Long Island girls basketball stars looking for the 'perfect' school: It's not a slam dunk

Some Long Island student athletes may have spent their summer on the beach, some may have gone on a family vacation and still others travelled the country pursuing a coveted college scholarship offer. That's just what three basketball players did.

Baldwin’s Payton Dulin, North Babylon’s Jasmine McKay and Commack’s Sofia Vasselman are among the many high school senior-to-be players from LI competing for a  college scholarship.

Dulin would like a landing spot at a Division I school and is generating some offers. After speaking with multiple Division II and Division III coaches, Vasselman is leaning toward going Division III for reasons beyond just  basketball. McKay's  summer garnared a commitment to the University of New Haven, a Division II school in Connecticut.

All three girls may end up at different divisions, but they had similar journeys.  .

“I’ve always aspired to play at the highest level I can play at, I don’t want to settle,” Dulin said. “I just want to keep working to be the best I can be and now it’s getting closer. I’m going into my senior year so it’s like right there.”

Dulin spent three weeks away from home in July with her AAU team, playing against top competition in tournaments in places such as Indiana. Illinois and Kentucky.  Along the way she said she received  from schools she prefers to keep private, as she looks to become the latest member of her family to play in Division I.

“I try to play the game as if no one’s watching,” Dulin said. “I try my best to do that but sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it gets overwhelming but that’s a part of the process and that kind of helped me to by playing with pressure.”

Vasselman said it’s been stressful trying to pick the perfect school and playing in front of dozens of college coaches at tournaments. But at least she knew a little about the grueling travel. She had experienced it with her family when he older sister’s went through the grind.

“It’s literally your life,” Vasselman said. “I’ve never had a summer vacation, I’ve never gone places in summer because I literally just play basketball over the summer.”

Vasselman said she has Division II and Division III offers but thinks she’ll commit to a Division III SUNY program. After the first tournament her AAU team played this summer, she said her phone was “blowing up.”

“That’s when I finally realized this is becoming real,” Vasselman said. “This is the year that everyone talks about and now this is my year.”

Vasselman remembers being a “little kid with a huge headband” with Division I aspirations. But with the few players ending up in  Division I, she wants to find the perfect school.

“It’s crazy that you are even getting the opportunity and then when you get older, you realize it’s so rare,” Vasselman said. “It’s good enough that I’m getting offers. Obviously, it (stinks) if I’m being completely honest to say I’m not going Division I because I’ve always wanted to, but it’s a job wherever and I’m going to take it as seriously as I would if I was going D I.”

McKay and Vasselman were AAU teammates this summer. The two knew that although they were working together, they were also competing against one another for attention from college coaches.

“There’s no friends on the court in between the lines,” McKay said. “Off the court, you can be my best friend but on the court, it’s all business. Everyone wants that one goal, so it’s really who wants it the most.”

But a college commitment was about more than just the best basketball fit for McKay. She plans to major in exercise science and wants to be a physical therapist.

“I want to go to school for my career, not just for basketball,” McKay said. “That’s a big thing. Turning down schools because they don’t have your major is very important. Don’t go to a school just because they’re Division I. Make sure you go for your major.”

“I think this process made me realize how much I do love basketball because it’s a lot,” Vasselman said. “This whole process is so much and the only thing that’s going to get you through it is how much you love the sport.”