Hawkins, an integral part of Estrella's 2007-08 state championship team and son of former NBA All-Star Hersey Hawkins, has verbally committed to play basketball for Arizona State University in 2010. Corey is only a junior.

"I felt like it was the right decision," said Corey, who took multiple unofficial visits to the Tempe campus. "I've been to see them two or three times, got to see the campus, meet the athletic director, Lisa Love, the academic director, talk with the coaches, meet the players. I thought about it for quite a while and I just felt it was right. I didn't feel like I had to rush, but I didn't feel like I needed to delay my decision if I felt it was right."

Hawkins can't officially sign his letter of intent until his senior year, but with so many positives working in his favor, committing to ASU was a no-brainer.

"Everything is just too right," Estrella head basketball coach Ty Amundsen said. "It's such a good situation for him, he gets to stay close to home, gets to be around his family and friends.

"Corey wanted to be in the Pac-10, and this fits all of his needs academically, athletically. There is no reason for him to go across the country if he can get it right here in his own backyard."

Hawkins got offers from many other schools, including Louisiana State, Southern California, Stanford and Texas. Even the University of Arizona showed some interest, but everyone else was just a little too late.

"ASU offered him a scholarship right after the state championship, about a month or two after it," Amundsen said. "They were the first on board and ever since then we've just developed the relationship with the coaches and the school, and it just seemed like everything was perfect."

Hawkins' older brother, Brandon, was also part of the Wolves' championship run and graduated in May. He's since moved on to play Division I basketball at the University of Pacific in Stockton, Calif. He said he's excited for his brother, even though he didn't learn the news firsthand.

"We had been talking a few days ago and he told me he was really thinking about going there," Brandon said. "I just told him to let me know when he did, and I hear from my dad two days later; he called and told me and I had no idea what he was talking about."

Despite not hearing about it straight from Corey, Brandon is happy for his younger brother.

"It's just him, he was caught up in the moment," Brandon said. "But I'm really excited to hear it because one, just that stability, he gets to go out there for two years and just play, he doesn't have to worry about anything now, he just goes out there and does what he loves to do and does it well."

Team leaders

Brandon and Corey were a dynamic duo for Estrella in their run to the title, which was won over Payson, 64-51. For the season Brandon averaged 23.8 points per game, while Corey pumped in 22.2. Corey was first in rebounds (7.6), steals (4.8) and blocks (1.5), and second in assists (4.0).

With Brandon gone, Corey will move into his position at point guard. Other than that change, Amundsen is not going to adjust anything with Corey's game except to make him better.

"He's going to have to play a little bit of point guard out of necessity this year for me, and next year, just because he handles the ball so well," Amundsen said. "I don't know if ASU is going to use him as a point guard, they may use him as a shooting guard, so it won't really change what I do offensively or defensively with him, I'm just going to continue to develop him and make him the best player he can possibly be so that he'll be ready when he gets into ASU."

Hawkins is already developing a good relationship with Sun Devils' head coach Herb Sendek. The two chatted earlier this week and talk about anything, not just basketball, Corey said.

"He calls to see how my day is going and we'll just talk, so it's real nice," Corey said. "He's turning the program in a positive direction. He's not only helping the players out on the court, he's helping them with their grades. They're team GPA is over 3.0, so he's doing things on and off the court to improve the university."

Hawkins has been a two-sport star at Estrella, competing in golf during the spring season. He said it's a relaxing sport after the rigors of club and high school basketball, so he'll continue to do it even though he's committing himself to playing basketball at ASU.

"I'm still going to try to get better, stronger, faster, all that good stuff," Corey said about basketball. "I still want to focus on high school and winning state, because that's still important to me because I'm still here, so I'm going to make the most of what I have, but at the same time I know I need to start getting ready for college basketball right now because it's such a big step from high school to college. I just need to start working out harder, practice more specific things on my game with my dad and my coaches."

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