With the rumors swirling around about Stefanie Dolson having already decided on her college of choice, I decided the best way to get to the bottom of the story was to ask Stefanie myself.

The schedule makers cooperated as Dolson and Minisink Valley played at Washingtonville, N.Y. tonight, just 40 miles from Danbury so I got in my car and made the trip to see the game.

First for the details, Minisink jumped out to a 28-0 (yes that is correct, 28-0) lead and won 53-25. It was 44-9 at the end of three quarters before the Minisink stars, Dolson included, got the rest of the night off.

Dolson didn't play for the final 3 1/2 minutes of the second quarter so in 20 1/2 minutes she had 21 points (on 8 of 20 shooting) with 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks. Dolson showed off her perimeter game and was at her best in the third quarter when she had 7 points, 7 rebounds, two assists, a steal and two blocks. The blocks were rather impressive as she stood her ground defensively and when she was challenged by the undersized Washingtonville players, she merely snared the ball with both hands. Dolson missed some easy shots, something she was not happy about but was 5 for 5 from the free throw line. She could have easily had seven or eight assists but her teammates missed some gimmes as well.

She wears the same number (31) as current UConn center Tina Charles but her game reminds me more of Stanford's Jayne Appel with remarkable hands and a variety of post moves. She has a similar bubbly personality that I saw dealings with Appel last year after the two UConn/Stanford games and Stanford's season opener against Yale.

Now for the other stuff. Dolson has not committed to a school yet - or at least she was not ready to have her college of choice be put out there just yet. She said her final five schools are UConn, Maryland, Rutgers, Duke and Penn State. That was the only concrete info she wanted to divulge which is understandable because the right thing is to notify the coaches who spent their time recruiting her before spilling the beans to a journalist she was meeting for the first time.

Here's what she had to say about the process.

"I'm pretty close. It's been a long process, very overwhelming. It's been fun. I'm close."

When I asked her "are you close as in a week or two close, a day close ..." She laughed and said "I can't say."

I stated that it appears she made her decision but you haven't told everybody yet she said "maybe" with a giggle.

Dolson has visited all five schools. She was at UConn in mid-September and took in the UConn football game against Virginia on Sept. 13. She actually notified one school already that they are out of the mix but was reluctant to say which school it was.

"I already made one (call) but I am going to make the other ones after I tell the one (coach) yes," Dolson said.

So what is Dolson looking for?

"A program that will take me where I want to go for basketball, one that will make me the best player I can be and it has to feel right. I can't go to college and feel uneasy."

So that's the deal. Before anybody e-mails me and asks me where she is leaning, don't. As I have said before, I struggled to read the minds of 16-year-old girls when I was 16 and the years have done little to aid me in knowing what goes through the minds of teen-age girls. I will say this, I will be stunned if Dolson's commitment is not made public before we bid adieu to 2008. Her cryptic smile and playful gleam in her eyes when I tried to narrow down a time frame for her decision led me to believe it will come sooner rather than later.