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.

Despite the fact that many people have said that Indiana is out of the running for 2009 blue-chipper Dominic Cheek, it is now being reported by Adam Zagoria that Tom Crean will have an in-home visit with Cheek tomorrow night. Also, Tennessee fans jumped out of their socks after finding out that Cheek was going to be visiting Knoxville this weekend for the UT versus Florida football game, but they may want to temper that excitement. According to his uncle, Cheek may not be going to Knoxville this weekend afterall.

As reported this past week, Kentucky took advantage of a 'loop-hole' in the NCAA rules and has moved forward their Big Blue Madness a week earlier than technically allowed. The NCAA rules state that a team can practice two hours a week from Sept. 15 to the official start of practice on Oct. 17 (which is the traditional date of "Midnight Madness"). According to Andy Katz, Gillispie said the Wildcats can use the time for a scrimmage since it's two hours to do whatever they want on the 10th.

This not only sets Kentucky apart, but it also allows for them to bring in other highly recruited players to their version of "Midnight Madness" that might otherwise already be visiting another school's event. Now that Kentucky has stepped outside of the box, will there be another school to follow?

Well, Dan Wolken posted in his blog yesterday afternoon with the following:

In a move that most should have seen coming from a mile away, the NCAA deemed that the "supposed" Memphis basketball recruiting violation involving FedEx president and CEO Dave Bronczek and Oseye Gaddy (Abdul Gaddy's mother) was a secondary violation. The University is not sure of the punishment but such violations do not result in lost scholarships, probation, or serious penalties.

With school back in session for most (if not all) high school athletes, many have begun to pack their bags and head to universities across the country. That football "chill" is soon to be in the air and recruiting for the 2009 class is about to really heat up.

Only fitting since football is in the forefront of everyone's mind on a day like today (with the over-hyped "Collision at the Coliseum" set to kickoff tonight), USC has a bonanza of visitors on campus to watch the game. Noel Johnson, Kenny Boynton, Jordan Hamilton, Shaunessy Smith, Tyler Honeycutt, Jeremy Tyler, Renardo Sidney, Terrence Boyd, Josh Smith, Gary Franklin, Derrick Williams, Anthony Brown and Kyle Caudill will all be sitting in the Coliseum tonight and touring the campus this weekend. Talk about casting out a wide net! Geez.

Other schools with big weekends include Arizona (Abdul Gaddy), Duke (Andre Dawkins, Tyler Thornton, Josh Hairston and the Plumlee brothers), Notre Dame (Ryan Kelly) and Xavier (Chris Braswell and Kevin Parrom).

Bill Self is one coach that is doing the opposite of the above. He, instead of making a player come to him, is heading to Thomas Robinson's home for an in-home visit today (Saturday, September 13th).

* Image of Robinson courtesy of i95ballerz

I would like to say sorry to those who come here to read my blog. I have had very little activity over the last few weeks due to travel and sickness. The sinus-bug has really jumped up and gotten me over the last week. Now that I'm starting to feel a little better, I'll be updating more.

John Wall's mom comes home

As of last night, John Wall's mother is home and doing much better. In a message from Wall, he said that he is "happy his mom is back home" and would like to say "thanks to everybody for praying for her."

A dose a reality came this morning when I found out that John Wall's mother had a stroke. These kids are herded around, every move is monitored, their phones ring off the hook, but in the end they are just kids. "I'm just praying that my mom gets better. She had a little stroke," says John.

So, while everyone is chomping at the bit to get word of John Wall's decision, John will be praying for his mother. I think I'll join him.

Class of 2009 guard Tamir Jackson visited Rice University this weekend. Speaking with him after he returned, Jackson told me, "Yeah, Rice is my number one choice, my leader, at this point. I loved it there."

Looks like Jackson could very well end up in Conference USA like everyone thought, just not at UAB.

Go check out the great interview done by Alex Schwartz with current University of Memphis verbal Nolan Dennis. Click here for interview!

Some of the highlights:

NB: How did you make your decision [to commit to Memphis]?
ND: I made my decision . . . after elite camp. We went out there, I worked out with all the [players], did the drills, saw the school, played at the FedEx Forum [in] a scrimmage and then I just knew right then and there exactly where I wanted to go.

NB: Was there anything . . . specific that stood out to you the most?
ND: The most? It was basically just the practice, they way he [Memphis Head Coach John Calipari] pushes his players to the next level. He got Derrick Rose [and] CDR [Chris Douglas-Roberts] to the next level. [It was] the way he pushes you, he wants the best potential out of you. I think he can . . . get the best out of me and I think he can get me to the next level.

Arizona picked up another commitment today (following Dowell's commitment on Monday), but this time it was from the 2008 class. Darnell Shumpert, 6-foot-7 195-pound small forward from Tuscon, AZ, committed to the Wildcats on Wednesday morning right after receiving a scholarship offer.

No, not that one (Xavier). According to reports, Xavier Henry's brother CJ Henry will play basketball for the University of Memphis starting this year.

The former Putnam City standout said Tuesday that he will enroll at Memphis and begin classes next Tuesday. Henry will play basketball for Memphis starting this fall and continue his career in Major League Baseball with the New York Yankees after the season.

"The opportunity to win a national championship this year," said Henry regarding his choice. "Coach Cal has a great track record of getting guys to the next level." Xavier Henry, the No. 2 player in the nation, is C.J.'s younger brother. Xavier is uncommitted and is rumored to be down to Memphis and Kansas. Rumors of C.J. and Xavier being a package deal began surfacing as early as Xavier's sophomore year.

2009 PG Reger Dowell, who originally committed to Alabama, gave his verbal commitment to the University of Arizona on Monday.

According to several sources ( #1 , #2 and #3), Lamont Peterson and Bilal Batley are going to be hired onto the University of Memphis basketball staff, filling needs in administrative positions.

Peterson is a Philadelphia-based personal trainer who has coached Tyreke Evans over the past four years. It is also well known that Peterson holds connections to top tier recruit for 2011 Michael Gilchrist of St. Patrick's in New Jersey.

Batley graduated from Oklahoma a year ago while acting as a volunteer graduate assistant for the men's basketball team. He was also a graduate manager at Indiana under Kelvin Sampson. Batley is well connected within the Houston hoops scene, holding connections with John Lucas, the Pastner's, a multitude of NBA players and a non-profit orgranization named Dynasty Basketball. Dynasty was actually started by Batley, who states the goal is to "uplift communities and elevate the game of basketball". Batley is stated to be close to current Tigers' commit Nolan Dennis.