Summertime.

It’s a time that most teenagers spend outdoors, preferably around the coolness of a swimming pool and where the basketball often takes a respite in the gym bag until winter, except for the occasional shootaround or a game or two of pig on the driveway.

That’s not the case for Lincoln-Way Central big man Brad Foster, who is spending this summer playing more basketball than at any other time in his life.

The 6-foot-8 Foster plays for the Knights in one summer league, for the Illinois Warriors of the AAU in another and visits schools and attends many camps.

The schools have taken notice. Northwestern and Stanford, as well as three Missouri Valley Conference schools, including Illinois State, all have inquired about Foster, who will be a senior this fall.

His AAU coach sees plenty of upside in Foster as well.

“He has a ton of potential to be an elite player,” Warriors coach Larry Butler said. “Once he gets his confidence to where it should be, he can be playing at another level by the end of July. He’s athletic enough to play against anyone.”

Foster recently returned from a trip to South Dakota State along with camps at Loyola and Northwestern before returning to action on Tuesday night in high school summer league play. He’ll visit Loyola this week and his Illinois Warriors schedule will keep him very busy with tournaments in Minneapolis and St. Louis.

And it’ll also help him polish his game.

“Especially since I’ve been transitioning from a 'five' (center) to more of 'four' (power forward). That’s more than likely what I’ll play in college,” Foster said. “A lot of my outside game, a lot of ball handling and outside shooting. Still got to get better at it, but it’s probably the biggest improvement I’ve seen so far.”