L.J. Rose

“Just wanted to thank BAYLOR NATION for a great year! Thanks to everyone who supported not only our team but me personally. Great experience that I will never forget,” he Tweeted.

Rose follows fellow guard Deuce Bello out the door. Bello said on Monday he was leaving.

A 6-foot-4 freshman from Houston Westbury Christian, Rose averaged 0.9 points and 1.2 assists in 33 games.

Rose initially considered Georgetown, Memphis and Arizona, ESPN.com reported.

Former UCLA commit Allerick Freeman is expected to have a strong shot to start at point guard for Baylor.

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“I love the playing style and have a great relationship with them and can step right in and play point guard,” Freeman told SNY.tv.

The 6-foot-4 guard out of Findlay Prep had been the best available player in the Class of 2013 outside of Andrew Wiggins.

He said he also considered Pitt, Marquette, Miami, Minnesota and Xavier, and took officials to Minnesota and Xavier.

Freeman initially pledged to former UCLA coach Ben Howland, who has since been fired and replaced by Steve Alford.

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Dominic Woodson

“It’s close to home, a great academic school and has a great coaching staff,” Woodson, a Louisville native, told SNY.tv by text. “And they have a chance to win a championship.”

Woodson had initially cut his list to Baylor and N.C. State, but the Wolfpack were no longer involved.

“I like the staff and the team looks pretty deep this year and next year they will have a need for bigs, ” said Kevin Robinson, Woodson’s AAU coach with the Ray Jackson Rising Stars. “It will be a great place to continue his education and basketball career.”

Huntington coach Rob Fulford said Woodson has “great hands and passing ability. He makes shots and has the ability to dominate the block on offense.”

Woodson is the fourth Baylor commit for the Class of 2013, joining small forwards Ish Wainright and Chris Johnson and power forward Johnathan Motley.

He is the fourth Huntington Prep senior to commit, following point guard Travon Landry (Tennessee) shooting guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes (Florida State) and center Moses Kingsley (Arkansas).

MOREIRA TO SMU

Yanick Moreira, a 6-10 junior college center from South Plains College, committed to SMU. HE will join the Mustangs when they enter the Big East in 2013 and have two years of eligibility remaining.

“I like the school and the coach and the team made me feel like I was at home,” the native of Angola told SNY.tv. “And Coach [Larry] Brown can make me a better player.”

Moreira averaged 12 points and 8 rebounds last season and was named MVP of the NJCAA national championship, won by South Plains en route to a 36-0 record.

“He felt like coach Larry Brown is a great teacher and could best help him become more of a complete player,” coach Steve Green told SNY.tv. “He also liked being on the front end of building a new program. HE is very skilled and has an extremelyhigh IQ, particularly on the defensive end.”

Photo: 247Sports

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Dominic Woodson

“It went well,” Kevin Robinson, Woodson’s AAU coach, told SNY.tv. “I like the staff and the team looks pretty deep this year. Next year they will have a need for bigs but will have really good guards already in place.

“If he chooses there it would be a great place to continue his education and basketball career.”

The 6-foot-10 1/2, 295-pound Woodson was coming off a visit to N.C. State last weekend that also went well.

He is expected to choose between N.C. State, Baylor and Oklahoma, which he visits next weekend, as does 2013 power forward Julius Randle, who was at Texas this weekend.

Woodson previously told SNY.tv he hopes to decide in November.

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Ish Wainright,

The new was first reported by Alex Kline and confirmed to SNY.tv by Montrose Christian.

A onetime Missouri commit, Wainright had previously visited Ohio State and was to have visited Texas this weekend and St. John’s next.

“Ishmail is probably the most highly-recruited player we’ve had since Kevin Durant,” Montrose coach Stu Vetter told DMVElite.com. “He has offers from all over the country – some of the biggest names in basketball – and deservedly so; he’s one of the best players in the country. He’s a facilitator and makes everybody else around him better, and he’s going to be an outstanding player for us.“

Wainright had left foot surgery over the summer but is now rounding back into shape. He maxed out at 256 pounds but said he wants to get down from that.

“I want to get my body down to 230,” he told DMVElite, “but I might just stay at 235 and just push myself to get used to it. If I do commit, I’m going to ask the college what they feel like I need to do.”

Wainright had been a primary target for St. John’s, which hopes to sign one or two players in the fall.

The Johnnies are now expected to focus on Philadelphia point guard Rysheed Jordan and forwards Jarell Martin of Louisiana and Jermaine Lawrence of New York, both of whom will sign in the spring.

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In case you missed it, here’s Quincy Acy’s one-handed dunk off an inbounds pass during Baylor’s 75-70 win last night over Xavier. Acy finished with 20 points and 15 boards.

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It is a violation of NCAA rules to recruit a player before he is released from his current program, yet that’s exactly what Cooper said happened after his freshman season, when he was named MAC Freshman of the Year and led Ohio to their first NCAA Tournament victory in 27 years.

“That [Tennessee and Baylor] was about it,” D.J. Cooper told Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com following Ohio’s 62-56 victory over South Florida Sunday in Nashville.

Donell Cooper, D.J.’s father, also told CBSSports.com that former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl “tried the hardest” to get his son to transfer.

“It was surprising, being my first experience, that schools were wanting me to come play for their programs,” D.J. Cooper said. “I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to stick with Ohio and Coach [John] Groce.

“I didn’t think about leaving. It’s about loyalty. I’m sticking with Coach Groce, he believed in me from the start. I didn’t listen to any of that [transfer talk]. I just focused on getting better as a sophomore.”

