Bjorklund chooses Tennessee

Although just beginning her junior season, University High basketball star Angie Bjorklund knows where she’s going to college.

Bjorklund on Thursday made an early oral commitment to attend storied University of Tennessee.

In so doing, she’s realizing a long-held dream.

“I’ve always wanted to go there,” Bjorklund said. “I don’t know how old I was, but the team was on TV all the time. I watch basketball on TV and I grew to love their team. They’ve always been a great program with a great tradition. “

Bjorklund, whose sister Jami is a freshman player for Gonzaga University, joins a select number of area women’s players who have joined high-profile Division I programs. Few players make their intentions felt before their senior year.

No program is more illustrious than Tennessee’s, coached since 1975 by Pat Summitt. The Volunteers have gone 882-172, the most wins by any Division I coach in either men’s or women’s college basketball, won six NCAA championships, and played in 16 Final Fours.

Summitt holds NCAA records for tournament appearances – 23 in succession – and wins. This year’s team has seven sophomores or freshmen who could still be there when Bjorklund arrives for the 2007-08 season.

“They have the best high school player in the country,” said Spokane Stars coach Ron Adams, of his summer player’s decision.

Bjorklund, the Greater Spokane League scoring champion as a sophomore, was a fourth-team Parade All-American and is ranked this year among the USA Today Top 25 prep players. Her season has been set back at least a month, however, because of a stress fracture in her tibia.

She said she started noticing the injury while playing with a men’s team in a 3-on-3 tournament.

“I was not wearing orthotics and the pounding might have caused it,” Bjorklund said. “I kept playing on shin splints. It was not very smart of me.”

It’s been a whirlwind ride for the 6-foot guard.

Last summer she attended a Tennessee camp with her high school coach, Mark Stinson. When Bjorklund was walking back to the dorm, Stinson called and said there was someone who wanted to meet her.

Summitt pulled up in her Mercedes and drove Bjorklund around the campus. “It was cool,” Bjorklund said.

Bjorklund said the camp showed how much work she still needs to do in order to play for the Vols.

Last month she and her father, Jim, took a trip for informal visits to a pair of other high-powered programs, the University of Connecticut and Duke, as well as Tennessee.

The visits made her decision more difficult, but also reinforced what she thought all along.

“Once I settled in and evaluated things,” she said, “it was clear where I wanted to go.”