These days when Morgan and Marcus Paige want to play a little one-on-one they head over to the Cedar Rapids YMCA. Someday they may be able to take their duels to the Kohl Center.

Morgan Paige plans on spending a lot of time at the Kohl Center beginning in the 2010-11 school year, as the 5-10 junior guard from Marion (Iowa) High School has become the first player to commit to the University of Wisconsin women's basketball program for that class.

And her younger brother Marcus, just a freshman, conceivably could join her, as he has attracted recruiting interest from a number of schools, including Wisconsin. Time will tell if Marcus follows her sister to Madison, but Morgan said she didn't need much time to determine her college destination.

Morgan visited campus on Wednesday and made her commitment on Friday, as coach Lisa Stone was receiving a one-year contract extension.

"I knew from the moment that I actually stepped on campus that it was something that I was really going to like," said Paige. "Then when I got around the girls and saw the way they get along and interact with the coaches, that was really my deciding factor.

"I was kind of over-excited on the way home. My family was all excited and I said, 'Guys, I really need to calm down a little bit.' It took about a day and I just decided this is where I need to be and where I want to be so I'm going to commit to it."

That's the message she gave to her coach and mother, Sherryl Gaffney-Paige, at lunch. It was a decision that met with her approval, as both a mother and a coach.

"I think Morgan is a very intelligent girl and she took her time and did her research," said Gaffney-Paige. "We had lunch together and she said 'I want to be a Badger.' Both my husband and I were very excited and pleased. It's a great academic school and the coaching staff and players really sold her on it. She really had a connection with Lisa Stone and (assistant coach) Kathi Bennett."

Wisconsin began recruiting Paige in February after Bennett took a side trip to Marion to check out Paige the day before the Badgers' game at Iowa. According to Gaffney-Paige, Bennett came away impressed. Stone came to Paige's next game and she also was sold.

"It was actually pretty quick," said Gaffney-Paige, wearing her coach's hat. "They saw her twice and that's all they needed to see of her. They saw that she was very athletic and she's a vocal leader on the floor and is still very young and has a big upside to her. I think she has a lot of potential."

That opinion is shared by someone besides her mother.

Dan Olson of Collegiate Girls Basketball Report, a college recruiting service based in Tampa, Fla., saw Paige play once and gave her a passing grade.

"She's a versatile, combo guard, a fundamental player with an explosive first step," said Olson, who ranks Paige No. 203 nationally in her class. "Having watched her play just one time I could probably give her a better ranking, but No. 203 in the country ain't bad. She's got a nice shot with good range. She's a nice player. If you make my top 300 you're pretty good."

Paige averaged 20 points, four assists and five rebounds in leading Marion to a 22-2 record this season. She was named first-team all-state in Class 3A.

And she doesn't just excel in basketball. She also was a first-team all-state choice in volleyball and has a 4.0 grade point average and is her class president.

Paige also received offers from Creighton, Drake and Northern Iowa of the Missouri Valley Conference, before narrowing her choices between Wisconsin and Drake. Gaffney-Paige said that Iowa was trying to take Paige into delaying her decision until July.

"They only have two scholarships and they said if they had three they would've offered her," Gaffney-Paige said. "They wanted her to wait to see if their other two would commit and if they didn't they would grab Morgan. Iowa State came to a couple games but they hadn't offered yet.

"Morgan was thinking of waiting around, but after going to Wisconsin she said, 'I see myself here, I don't need to wait until July. This is where I want to be.'"

Gaffney-Paige said that Stone's contract extension made that decision even easier.

"We were very pleased about that," she said. "When you're in the coaching profession, there's always going to be somebody that's grumbling and not happy. When she got that extension we were happy, because we heard the grumbling, that she better win, yadda, yadda. But I think she's going to get the job done. I see the passion and I think they're going in the right direction."

Paige represents the first of what the Badgers are hoping will be a four- or five-player class. Among the players believed to be on the top of their priority list are 6-0 guard Jada Buggs of Elkhart (Ind.) Memorial, 6-0 guard/forward Tricia Liston of Chicago Fenwick and 6-6 center Nicole Griffin of Milwaukee Vincent.

This isn't the first time Paige had to make a decision about where to continue her education and her basketball career. Entering seventh grade, she decided to leave her home Linn-Mar school district, a traditional state Class 4-A power, to enroll at neighboring Class 3-A Marion in order to play for her mother, who also is an English teacher at Marion. They formed the only mother/daughter combination in the state.

"Morgan was adamant about wanting to go to Marion and playing for me, which I took as a compliment because some kids just don't want to play for their parent," said Gaffney-Paige, who was in Fort Wayne, Ind., this weekend with Marcus for a basketball tournament. "Morgan and I have a very unique relationship and it works. I know if I had to coach my son, it probably wouldn't work."

Unlike Morgan, Marcus chose to remain at Linn-Mar, where he was the point guard on a team that went 23-3 and lost in the state championship game. Among the Linn-Mar alumni is UW guard Jason Bohannon, whose brother Zach, is a teammate of Marcus.

So, who's the best basketball player in the Paige family?

"It's been pretty competitive," said Morgan, who is just 15 months older than Marcus and is now an inch or two shorter. "Now he's bigger than me to the point where I have to actually try to beat him."

Such trash talk is commonplace in a household dominated by basketball.

"They go to the Y sometimes and they go at it," said Gaffney-Paige. "To me, it's more playful, but I know this summer we're going to make it a little more serious because they can learn from each other. They have a lot of respect for each other and they both have different strengths. They talk a lot of smack with each other, but it's a pretty good relationship.

"We're a basketball family and we just enjoy it. It's been really neat to see that the work they've put in is going to pay off down the road. That's what you hope to seethat they take advantage of the opportunities and use their gifts and be good people."

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