Prep Notes: McMillan chooses Arizona St.

No school went after Jamelle McMillan more aggressively than Arizona State. No school saw more of his AAU games this summer. No school text messaged, e-mailed, stayed in touch with him more.

And the hard work of the Sun Devils' coaching staff paid off Monday when McMillan, who will be a senior at Seattle's O'Dea High School this school year, announced he will accept a scholarship to play basketball at Arizona State.

"They were by far the hardest-working coaching staff," said McMillan, the son of Nate McMillan, coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and former Sonics point guard and coach. "They were in constant contact with me. They would text message me before school, after school, before games, after games. Text message me until I went to bed at night.

"We developed more of a friendship relationship than just a recruiting relationship. When I talked with coaches, it was more of a friend-to-friend talk."

The 6-foot-2 guard, who made an unofficial visit to the Tempe campus last weekend, said part of the allure of Arizona State was its geography. He will return to Seattle every year to play against Washington. He will play twice a year in Oregon, near where his father coaches the NBA's Trail Blazers, and "if there's an emergency, I can get home pretty quickly."

But he also said he was excited about being part of a new program. Arizona State fired Rob Evans after an 11-17 season and hired Herb Sendak, who previously was at North Carolina State, Nate McMillan's alma mater. Sendak began recruiting Jamelle while at N.C. State.

Jamelle McMillan remembered an e-mail he received last month from associate head coach Mark Phelps that helped him decide.

"The e-mail was nearly a page long and Coach Phelps said how much he enjoyed watching me play," McMillan said. "He told me how excited he'd be if I played for Coach Sendak and helped them take the program where they wanted to go. That really made a difference to me."

McMillan chose Arizona State over Clemson and Georgia Tech. He said he never seriously considered Washington, in part because he thought it was a good idea to distance himself from his father's Seattle legacy. He also acknowledged that the Huskies didn't aggressively recruit him.

McMillan's verbal commitment is not binding. The first day high-school seniors can sign letters of intent for basketball is Nov. 8.

Ingraham names Bergstrom

Jason Bergstrom, a former assistant coach at Shorecrest High School, has been named to replace Anthony Williams as coach of the Ingraham football program, making the 27-year-old the youngest head coach in the Metro League.

Bergstrom was named Friday, just six days before practices officially begin Wednesday. He will attempt to keep the momentum going after Ingraham went 8-2 last fall, the Seattle school's first winning season in 17 years.

"I've always dreamed of being a head coach," said Bergstrom, a 1997 graduate of Shorecrest of Shoreline and a recent University of Washington grad. "I've always thought of Ingraham as a place you could win. With coach Williams having the success he had, I just want to keep that going and build on that."

Bergstrom was an assistant at Shorecrest from 2003 to 2005. He replaces Williams, who returned to college and is an assistant coach at Bothell.

Notes

• Wednesday is the first day of football practice for high-school teams across the state. All other fall sports — including volleyball, girls soccer, cross country — begin practice next Monday. The football season opens for most teams Friday, Sept. 1, and the 10-team Emerald City Kickoff Classic at Qwest Field is on Saturday, Sept. 2. The eight-team Emerald City Volleyball Invitational is Sept. 1 at Eastlake High School in Sammamish.

Correspondent Matt Massey contributed to this notebook.