Rush The Court

Although we have been mentioning that some of the recruiting buzz might start slowing down we still saw one big-time recruit commit this week and another back out of his prior commitment.

• First we will go with the big commitment as Memphis picked up its first commitment of the recruiting season (shocking, right?) when local product and reality TV star Adonis Thomas committed to play for the Tigers. Josh Pastner utilized former Memphis star Penny Hardaway to appeal to Thomas during a video segment aired during their version of Midnight Madness. Thomas announced his decision on ESPNU, which is quite frankly less dramatic than we imagined for a player who went on ESPNU to announce his finalists.
• Now for the less joyous news (if you’re a fan of the team that previously had a commitment) we will head to Texas where Rick Barnes lost a commitment from highly coveted Canadian (via Findlay Prep) point guard recruit Myck Kabongo who has not provided a definitive answer as to why he has reneged on his earlier promise. As of now he says that he is still considering Texas along with Syracuse, Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina. There has been some talk about Austin Rivers and Kabongo wanting to team up (anybody getting visions of college poor man’s LeBron-Wade in Cameron?), but we will probably have to wait until Spring to find out as Kabongo says he is 60% certain that he’ll sign in the late period. [Ed. Note: Where do these guys come up with these percentages?]

  Kabongo is on the market again

• Stanford picked up a huge commitment this week when the received a verbal commitment from top 10 point guard prospect Chasson Randle, who decided to head to Palo Alto after considering Illinois and Purdue citing the combination of academics (4.0 high school GPA) and athletics.
• Indiana might still be waiting on Cody Zeller to decide on where he wants to go, but they were able to pick up a commitment from Hanner Perea, a power forward in the class of 2012 that many recruiting experts consider the most explosive big man in the class. Some of you may remember Perea as being the focal point of Baylor‘s current cell phone/text message scandal, but we have a feeling you might forget that when you see how athletic he is (additional video after the jump).

[Ed. Note: Both videos–this and the one after the jump–are of Perea as a sophomore.]

• Bruce Weber may have missed out on Randle and Anthony Davis, two of the top players in the state of Illinois, but he was able to get a commitment from Mike Shaw, a 6’8″ forward who many expect to improve significantly in college.
• Last week we noted the apparent hesitance of Jahii Carson to officially sign with Arizona State, but now it appears like he will sign with the Sun Devils during November.
• Duke lost a commitment from Tyler Adams, a 6’9″ center who the Blue Devils had been interested in to help them add depth on the inside. The decision might surprise some, but not those who have followed the process closely. As RTC interview subject Dave Telep notes the two sides had grown apart to the point that Adams attended Midnight Madness at Georgetown, which is never a good sign for a Duke commit. According to Telep, the two current leaders for Adams are Georgetown and Mississippi State.
• Speaking of Mississippi State they picked up a big commitment from Rodney Hood, one of the top small forwards in this year’s class, who opted to stay in his home state instead of going to a long list of potential suitors. With Arkansas picking up an outstanding class, Georgia starting to corner the market on in-state recruits, Kentucky being Kentucky, and other schools landing several solid recruits could the SEC be turning the corner and becoming a solid conference again?
• Keno Davis secured a commitment from Kyan Anderson, a point guard out of Texas, who committed to Providence after he visited the campus last weekend.
• Siena picked up a commitment from Lionel Gomes, a 6’9″ Senegalese forward from Blair Academy, and Imoh Silas, a 6’8″ Nigerian forward.
• It probably won’t make out for the other local products that Maryland has missed out on recent years (like Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley), but Gary Williams picked up a commitment from Nick Faust, a 6’5″ guard from Maryland whom Terp fans have been salivating over for the past year.
• Jay Wright may have picked up the next great Villanova point guard when he received a verbal commitment from Ryan Arcidiacono, a top 10 point guard in the class of 2011. Arcidiacono was deciding between Villanova and UF before deciding that staying closer to home was more important than 60 degree winters.
• USF picked up a big commitment (literally) from 7’3″, 291-pound Nigerian center Jordan Omogbehin, who reportedly picked the Bulls over Georgetown, FSU, and Marquette.
• Alonzo Nelson-Ododa, a forward out of Georgia, surprised many recruiting experts by turning down Wake Forest, California, and NC State for Richmond.
• Utah State lost a potential star power forward when junior college power forward DeShawn Stephens appears to have taken back his prior commitment and reportedly committed to play for San Diego State.
• The Steve Lavin recruiting ark keeps on picking passengers as St. John’s received a commitment from Jevon Thomas, a point guard from New York City who is already drawing comparisons to some of the all-time great New York City point guards and Sebastian Telfair.
• Lavin might be getting all the headlines in the tri-state area, but Mike Rice has been putting together a very impressive class at Rutgers, which he may have completed with a commitment from Greg Lewis, 6’9″ power forward who chose the Scarlet Knights over USF and Maryland.
• Alabama received a verbal commitment from Nick Jacobs, a 6’9″ center who averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds per game as the replacement for Georgia Tech‘s one-and-done big man Derrick Favors.
• One-day West Virginia commit Ryan Boatright is currently looking at UConn, UNLV, and Oklahoma. It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Boatright has gone back on a commitment as he first committed to USC. . .in 8th grade after an offer from Tim Floyd.
• Sidney Lowe received a verbal commitment from junior point guard Tyler Lewis to play for NC State, but will have to wait a little over a year before Lewis can officially sign. For the time being, Lowe appears to have beat out Wake Forest, Miami, Charlotte, and Davidson for Lewis, but a lot can happen in a year.

Now for a video of Hanner Perea jumping 12’2″: