Jared Cohen
It came down to the wire.
Pinnacle’s 2014 swingman Dorian Pickens and his family has been waiting for has seemed like forever to hear from Stanford admissions to see if he had been accepted into the school. With Wednesday being the last day of early signing period, Pickens wondered if he would be accepted in time to be able to sign.
Sure enough on Wednesday morning, he heard back from Stanford admissions, was accepted, and decided to sign and make it official. He will suit of for Stanford basketball at the next level after high school.
“It was really an easy decision for me,” Pickens told Sports360AZ.com on Wednesday. “Academic-wise, you know, school, beautiful campus, it’s pretty self-explanatory.”
“Basketball-wise, they are really an up-and-coming program,” he added. “In my class they already have four top 100 signees including myself so with the advantage of me being able to come in and contribute huge minutes, it just seemed like the right fit.”
One of those top 100 signees that Stanford already inked is Phoenix Sunnyslope’s Michael Humphrey. Pickens explained that the two of them have been talking and are excited to suit up with one-another.
“We have been talking a lot about Stanford and me coming over there,” Pickens mentioned. “I am grateful to be a teammate of his now.”
There have been a lot of Stanford players in the past that fit the mold of a player like Pickens. A long athletic wing player who likes to run the floor and can shoot from all over. Pickens admitted he could almost be a combination of Josh Childress and Casey Jacobson on the floor.
“Maybe even a little Landry Fields in there,” Pickens said. “It definitely fits my playing style.”
With the college decision now out of the way, Pickens now focuses on his senior season at Pinnacle. He and the Pioneers just fell short of the schools first state championship in school history to Corona del Sol last season. Pickens says they have every intention of making their way back.
“As a team were are working on some defensive schemes and stuff like that,” he explained. “We are really coming together and looking to get that state championship.”
