Rush The Court

After a few weeks of huge commitments this week was a little more quiet as it seems like most of the big pieces have committed with the exception of Quincy Miller, LeBryan Nash, and Adonis Thomas, but don’t forget that none of the currently committed players have done more than verbally commit and we all know how fickle teenagers can be so we could see some minds change between now and Signing Day. Having said that there were a few notable commitments this week and other news worth following.

• Tony Wroten Jr., a top 30 recruit according to some recruiting services, but a top 5 player in his mind and a world-class Twitter provocateur, announced that he was going to commit to Washington and we have the fourteen minute and forty-six second YouTube clip to prove. Tony, if you think a YouTube video makes you big-time, Adonis Thomas would like to have a word with you. On the bright side for Husky fans it looks like Tony is working on getting a qualifying SAT score.
• After losing what seemed to be his entire roster after arriving at Oregon, Dana Altman is finally starting to add players to his roster as he secured a commitment from Jabari Brown, a top 25 player in this year’s class. Brown’s all-around game should help fill the Oregon’s holes all-around the floor.
• Steve Lavin has already had what most would consider a successful recruiting season at St. John’s, but he isn’t resting as he is embarking on a nationwide tour going door-to-door trying to find recruits.
• Georgetown got a commitment from Mikael Hopkins, a 6’9″ forward out of the famed DeMatha Catholic program. Interestingly Hopkins cited Georgetown’s “tradition of getting big men to the [NBA]”, which must be a reference to the mid-to-late ’80s and early ’90s as we don’t think he was referring to Roy Hibbert.
• LSU picked up a surprise commitment from Johnny O’Bryant, one of the top inside players in this year’s class.
• Gonzaga picked up a commitment from Kevin Pangos, a talented point guard out of Canada who was named the top point guard at the FIBA U-17 World Championships this summer and was mentioned in a piece by Luke Winn earlier this year about the growth of Canadian basketball.

  The next great Canadian point guard?

• Jabarie Hinds, a point guard from Mount Vernon HS (Ben Gordon‘s old high school), appears to have moved UConn to the top of his list and expects Kemba Walker to enter the NBA Draft after this season. Hinds seems to be sticking with the Huskies even after UConn’s on-going issues with the NCAA.
• Tyler Harris, the younger brother of Tobias Harris, enjoyed his visit to North Carolina State and is scheduled to visit Providence on October 15th, but Keno Davis did not waste any time as he stopped by to see Harris at his high school last Monday.
• Mike Montgomery picked up Cal‘s first commitment this recruiting season when David Kavish, a 6’9″ power forward out of Kansas City, committed to play for the Golden Bears.
• It might not carry the weight of some of the previous commitments that he has picked up in the past month, but John Pelphrey picked up another solid player when Devonta Abron committed to play for Arkansas becoming the fifth Top 150 recruit to do so.
• UCLA hosted Quinn Cook and Adonis Thomas and they both seemed to enjoy their visit, but who wouldn’t enjoy visiting the UCLA campus after what the weather has been like on the East Coast lately. Both players have several more visits lined up and we would be surprised to see both of them end up in Pauley Pavillion.
• Adjehi Baru, one of the top big men in high school, has narrowed down his list to four schools: UNC, Maryland, Virginia Tech, and College of Charleston.
• Harvard picked up a pair of commitments this past week when they landed Corbin Miller, a shooting guard out of Utah, and Wesley Saunders, a forward out of California. Although neither will be threatening to make a McDonald’s All-American team this season it is interesting to see Tommy Amaker land top 100 prospects. One interesting side note on Miller is that he expects to take his two-year Mormon mission after his freshman year at Harvard so Ivy League fans could be seeing him for a long time.
• A year after finishing as the “runner-up” in the John Wall sweepstakes to Kentucky, Miami received a commitment from Bishop Daniels, a slightly less-touted combo guard from the same high school as Wall played at. [Ed. Note: Did anybody seriously think that Wall was going to Miami over Kentucky?]
• Cedrick McAfee isn’t a huge name in recruiting circles (a borderline top 100 prospect), but by spurning Isiah Thomas and FIU for Auburn after committing to play for FIU got him in the news for a little while.
• Iowa picked up its second commitment for the class of 2011 when Aaron White, a 6’8″ forward from Ohio, committed to play for Fran McCaffery.
• BYU picked up a commitment from Damarcus Harrison, an athletic 6’6″ guard out of South Carolina, who should add a new dimension to the Cougars in the coming seasons.