by Alex Schwartz

Five days ago I released part one of my December predictions—I did a September edition too—of where some of the uncommitted prospects in the class of 2010 will go. That list included the seven players ranked in the top 30 of Northstar Basketball's Class of 2010 Terrific 125 who have yet to make a college choice. I will now move on to part two of the December edition of my college commitment projections. For each player I will list his name, position, height, high school, and rank in addition a top three and one or two other programs to keep in mind. Check it out:

Cory Joseph, PG, 6'1, Findlay Prep (NV), #31
Favorite: Minnesota
2nd in Line: Texas
3rd in Line: Villanova
Watch Out for: UConn, UNLV
It is easy to pick the school to list for Cory Joseph, as the talented scoring point guard is down to just five programs in Minnesota, Texas, Villanova, UConn, and UNLV. The top three remains the same from September and is in the same order, while UNLV now has company from UConn on the "Watch Out for" list. UNLV is the longshot here, as although Joseph does attend school in the Silver State, he is not from there (Joseph is Canadian) so it is not as though the Mountain West program is the "local" school exactly. UConn is a bit behind as well, as the Huskies have Brandon Knight as their top priority and Roscoe Smith may be a bit higher up on the list too. Villanova is definitely in play here and it would not be a surprise if he ended up there—or at UConn or UNLV even—as the Wildcats are still looking to add a point guard to their class. Despite that, it looks like Texas and Minnesota may have the lead here for some easily defined reasons. Joseph's older brother Devoe is currently at Minnesota, so if Cory opted to go to the Big Ten school he would have the chance to play with his brother at the collegiate level. As for Texas, Joseph's AAU teammates with Grassroots Canada, Tristan Thompson '10 and Myck Kabongo '11 are both headed to Austin, and Cory plays high school ball with Thompson too. Right now, I would say Minnesota is the favorite, but Texas is extremely strong in this race.

Roscoe Smith, SF, 6'8, Oak Hill Academy (VA), #35
Favorite: UConn
2nd in Line: Duke
3rd in Line: Georgetown
I had UConn as the favorite back in September and I have the Big East power as the favorite today as well. Smith is considered a heavy UConn lean and has admitted that the Huskies are in the lead to land him. If he ended up anywhere besides Storrs it would certainly be a surprise. If another school will be able to pull Smith away from UConn it will be either Duke or Georgetown, as those two round out the long forward's final three. Duke is making a push to land Roscoe after missing out on elite wing Harrison Barnes. Had Duke been pursuing Smith heavily the whole time, he may well have been the Blue Devils' to lose, but he was the backup plan to Barnes. Some players are put off by this, while others are not. Georgetown does have a shot at Smith too, as it is the closest to both his home in Baltimore and his current school in Virginia. Look for Roscoe to wind up playing for Jim Calhoun at the end of the day.

Trey Zeigler, SG, 6'4, Mount Pleasant (MI), #49
Favorite: UCLA
2nd in Line: Michigan
3rd in Line: Duke
Watch Out for: Central Michigan, Arizona
There are seven schools that are serious contenders for Zeigler in UCLA, Michigan, Duke, Central Michigan, Arizona, Michigan State, and Oklahoma. Whereas in September I felt that Zeigler would likely stay in-state, it now looks like there is just as strong of a chance that he opts to head out of state. In fact, playing with good friend and Team Detroit AAU teammate Ray McCallum at UCLA seems to be the most likely scenario. UCLA, Oklahoma, and Arizona are the three schools on both Trey and Ray's lists, and UCLA is actually considered the favorite for both. At this point, Zeigler to Westwood is what I would expect to happen, though Michigan does have a strong chance of keeping him in-state. The Wolverines have been heavily recruiting Zeigler and he would mesh well with John Beilein's system, and Michigan would be more likely than Michigan State if Zeigler chooses to head to a Big Ten school in the Great Lakes State. Duke only recently got involved with Zeigler due to not landing Harrison Barnes and it appears as though Zeigler is going to entertain the Blue Devils' interest. Much like Roscoe Smith, it will be interesting to see if Zeigler is put off by being a backup plan for Mike Krzyzewski and Co. Central Michigan should not be overlooked, as Trey's father Ernie Zeigler is the head coach. He may very well choose to play for him and be a star in the MAC. Arizona is in play too, and has the angle of pushing playing with McCallum, as does Oklahoma, but Zeigler is higher on the Wildcats than the Sooners. Michigan State is in the mix still, but looks to be a bit behind.

Jordin Mayes, SG, 6'1, Westchester (CA), #69
Favorite: Boston College
2nd in Line: Colorado
3rd in Line: San Diego
Watch Out for: Cal, Utah
Although Boston College is the only school outside of the West that is actively recruiting Jordin Mayes, it looks like the Eagles are in very good shape to land him. Cal was Mayes' leader at one point, but the Golden Bears have since faded, as has the other school he listed in his top three previously, Utah. Both Cal and Utah are listed as schools to "Watch Out for" as they are not 100% out of it just yet, but do have some ground to make up at this point. BC is the frontrunner, but Colorado and San Diego are right behind. Both schools have had Mayes on campus and would likely allow him the chance to play early on. In addition to the five schools listed, Washington State, St. Mary's, and San Diego State are in play too. It is tough to get a read on where Mayes stands right now, as he is still considering a lot of schools, something that is uncommon this late in the process. While many times players chose to stay on the same coast, or at least in the same region that they are from, Mayes may buck that trend, as it looks like he could be headed to Boston College.

For the rest of the players I will be predicting, I will not be providing a blurb explaining my projections as the aforementioned four are the last ranked prospects I will be projecting. The following eight players are the non-ranked prospects whose destinations I have previously projected who have yet to make a college choice.

Jelani Hewitt, SG, 6'3, Northeast (FL)
Favorite: Nebraska
2nd in Line: Georgia Southern
3rd in Line: Auburn
Watch Out for: UCLA, Miami

Maurice Walker, C, 6'10, Brewster Academy (NH)
Favorite: Pitt
2nd in Line: Georgetown
3rd in Line: Texas A&M
Watch Out for: Kansas

Nick Kellogg, PG, 6'2, Columbus DeSales (OH)
Favorite: Ohio
2nd in Line: Akron
3rd in Line: Miami (OH)
Watch Out for: Wright State, James Madison

Markese Tucker, PF, 6'5, Trenton Catholic (NJ)
Favorite: prep school
2nd in Line: LIU
3rd in Line: Iona
Watch Out for: St. Peter's

Matt Miller, SG, 6'0, Mount St. Joseph (MD)
Favorite: Radford
2nd in Line: UMBC
3rd in Line: UNC-Wilmington
Watch Out for: Bucknell, Holy Cross

Wayne Newsom, PF, 6'7, Piscataway (NJ)
Favorite: Iona
2nd in Line: Robert Morris
3rd in Line: St. Peter's
Watch Out for: Delaware

Dondre Whitmore, PG, 5'8, Trenton Catholic (NJ)
Favorite: prep school
2nd in Line: Iona
3rd in Line: Central Connecticut State
Watch Out for: Rider

James Herring, SG, 6'3, Philips Exeter (NH)
Favorite: Dartmouth
2nd in Line: Bucknell
3rd in Line: Columbia
Watch Out for: NJIT, Cornell

Note- all photos are from http://scouthoops.scout.com/, which was also used as a source for information