by Alex Schwartz

As expected, Joe Jackson '10 of White Station (TN) committed to Memphis at a press conference last night. The 5'11 point guard was ranked as the #10 player in Northstar Basketball's Class of 2010 Terrific 125. Jackson has been a heavy lean to the C-USA program for quite some time, and although he narrowed his list to Memphis, Kansas, and Tennessee, there was never really any question as to where he would end up. Memphis is now the only school with two commitments from players ranked in the top 12, as #8 Will Barton is also Memphis-bound, and you can see his first player diary for Northstar Basketball right here. Those two are part of a three-man class for the Tigers that also includes Will's brother Antonio Barton, a point guard from Notre Dame Prep (MA).

A source close to the situation informed me that Rice had in-home visits with a pair of Garden State prospects this week. The Owls met with Aaron Brown '10 of St. Benedict's (NJ) on Wednesday and Ashton Pankey '10 out of St. Anthony's (NJ) on Thursday. The C-USA snagged two players out of New Jersey from the class of 2009 in Tamir Jackson of St. Benedict's and Egheosa Edomwonyi of The Hun School. Ben Braun landed a big-time recruiting class last year, with Jackson and Arsalan Kazemi as the headliners. The school is making a lead of headway recruiting-wise after just one year under Braun.

Drake picked up three commitments this past week, including two on Thursday, with one being from the #123 player in Northstar Basketball's Class of 20120 Terrific 125, Rayvonte Rice. The Bulldogs also lost out on a player who was leaning their way because of this. "Drake was my front runner, but they took two commits [on Thursday] so they don't have any more scholarships, so I'm kind of back to the beginning," stated Jonathan Frye '10 of Northern Guilford (NC). Right now Appalachian State and Elon are the only two programs the sharpshooter is considering. He did add, "I hear from Holy Cross [as well as] Bucknell. I still get mail from UNC-Wilmington, Old Dominion, and Richmond, but I don't think those are anything too serious. Who has offered so far? "Right now, I'm not really sure. I had one from Drake and kind of stopped talking to some of the other schools because of that, but Elon for sure has [offered]."

I inquired of the Tar Heel State standout why he waited to commit to Drake if he felt it was the right fir, and he told me, "I was supposed to take an official [visit there on] Tuesday and was waiting until then just to make sure it felt right on the visit." Although Frye must be disappointed that things did not work out with Missouri Valley Conference school, he is handling it well. "Well, I knew that they would get another commit soon. I just didn't expect two in one day. I know I would have done well at Drake, but I'm confident that I'm going to be successful wherever I go. They called my dad and he told me [the news]," stated Jonathan when I asked what his reaction was and how he heard. Another thing that Frye has had to deal with basketball-wise was his high school team being stripped of its state title. What exactly happened with that? "That story always on who you ask, but it happened last year and is over with, so the team has chosen to not look back at what happened and just look forward at this year." Expect some more programs to get involved with Frye now that he is not as set on Drake.

Note- photo is from http://scouthoops.scout.com/