I just spoke with Tamir Jackson and he has verbally committed to play for Rice University. He plans to sign in November. From one CUSA school to another, Jackson said that one of the reasons he chose Rice is because he "can play right away."

After an official visit this past weekend, three-star player Brandon Peterson from the class of 2009 has committed to Arkansas State. According to Ava Herndon, Peterson's AAU coach, "He has liked the coaches for a while and just wanted to visit to make sure he liked the campus."

* Edit- Just got through speaking to Ava and three-star prospect Ed Daniel, also of the Birmingham ICE, has committed to play at Murray State.

I'll update with more later.

For those of you interested in the inner-workings of AAU basketball and the shoe company scene, you should check out this article written by the Chicago Sun Times about long-time Nike associated AAU coach Larry Butler.

Apparently, Rashanti Harris (4* top 30 player for the class of 2009) has committed to Rod Barnes at Georgia State according to Dave Telep of Scout.com. This comes as a shock to me as I know that a member of the Memphis staff was at Patterson earlier this week to check up on Harris.

- Avery Bradley committed to Texas last night ... ummm ... BORING! This comes as news to no one. It wasn't a matter of if, just when.

OK, I am not sure why no one at Memphis will officially acknowledge the switch from Adidas to Nike yet, but it must be the worst-kept secret in all of sports. Players and coaches are wearing Nike gear everywhere they go. Players showed up at John Calipari’s house last night for the High Tops Party in Nike t-shirts (with a Memphis logo at the bottom). It’s not that hard to connect the dots.

This will not only increase visibility for the Memphis Tigers' 'brand', but it will also bring long awaited continuity to Memphis gear and merchandise.

- On a note somewhat related to the Nike deal, I am still hearing a rumor (that seems to have legs) that Memphis is in the final stages of nailing down a 2-year basketball series with both University of Florida and University of North Carolina that would start in the 2009-2010 season.

- Memphian Drew Barham from CBHS verballed to Southern Illinois today. Barham is a 6'7" sharpshooter who had drawn moderate interest from Paul Hewitt (Georgia Tech) and Belmont. Southern Illinois is also hot on the tails of Johnny Williams from Briarcrest in Memphis.

- Jeff Goodman reported in his Good 'N Plenty blog on Monday that Charis Prep in North Carolina has not been cleared by the NCAA.

The NCAA has not cleared Charis Prep down in North Carolina and as a result, core courses, grades and graduation records will NOT be used when determining initial eligibility. A review in the spring of 2008 turned up "several areas of concern", including a lack of quality control or organized curriculum structure. The school has appealed the decision. There are three high-profile players currently at Charis Prep - uncommitted big man Bawa Manuri, West Virginia commit Roscoe Davis and power forward and Missouri pledge Keith Dewitt.

For those fans who have concerns about recruits coming from Charis Prep, it appears as though that this report may turn out to be just a rumor according to a current player. In an interview from Northstar Basketball's Alex Scwartz, 2009 prospect Anali Okoloji said, "From my understanding, that's a rumor...I am I hearing it's cleared and those were rumors that were put in the paper."

* EDIT: With that said, (thanks to Jeff Goodman) I got to look over the NCAA's news release regarding the review of Charis Prep School. As Goodman accurately reported, Charis has not been cleared and that Charis has filed an appeal. According to the document, "The High School Review Committee will make the final decision regarding Charis Prep in the next several months." Stay tuned.

Tyler Honeycutt, the 29th rated prospect by Rivals.com in the 2009 class, has verballed to UCLA according to a source. According to my source, it had been reported in the L.A. Times this morning that Honeycutt was going to announce today and that it was a dead heat between UCLA and USC.

I just got word that Xavier Henry has decided to cancel his visit to Lawrence, Kansas this weekend. He was slated to join John Wall and Thomas Robinson during his unofficial visit to witness the private Jayhawks' National Championship ring ceremony scheduled to take place this weekend. According to Henry's father and a source I spoke with earlier today, Henry will only be visiting Kansas once for their Midnight Madness on October 17th.