) because he committed (there). I have to do what’s best for me. I’m going to make the best decision for me at the end of the day.
I just talked to (Kansas assistant) coach (Joe) Dooley last night. He’s in California. They’re playing USC on the 22nd. Him and Coach Self are gonna call me (on Wednesday). I’m looking forward to talking to Coach Self and hearing what he has to say.
I don’t want it to be that big and crazy. A lot of websites asked me to commit with them, I told them I don’t know. I don’t want to do it with one and not the other. I’m going to call all the head coaches, thank them for recruiting me, and I’m gonna call the coach I’m committing to last. After that, I’ll announce it on Twitter. Pretty simple.
I just want to continue to get better. I have some high goals for myself and my team this year, to win state and things like that.
We go to (the STOP-DWI Holiday Class) Binghamton on the 27th. We’re practicing this whole week. We’re preparing real hard. A lot was on me and (teammate) Omar (Calhoun) when we lost to Boys & Girls. There’s a lot of negative talk — we’re overrated, we’re not that good. We know what’s going in the city, we know people are down on us.
Our practices have been real intense, coaches getting after us, we’re getting after it. We watched film of the Boys & Girls game and we were disgusted. We didn’t finish the game, We watched the first half and then we went and practiced. We know what we have to do.
Check back with Isaiah Lewis every other Wednesday during the season. His next diary will run Jan. 4.