Life decisions

Some of nation's top talent make commitments

There are big weeks in recruiting and then there are BIG weeks in recruiting. Since our column last week, five members of TheInsidersHoops.com Pre-Season Top 25 reached college decisions.

On Nov. 5, No. 2 Luol Deng and No. 5 Charlie Villanueva, high school teammates, announced for two of college hoops’ heaviest hitters.

Deng, a native of Sudan, became the third member of his family to play Division I basketball; his brother is at Fairfield and his sister at Delaware. You can bet the Duke Blue Devils, to whom Deng committed, are hoping he doesn’t follow in his siblings’ steps. Luol’s brother and sister each transferred -- Joe from UConn and Erek from Maryland -- before settling in at their present schools.

News of both Deng’s and Villanueva’s decisions began to leak out the day before their scheduled press conference. In the morning, it started becoming clear that Villanueva would be the highest rated recruit of Bill Self’s tenure at Illinois. He picked the Midwest power over Indiana, Seton Hall and Villanova.

Charlie is ranked the No. 5 prospect in the nation. Brian Cook exhausts his eligibility in Champaign this season, but the Illini won’t miss a beat in the superstar department with Charlie on the way.

Brian Butch (No. 6), the finest baller in Appleton, Wis., this year waffled back and forth between the Badgers and North Carolina.

After consulting with his family and coaches the night before the press conference, Butch settled on Wisconsin. In picking the Badgers he insured Coach Bo Ryan of a super frontcourt in the fall of 2004 when junior Greg Stiemsma arrives in Madison.

Olu Famutimi’s tour of North America continues and he continues his southern descent. After stopping off in Michigan for his high school career, Famutimi will trek to Fayetteville, Ark., for college. He’s one of the signature recruits in a new era of Arkansas basketball. He selected Stan Heath’s Hogs over Missouri and Memphis. Olu checked in at No. 15 in our pre-season rankings.

And finally, our fifth member of the Top 25 to decide in the last week is Trevor Ariza. The Los Angeles Westchester product, according to his mother, will publicly select the UCLA Bruins in the very near future. Ariza, a super athlete and quickly developing offensive player, picked the Bruins over UNLV, Florida and Indiana.

Technically, there are two Top 25 players still uncommitted but really just one counts. Nobody, not for one second, buys the spin that LeBron James is entertaining playing college basketball. Therefore, we feel totally comfortable in listing him as an NBA commitment. Which team he winds up playing for depends on the bouncing (NBA lottery) balls.

With that said, Brandon Bass of Baton Rouge is the lone member of our Top 25 yet to reach a decision. LSU, UConn, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Southern Cal, Miami and Mississippi State are still holding out hope. In the meantime, he remains the only prospect preventing us from closing the book on Top 25 players in the Class of 2003.

Top unsigned in the West

With the fall signing period around the corner, we thought we'd take a look at the players who have yet to make a decision. There are still a number of very talented players on the board, although a few of them may not make it academically.

Here's our take on the top ten uncommitted players in the west.

1. Lorenzo Wade, 6-5 SG Las Vegas (Nev.) Cheyenne. The No. 1-ranked shooting guard in the west and a terrific athlete with a huge upside, Wade almost certainly will attend a prep school next year. Marquette and ASU have expressed interest, but we hear Tennessee is looking very good for Wade if he ends up at prep school as expected.

2. Dorell Wright, 6-6 SF Lawndale (Calif.) Leuzinger. Perhaps the best "run and jump" athlete in the west, Wright just oozes potential. With coaching, and a more dedicated approach to the game, Wright has a chance to one of those players we look at three years from now and say, "How in the world did everyone miss on this guy?" Fresno State, Iowa and Long Beach State have expressed varying degrees of interest, but academics may be an issue.

3. Wendell White, 6-5 SF Redondo Beach (Calif.) Redondo Union. Academics will reportedly keep him from signing out of high school, but White has a chance to be a player down the road. Good shooting touch, with a big, strong body.

4. Sean Phaler, 6-9 PF Villa Park (Calif.) High. A big-time outside shooter, Phaler reportedly focusing on Washington and Indiana, with UCLA apparently fading. However, just a few weeks ago, it was Indiana out of the mix with the Bruins right there along with UW. Phaler was scheduled to visit to UCLA last weekend, but didn't make the trip.

5. Nick Stiggers, 6-7 PF Van Nuys (Calif.) Montclair Prep. Stiggers struggled this past summer, but we hear he's working out hard now and has shed twenty pounds. He's very skilled with the ball and has the size, and outside shot, to cause match-up problems.

