Stokes begins official visits next weekend

The stretch drive of the Kiah Stokes Recruiting Experience is about to begin.An all-state basketball player at defending Class 4A state champion Linn-Mar High School, Stokes will take the first of at least four official college visits next weekend, when she visits the University of Tennessee.“I'm hoping the visits help me sort out what I'm looking for,” Stokes said Saturday after leading Linn-Mar to a third-place finish at the Warrior Invitational volleyball tournament at Cedar Rapids Washington.“I hope one of them feels right.”Next weekend's voyage to Knoxville marks the first of four visits in a six-week span. Stokes will visit Maryland (Sept. 24-26), Georgia (Oct. 8-10) and defending national champion Connecticut (Oct. 15-17).A fifth visit - to Iowa, Notre Dame or Oklahoma - is a possibility. Stokes would like to commit by November.“She's getting bombarded,” said her father, former Iowa men's basketball star Greg Stokes. “She's starting to turn her (cell) phone off a lot.”The visits will force Stokes to miss several volleyball tournaments.A 6-foot-3 post who is ranked the 42nd-best senior in the nation by ESPN's hoopgurlz.com, Stokes represented USA Basketball on a Junior Olympic 3-on-3 team that captured a bronze medal at Singapore.“It was a good experience,” she said. “I was disappointed with the bronze, but it was more fun than I thought it would be. It was weird getting used to a 10-second shot clock.”