Provo's Collinsworth finds his college legs

It's always a huge adjustment for a basketball player to go from being the best player in the state to playing against the best players in the country on a twice-a-day basis.

Kyle Collinsworth is no exception.

The 6-foot-7 senior guard from Provo, and the best player in Utah's 2010 class, has just completed a weeklong stint at the NBA Top 100 camp in Charlottesville, Va., considered the best summer event in high school basketball.

Collinsworth went against the best players in the country. And while the first few days required a huge adjustment to the speed and the athleticism of the game, Collinsworth, by the end of the week, acquitted himself very well, with a high game of 12 points.

Former Lone Peak

star Tyler Haws, the incoming BYU freshman and the two-time Tribune Class 5A MVP, attended the camp a year ago.

"Overall, it was a really good experience," Collinsworth said. "I thought I played much better in the last couple of days. I was more aggressive, and I looked for my shot a lot more than I did earlier in the week."

Collinsworth said he has narrowed his list of prospective schools down to five. He said he would definitely visit Virginia, BYU and Arizona State. If the trips don't help him narrow his choices, he will visit Kansas and Stanford as well. He said that he hopes to have a school picked by the fall.

Collinsworth is the top recruiting priority for BYU, as his brother Chris will be a sophomore in

2011, having competed a two-year LDS Church mission. The Tribune's Class 4A MVP is also a high priority for Virginia and its new coach, Tony Bennett.

At the NBA camp last week, Collinsworth learned what some of his strengths were, as they pertained to playing college ball. He also learned about his weaknesses.

Collinsworth proved that he'll be able to run the point at the major college level. Playing on a team that included Syracuse commit Dion Waiters and Texas commit Tristan Thompson, Collinsworth was able to find open looks for his teammates by penetrating the lane and kicking the ball out to an open shooter.

During one game, while guarding Tennessee commit Josh Selby, one of the top three point guards in the country, Collinsworth struggled to contain Selby's explosiveness on one end, but was successful in posting the 6-foot-0 guard on the other end and creating offense.

"It was good for me to play in this camp," Collinsworth said. "This is by far the best competition that I've ever played against and the best that I will play against in my high school career. I need to work on my ball-handling ability. I have good handles now. But I really want to make it better."

tjones@sltrib.com