Summer Runnin'

Tyreke Evans, a 6'5" guard at American Christian in Aston, Pa., is Rivals' fifth-ranked recruit of the class of 2008. In his second diary entry for SI, the junior looks forward to a busy summer of hoops as decision time approaches.

MY HIGH SCHOOL SEASON IS IN THE BOOKS, which means it's time to play some AAU ball. I love AAU. The competition gets tougher, and the game opens up. High school basketball is a lot like college, where they call a lot of plays and run a lot of half-court sets. AAU games are more up and down, a lot of fast-breaking. Last weekend my team, Team Final, played in a tournament in San Francisco, and this weekend we're going to Atlanta. My team is also traveling to Paris and to Japan to play against local teams over there. And I'll be trying out for the under-19 national team in June, so if I make that, I'll be playing in the world championships this July in Serbia.

I'M ALSO GOING TO HIT THE BIG CAMPS THIS SUMMER—I'm really looking forward to the Kobe Bryant camp in L.A.—and see how I stack up against the best in the country. The competition at these camps is fierce. Everyone is looking around, wondering who the best is and trying to show the world that they are.

RIGHT NOW SCHOOL IS WINDING DOWN. My favorite class is math. If I didn't have basketball, I think I would like to be an agent, to stay close to the sport. Aside from schoolwork, I spend most of my free time in the gym. My older brother Reggie [he's 34] and I work out together, and we're trying to improve my defense—he attacks and forces me to work on my footwork. Reggie is a great player, but he can't take me anymore. I'm the big brother now!

THE RECRUITING PROCESS HAS HEATED UP. I have made a couple trips to schools, to Louisville and Villanova, but I'm not planning any more for a while. I just don't have the time! Reggie has narrowed my list down to eight, and we're probably going to sit down and talk about it soon, but honestly I'm still not planning on making any decisions on where to go until my AAU season ends in September. I will say, I was pretty impressed with those two schools. Coach [Jay] Wright at Villanova and coach [Rick] Pitino at Louisville both made great pitches. Sometimes you have to take what the coaches say with a grain of salt, though. They can tell you whatever they want now about how big a role you will have on the team or how many minutes you are going to play for them. But once you sign, they own you.