Josh Owens, a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, moved one step closer to playing his college basketball for the Quakers this weekend. But Owens' status is still very much up in the air until he gives a commitment to one of his suitors.
With that decision, Glen Miller will find out whether or not he has landed a player who could be the gem of the Ivy League Class of 2011.
There had been speculation that the 6-foot-8, 190-pound forward might make his decision in a matter of days after his official visit to Penn this weekend, but Owens indicated on Saturday that he might wait a bit more than that.
"It's my last visit," Owens said of his time with the Penn coaching staff. "I wasn't planning on making the decision before [visiting each school] - so in the next couple of weeks, hopefully I'll make my decision."
The Austell, Ga., native played at the four-spot on his high school team, and his coach compares his athleticism favorably to Exeter alum and Penn sophomore Cameron Lewis.
He has narrowed his list down to Penn, Stanford and Vanderbilt, having recently eliminated Notre Dame from consideration.
Vanderbilt and Stanford each play in higher-profile conferences than Penn - the Pacific-10 for the Cardinal and the Southeastern Conference for the Commodores - but each has also fallen on hard times in the past several years. Stanford has made the NCAA Tournament only once in the past four years after an impressive stretch, while the Commodores are a perpetual doormat in the powerhouse SEC.
If Owens is concerned about playing time, his best choice may not be the Pac-10. The Cardinal has a pair of 6-11 bruisers in its freshman class this year in the brothers Brook and Robin Lopez, complimenting 6-9 classmate Paul Will and highly regarded 6-8 sophomore Lawrence Hill behind a corps of upperclassmen in the frontcourt.
Vanderbilt has more minutes up for grabs after head coach Kevin Stallings inherited a team laden with upperclassmen this year. The Commodores only have two underclassmen capable of playing in the frontcourt, and neither the 6-7 freshman JeJuan Brown nor the 6-10 redshirt sophomore Davis Nwankwo are established commodities.
Penn falls somewhere in between, with a group of as many as five underclassmen who can eat up time up front - but without any who have seriously distanced themselves from the others.
After Owens' visit, the University's stock may be rising in his book.
"It's better than I expected and I'm having a lot of fun," he said. Miller "has great expectations for his team, I really like that."
Owens also said on Saturday that he intended to study business and that the Wharton School was an attractive option for him. Neither of the other schools remaining on his list offer an undergraduate business program.
--Staff writers Josh Wheeling and Josh Hirsch contributed reporting for this article
Correction: This story incorrectly said Stanford has made the NCAA Tournament only once in the past four years. In fact, Stanford made the tournament three out of the past four years
