Cinderella FGCU hoping to lure Linn-Mar's Lassen

You might have heard of one of the schools putting a recruiting full-court press on Linn-Mar's Matt Lassen right now.It's Florida Coast something, Gulf Coast something, Florida Gulf something. Florida Gulf Coast, that's it.Yeah, THAT Florida Gulf Coast. The school that's the toast of college basketball, the first 15 seed to advance to the Sweet 16, led by the young head coach (Andy Enfield) with the supermodel wife, a guy who was a multi-millionaire tech entrepreneur before deciding he wanted to get back into hoops."Kind of ironic they're doing so well," Lassen said. "Two days after I got released at Albany (in late February), they called me. They said they were definitely interested in me. It's fun to see them doing stuff like they're doing. That's definitely a goal of mine, to play in the NCAA tournament."FGCU has Iowa ties in assistant coach Marty Richter, a Waterloo native and Simpson College graduate. He's been the main guy with Lassen's recruitment, though Lassen also has spoken with Enfield.The funny thing is the 6-foot-5 senior wing has little desire be part of this great underdog story. The reason he didn't sign with Division I Albany (N.Y.), after committing there as a junior, was to go to a school that's not so far away.Wherever that might be. Lassen, who played in Wednesday night's Eastern Iowa All-Star Game at Iowa City West, doesn't have too much of a clue where his college basketball future lies."Definitely a different feeling," he said. "I had my mind made up for so long. This is a new experience, and I'm just trying to take it all in. Hopefully it will work out for the best."Lassen, who averaged 10.6 points this past season, has been hampered by a broken bone in his foot. He just got out of a walking boot and has been cleared by doctors to begin playing full-bore again.He said he has a visit set up next week to Northern Iowa, where he thinks a scholarship eventually could be available. D-I Nebraska-Omaha also is a possibility, as is Division II Minnesota State.And, once again, Florida Gulf Coast appears to be out. Believe it or not."The biggest thing for me is to stay close to home," Lassen said.Elite Sports USA put on the Eastern Iowa All-Star Game for a third year. It was actually all-star games, with a girls' game first, followed by a boys' game.Forty players participated. There also were slam dunk and 3-point shooting contests.