ESPN RISE

On the surface, it seemed like any other basketball recruiting setup:

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Kevin Coble chose Northwestern because of its academic reputation.

Lucas Kuipers was a versatile, 6-foot-8 forward at Mayo High School in Rochester, Minn. -- not a blue-chip prospect, but certainly Division-I caliber. Long before his 2008 graduation, he received letters, calls and offers from colleges nationwide. Weighing his options, Kuipers considered all the usual factors -- everything from program strength to life on campus.

But he leaned on one element a little more than the others:

Academics.

"Academics was almost all of it, actually," said Kuipers, a 4.0 student in his prep days, who now is aiming to go to medical school. "I decided early on that academics are going to be the things that last longer. My body's going to wear out, but my mind is going to last a lot longer than that."

His plan, then: To "try to get the best school possible, and then try to compound that with a good basketball program -- or at least the best basketball program I can do with outstanding academics."

After considering top-rated institutions such as Northwestern, William & Mary and Lehigh, Kuipers landed on Rice University in Houston -- the same school his sister Rachel (a 2008 college graduate) chose, and a college that offers solid Conference-USA competition on the court, along with an education that placed 17th overall in this year's U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings.

Of course, a focus on academics isn't unique to Kuipers. Although not every studious basketball player makes it his top priority, many recruits strongly consider classroom and connections when choosing a college.

Some aim for a mix of school and sports -- like Kevin Coble, a Northwestern junior and 2008-09 second-team All-Big Ten selection. Although Coble (from Scottsdale Christian Academy in Scottsdale, Ariz.) said he didn't go out of his way to eliminate colleges because of scholastics, he certainly used them "as a filter" -- bringing the more highly regarded schools to the top.

That way Coble could find "a really good balance" between sports and school, which he felt Northwestern (a Big Ten college that tied for 12th in the U.S. News rankings) could provide.

Ditto teammate Sterling Williams, a 2008-09 Academic All-Big Ten honoree who went to Chicago's Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and whose mother, Sharon Williams, graduated from Northwestern Law School.

Williams said playing high-level college basketball was a dream, "but I realized at some point it would be over." So picking a top school like Northwestern "puts you in a good position to make a good life for yourself."

Sometimes, though, picking a good school isn't about the overall rankings. Sometimes it's about a specific program within the college.

Kendall Griffin, a 6-5 sophomore swingman with a 4.3 grade-point average at Avon (Ind.) High School, is being pursued by a number of strong Midwestern programs, including Northwestern and Indiana.

Right now, Griffin said he has two top choices, Purdue and Butler. The reasons: They're close to home, they're NCAA tournament and top-25 mainstays, and …

"I know that both of them have really good pharmacy schools," Griffin said. "I guess whichever school I choose is going to have a good [basketball program]. … It's also going to have to have a good pharmacy school, too."

There's another element, still, that involves life outside the classroom itself. Consider Mark Titus, a former standout at Brownsburg (Ind.) High School. Instead of playing at a tiny Indiana college or choosing from some smaller Division-I programs, Titus walked on at Ohio State University -- not for its academic reputation (although the Columbus, Ohio, school is considered a Tier 1 university by U.S. News and was ranked 56th in the nation), but for the school's size (more than 50,000 undergraduates and graduates).

"I actually based my entire college decision based on being happy outside basketball," Titus said. "That's actually why I chose a bigger school."

But it wasn't just about short-term happiness. Ohio State's enormity also creates an endless string of connections -- which helped Titus' Club Trillion blog (clubtrillion.com; subtitled: "Life views from the end of the bench") go from personal diary to Internet sensation. The blog has earned him cheers and autograph requests, on campus and off. It even landed him on ESPN columnist Bill Simmons' B.S. Report podcast, twice.

And although Titus said he never imagined the blog becoming his claim to fame, he knows its success is due to his college choice.

"There's a lot of networking that goes on here that you can't get at other schools," said Titus, a junior who also plans on writing a book about his experience after he's done.

Not that networking always involves size. Kuipers -- who in part picked Rice because of its smaller enrollment (just more than 5,000, including graduate students) -- points to his school's renowned name, as well as its national and international alumni base, as advantages.

"[Rice has] channels of people that are willing to help you out in high places, where you're looking to go," Kuipers said. "It's a benefit -- a very large benefit of being here."

Going to top-level schools isn't always easy, though. Kuipers -- still a freshman -- said "it's very difficult to juggle everything at the same time."

Still, for players who make the leap and place considerable focus on grades or non-basketball extracurriculars, the decision can pay off, long after their hoops careers are over.

"I think if an athlete is able to maintain a high level of academics while maintaining his [basketball] ability," Kuipers said, "that really shows a lot of things. It shows the future employer a lot of key aspects about you, in regard to being able to manage your time and knowing you'll be able to get things done.

"Being able to juggle everything and still being able to come out unscathed … I think it'll help you in the end."

Patrick Dorsey is a high school sports reporter for The Indianapolis Star.