Ollinger picks basketball, and Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS - The visitors kept coming in September. And so did the offers.

Amanda Ollinger could have picked an elite women's basketball program on either coast. Stanford wanted her. So did Florida.

In the end, she picked the snow over the beach.

'One thing about Amanda, she loves the four seasons of the year,” said her mother, Bonnie Ollinger. 'If she'd have gone somewhere warm, she'd have missed the snow.”

A junior two-sport all-stater at Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Ollinger orally committed Wednesday afternoon to the University of Iowa.

'I've been a Hawkeye fan since I was little,” she said. 'It was the perfect fit for me.”

A 6-foot-2 forward who averaged 18.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last year as a sophomore, Ollinger picked the Hawkeyes over some of the top programs in the nation.

The recruitment intensified through the past month, when Stanford and Florida joined the list of suitors, as did Louisville, Oklahoma, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa State. Kentucky got into the mix earlier in the summer.

Iowa had been one of Ollinger's first contacts, in volleyball as well as basketball. A powerful hitter, she presently ranks third in the state in kills per set, at 5.16.

'It's been an experience, for sure,” Ollinger said. 'Some nights, I'd get seven or eight calls. There was no way I could keep up. I just needed to step back and take one step at a time.

'I met a lot of really nice coaches along the way, but there's something about playing in front of your home state.”

Ollinger, who sports a grade point average above 4.0, intends to major in engineering or computer science.

She told Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder of her intention around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

'I think she was a little shocked,” Ollinger said. 'It was really special to tell her I was coming. We were both really happy.”

Bonnie called Amanda's recruitment 'an honor.

'It was a privilege to have those coaches in our home,” she said. 'We were coming back from Amanda's volleyball match Tuesday and she said, ‘What do you think about Iowa basketball?'

'We were all for it. We're Hawkeyes.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@sourcemedia.net