FREELAND — Tori Jankoska knew she wanted to play college basketball in Michigan, and she knew she wanted to play at the highest level possible.
So when the state’s two Big Ten women’s basketball programs both made her an offer after her freshman season at Freeland, she saw no reason to wait.
Jankoska, a 15-year-old sophomore-to-be, gave her verbal commitment to Michigan State Monday, ending her recruiting process with three seasons of high school basketball still to play.
It’s a big relief,” Jankoska said of committing. “But I’m excited too.”
Jankoska averaged more than 13 points a game as a freshman in the Falcons’ backcourt, helping Freeland compile 23-3 record and advance to the state semifinals. She was named a first-team all TVC Central and first-team All area selection.
Jankoska got on MSU’s recruiting radar when she attended the school’s two-day elite players camp in late June. Right afterward, she was back at Michigan with her Freeland AAU team for MSU’s team camp. Coach Tom Zolinski said MSU head coach Suzy Merchant and her staff watched every one of Jankoska’s games at the camp.
“They’ve seen her quite a bit,” Zolinski said.
After taking a campus trip to Michigan, Jankoska and her family went to East Lansing to tour the campus and meet with the coaching staff. It was then that Jankoska told Merchant she plans to suit up for the Spartans in the fall of 2013 as a point guard.
“She talks about needing a one and a five, and that I would be a one in three years,” Jankoska said of Merchant. “And we seem like we have a lot in common. She’s upbeat”
Jankoska is the second area girls basketball player to commit to Michigan State in the last year, after Midland Dow’s Becca Mills, a rising senior, committed last year.
Mills and Jankoska play together on the Midland Fastbreak AAU team, and Jankoska said the prospect of playing with Mills for two seasons was enticing.
“We just play so well together,” Jankoska said. “She kind of talked me into it. If I get to play with her for two years, it’ll be awesome.”
Jankoska said she’s already grown two inches since the high school basketball season, and now stands a 5-foot-8. But it was her speed, ballhandling and some intangibles that made her stand out to college coaches, Zolinski said.
“She’s always handled the ball well and we’ve really worked hard on her shot,” Zolinski said. “I think what really caught Suzy’s eye was competitiveness and leadership.
“Tori’s a great player, but who would imagine at age 15 having that offer.”