Fitzgerald following in the footsteps

Mike Fitzgerald will carry the torch of the Cadets. He's another St. Thomas Academy athlete who will receive a basketball scholarship and yet another that will head to the division one level. Mike recently picked up four more scholarship offers and the list should continue to grow.

As a 6-foot-5, 175 pound shooting wing Fitzgerald is familiar with the recruiting game as his older brother went through the process not that long ago. Dan Fitzgerald signed with Tulane out of high school before traveling back to the upper Midwest. After another recruitment of sorts Dan landed at Marquette after his freshman year in New Orleans.

Dan was one of several St. Thomas Academy athletes to receive division one scholarships over the years. Sure folks remember David Hicks who is at Long Island, Bryce Webster who initially went to Minnesota, Matt Lee who attended Bradley, Isaac Rosefelt who played at Bowling Green and then the University of St. Thomas, Devon Gilchrist who went to Colorado, and we can even back to 1948 when John Horan was on his way to the NBA.

When he signs this fall Mike will join this impressive list. This past year at St. Thomas Mike averaged 14.3 points per game scoring in double figures in 23 of the 31 Cadet contests. He put up a season high 36 points against Mahtomedi and another 29 in a conference game against Simley. This spring he joined up with the Howard Pulley Panthers and received his first scholarship offer from Wisconsin-Green Bay. Now he has added several other offers.

"South Dakota has now offered Mike," said Cadet assistant coach Tony Yazbeck. "Wofford has also offered, Air Force has a spot for Mike on their team, and Weber State has extended an offer. I also believe that Northeastern is on the verge of offering."

Several other schools remain interested. Mike went to the Northwestern's camp and they will watch Mike closely in Orlando as well as Kansas City in the coming weeks. DePaul, Santa Clara, and Loyola-Chicago have also watched Mike closely.