Dionne Cooper , D.J.’s mother, also told the New York Times that Baylor coach Scott Drew tried to get her son to transfer.

“He wasn’t necessarily calling and saying, ‘Come on over,’ ” she told the New York Times. “He would say: ‘Oh, this is great. I knew you could do it. The exposure you’re getting now, you’re not getting it in the MAC because you’re not on TV.’ He was really trying to sell to me. ‘We know you can do these things, but because of where you are, you’re not getting the attention you deserve.’ ”

Drew denied the story, telling the Times that after Cooper signed with Ohio “I never talked with the mom or the dad or D.J.”

Dionne Cooper said her son never considered leaving Ohio.

“He made a commitment to John Groce and he wasn’t going to break that commitment,” Dionne Cooper told CBSSports.com.

Photo: Reuters

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“He went up there last week and said that he wanted to (commit),” Gathers’ brother Greg told Dave Telep. “I told him to sit on it for a week. Baylor had been recruiting him since he’s been in the 7th and 8th grade and there’s a connection with ‘Tweety’ Carter going up there and it’s a situation where they have Isaiah Austin, L.J. Rose and they already have Gary Franklin that he’s familiar with.”

The 6-foot-8 “Bayou Bull” chose Baylor over St. John’s, UNLV, LSU and Florida.

“(Ricardo) said they outworked everybody,” Riverside coach Tim Byrd told ESPN.com. “He told me the family loves them.”

Gathers, a double-double machine on the Nike EYBL circuit, will player power forward at Baylor. He is No. 13 at that position in 2012 according to Rivals.

“I think it was really important for him,” Greg Gathers said. “On top of that being on the circuit and being a guy from Louisiana he’s had to always play the five. Now he’s a four man; he does things from the wing too. He’s got a game like Thomas Robinson and maybe Jared Sullinger who can also show they get it done outside.”

After committing to St. John’s last summer, Gathers decommitted in November amid concerns over the future of the Big East and over the health of St. John’s coach Steve Lavin.

Before the Gathers-to-Baylor news, Lavin said he wants to sign “five or six” players in the spring and is focusing heavily on 6-9 Our Savior New American shot-blocker Chris Obekpa and 6-8 Brewster (N.H.) Academy big man JaKarr Sampson, a former St. John’s commit.

St. John’s also has former Texas A&M point guard Jamal Branch, who becomes eligible in December.

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Because of his size and style of play, his recruitment will be different in that only certain types of programs will pursue him.

At this point, says Baltimore Patterson head coach Harry Martin, four schools are working the hardest on Carr, one of the top point guards in the Class of 2013.

“Probably the ones that I’ve seen that express the most interest are Seton Hall, Baylor, Loyola Marymount and Xavier,” Martin told SNY.tv by phone Tuesday. “They are probably the top four that have really been around.”

Martin has also heard from Texas, Oklahoma State and DePaul.

Carr was named the Baltimore Metro Player of the Year in 2010 after averaging 31.7 points a game. This year, he’s averaging 21 points through six games, including a 36-point performance in Saturday’s 71-66 OT loss to Isaiah Whitehead and Lincoln in the Under Armour I-95 High School Challenge at Towson University.

Martin says Carr’s scoring average is down because he’s trying to get more of his teammates involved and has “more pieces around him.”

According to MaxPreps.com, Carr’s highlight reel from HoopMixtape.com has generated almost 2.5 million views on YouTube.

On Jan. 14, Patterson will be in Jersey City when Carr and company take on Tyler Ennis and St. Benedict’s Prep in the Dan Finn Classic.

Martin says Carr isn’t too focused on his recruitment just yet because he’s “trying to win a state title this year.”

A year ago, Carr led Patterson to the state championship game before losing to North Point, 76-72.

Still, because of his size and style of play, Carr’s recruitment is unique.

“A lot of people with his size, that’s maybe a question mark in certain people’s minds,” Martin said.

“And then maybe his style. He wants to get up and down. Depending on the team and the circumstances, he needs to have the ball in his hands.”

So far, Martin said Baylor and assistant Jerome Tang have made an impact on Carr with their presentation.

“With the new technology, the iPad, they came in and gave a nice flashy thing, what the players get, what the school can offer,” Martin said. “It shows the crowds. They’re a program definitely on the rise. Their locker room is one of the best in the country.”

Seton Hall is also involved with Shaheen Holloway and Chris Pompey recruiting.

“They’ve been around a lot,” Martin said.

Loyola Marymount is also a factor. They play at Morgan State in Baltimore Wednesday and Carr will attend, Martin said.

Xavier has also followed Carr “really hard,” Martin said.

While there have been reports that Carr was offered a pro contract to play overseas, Martin says Carr wants to play college ball before playing for pay.

“He really wants to play college basketball,” Martin said. “We talked about it, playing on TV and that type of stuff. He’s excited with the college coaches coming in and showing different things.”

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Baylor coach Scott Drew, Kentucky coach John Calipari, Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin and Providence coach Ed Cooley have also been through Brewster in recent days.

Smith also tweeted that St. John’s assistant coach Mike Dunlap will come through Wednesday.

Don Anderson, Sampson’s AAU coach, said the following schools were showing interest: Florida, Georgetown, Kansas, Baylor, Kentucky, Memphis, Providence, Louisville, St. John’s and Pittsburgh.

Sampson, a native of Akron, Ohio, was one of three St. John’s signees declared academically ineligible by the NCAA. He then opted to re-open his recruitment.

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