Stiggers will likely wait until the spring before making a decision, with Arizona State, Fresno State, Miami, Cincinnati and Georgia all reportedly in the mix.

6. Maurice Shaw, 6-8 C Tacoma (Wash.) Lincoln. A talented post player, Shaw has long been an intriguing prospect, but his development has been slowed by the fact that he's moved around so much. We hear he's a long shot to sign out of high school.

7. Devon Evertsen, 6-6 SF Phoenix (Ariz.) Moon Valley. Evertsen is an explosive athlete, with good perimeter skills. Focus and intensity can be an issue at times, but he has a chance if he ever puts it all together. He has visits scheduled with Iowa State (11-1) and Texas Tech (11-8), but he'll likely sign in the spring. Iowa and Washington also have expressed some interest.

8. Eric Lane, 6-0 PG Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco. Lane tore his ACL last spring and that's obviously affected his recruitment. He's got a nice outside shot and an excellent feel for the game. Nevada, Long Beach St. and UC Riverside have all expressed interest, but don't be surprised to see other schools jump on Lane after his senior season. He will sign in the spring.

9. Bobby Nash, 6-6 SF Honolulu (Haw.) Iolani. Nash is a good athlete who had a fairly good summer. In the past, he'd been somewhat passive, but was active when we saw him in July and showed the ability to score inside and out. Baylor, West Virginia and Boston University have all reportedly expressed interest, but it would be an upset if Nash went any place other than Hawaii, where his father is an assistant coach.

10. Ike Counts, 6-3 SG, High School Unknown. For two years, Counts has shown in various AAU events that he's probably one of the most talented guards on the west coast. He can shoot, take people off the dribble, play the point -- basically do it all -- with high-major athleticism. The problem is he's hard to pin down, literally. He used to be at Oakland Skyline, then left. The rumor was that he would reappear at Bakersfield High. There is a question of academics with Counts and he could be ticketed for a JUCO.

-- Greg Hicks & Tracy Pierson, PrepWestHoops.com

Just One Official So Far

So far, he's been to Connecticut, Missouri and North Carolina State, unofficially. He'll be at Virginia in two weeks on an unofficial visit and he'll watch the Cavaliers practice.

At this point, it just looks like official visits are going to be tough to fit in.

"It's going to be tough because it depends on our practice schedule," Montrose assistant David Adkins said. "If there's anything possible, it would be to come down on a Saturday after a Friday practice. He'll see all the schools that he's looking at."

Missouri has worked Kleiza pretty hard and they are in strong with him. NC State has a Montrose Christian player on its current roster so that will be a help. In reality, this situation is in its infancy stages because Kleiza isn't going to sign with anyone until the spring. Regardless, you can expect most major college programs to check in and take his temperature as he is one of just a handful of Top 100 big men on the board.

-- Dave Telep, TheInsidersHoops.com

Bruins to land first recruit

"He is going to commit but he hasn't done it yet," Ariza's mother Lolita confirmed with TheInsidersHoops.com. "It'll be this week coming up."

In picking the Bruins, Ariza snubbed offers from UNLV, Indiana, Florida and a host of other national programs. UCLA's interest piqued in Ariza when it became apparent that Evan Burns would never wear the Bruins' uniform.

At that point, the Bruins made up a ton of ground and eventually convinced Ariza to commit.

Ariza played his way back into the good graces of observers this summer. On the July circuit, he showcased a more skilled and diverse game than we'd ever seen from him. Previously not known for his stroke, he made five 3-pointers in one game at the Peach Jam and put up solid offensive numbers at every event.

Ariza is UCLA's first recruit of the year.

Ewing going to sign in Spring

The Patrick Ewing people saw in the summer is not the same player that is making waves at National Christian Academy. In fact, most of the college assistants interested in Ewing haven't been in to see the changes in his game.

With that said, Ewing's recruitment is going to take some time. "He hasn't taken any visits," National Christian coach Trevor Brown said. "The people that are trying to get him to come visit haven't seen him play since Orlando. As a coach, I'd rather people come and see him first."

Ewing didn't play much in Orlando because he was injured. His play at the Weber earlier this month should be enough to make him a commodity once coaches can get back out on the road in November.

"Our season starts the 22nd of November," Brown said. "He's going to sign late. All of these people that are calling haven't seen him. They're going by what you and I say. I want people to see him play. There's no rush. That kid is going to be recruited by everybody. You and I both know he's one of the best unsigned out there right now."

From the sounds of it, Louisville, Texas, Memphis, Virginia, Indiana and Georgetown are all interested. You can bet the bulk of them will make stops to see him in November.

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