“Committed to Illinois,” he told SNY.tv by text.

“Coach [John] Groce, the staff and the fans all made me feel at home,” he added. “Coach Groce really put his best foot forward and my family and I felt he was sincere.

“It’s a great opportunity here and it fit everything I was looking for in my new situation.”

Cosby began his Illinois visit Thursday and was supposed to visit Missouri beginning today (Saturday). Instead, he pulled the trigger for the Illini.

“It was tough because I respect Coach [Frank] Haith and what he’s doing at Missouri,” Cosby said. “They did a great job recruiting me. But I just felt Illinois is right for me.”

The 6-foot-2 Louisville native will have two years of eligibility after transferring.

In 65 career games at Seton Hall, he averaged 10.1 points 2.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.  Last season, Cosby made 27 starts and averaged 12.6 points per game.

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NEW YORK — Austin Colbert is headed to the Big Ten.

The 6-foot-9 power forward from Gill St. Bernard’s (N.J.) verbally pledged to Illinois in the SNY studios on Monday.

A native of Chesapeake, Va., Colbert chose the Illini and head coach John Groce over Miami, Seton Hall and Villanova.

“I’ve decided that I’m going to attend the University of Illinois,” Colbert said. “Fighting Illini.”

Many observers had Colbert penciled in for Villanova, but Colbert decided otherwise about a week ago.

“I decided to pick Illinois because I just want it to be the best fit for me,” he said. “I feel like coach John Groce is going to develop me into a person, develop me into a player and push me every day in practice. Not only does basketball have a big value for me, but academics as well.

“Illinois has the second-largest alumni network in the country, so basically after basketball if I handle my business in the classroom I’ll be good.”

Colbert is Illinois’s fifth commit in 2013, following point guard Jaylon Tate, shooting guards Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill and center Maverick Morgan.

Scout.com ranks Colbert as the No. 30 power forward in the Class of 2013.

Longtime New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski offered this analysis of Colbert’s game.

“He has a lot of potential but the first thing he’s gotta to do is he’s got to get stronger,” he said. “He’s mobile, he’s agile, but he’s not yet hostile. And I think that’s a function of his lack of strength. He needs to really hit the weight room and get big-time stronger.

“But he’s a guy who’s a fluid athlete, who really covers the court like a guard and has good hands. He has a decent touch. And he just really needs to build up his body, to use his size to great advantage. He’s a guy with a world of potential and he’s a nice kid.

“He’s gotta transcend his off-the-court temperament and become a little meaner on the court.”

Colbert agreed with that analysis.

“I’m working hard every day,” he said. “I’m in the weight room, I’m on the court getting shots up so I expect to do big things this year.”

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Illinois head coach John Groce and assistant Dustin Ford visited the 6-foot-4 shooting guard Tuesday at the West Virginia school, and UConn head coach Kevin Ollie and assistant Karl Hobbs were in on Monday.

He is also considering Florida State, alma mater of his parents.

“It definitely plays a factor, my dad playing at Florida State,” he told the paper. “Not a lot of kids can say their dad played at the same school recruiting you. My dad being from Connecticut, me playing at UConn when I was younger, I think it would be just as special. I know a lot of people there from Hillhouse, friends and familys down there.”

Rathan-Mayes said his visit with Ollie went well.

“It was great,” he said. “We had a great discussion, talked about the way I’d fit into the program. I really love Coach Ollie. He’s just a great person, a great guy. I think he’s definitely going to do special things with UConn in the future.”

Florida State was his first visit, and is recruiting teammate Andrew Wiggins, who is expected to decide soon whether to reclassify to 2013 from 2014.

“It’s hard,” Rathan-Mayes said. “There are a lot of great things about all the programs. My mom and dad are on the phone with me constantly, writing down the pros and cons. I wouldn’t say one’s standing out right now.”

Huntington coach Rob Fulford has compared Kingsley, who committed on his visit to Arkansas and was also being courted by Louisville, to Louisville big man Gorgui Dieng.

“They’re very similar,” Fulford told the Louisville Courier Journal. “Gorgui was probably a better shot-blocker at this stage, but Moses is a little better offensively at this stage.”

Kingsley was recently hospitalized for four days after contracting malaria during a trip home to his native Nigeria.

He will pair with fellow Arkansas commit Bobby Portis to give head coach Mike Anderson a terrific one-two punch up front.

POINT GUARD POWELL TO MEMPHIS

Memphis landed a commitment from 6-foot point guard Rashawn “Pookie” Powell of Orlando Dr. Phillips, the Rivals No. 98 player in the Class of 2013.

“I committed to Memphis university..tiger nation,” he Tweeted.

Powell also considered Alabama, which is still seeking a point guard after Anthony “Cat” Barber picked N.C. State.

A natural point guard, Powell likes to push the tempo and has a good command of  the offense.

“I like running up and down,” he told SNY.tv in July.

ILLINOIS LANDS KENDRICK NUNN

Kendrick Nunn, a 6-2 shooting guard from Chicago Simeon, picked Illinois Saturday over Marquette, Memphis and Ohio State, according to ESPNChicago.com.

“It was to the point where nothing else was going to get better than here,” Nunn’s father, Melvin, told the Website. “There’s a lot of history at Illinois to do with it. That’s what it’s all about. He wants to continue the history. He did it at Simeon and now wants to continue it at the state school and be a part of a national championship at his state school.

“I think Kendrick believes he can get this rolling. He wanted to be a part of something he got started. Groce and his coaching staff want him to be a part of something he got started.”

Nunn, a teammate of Jabari Parker, the No. 1 player in the class, is the first big-time commit for new coach John Groce and his staff, and the third for 2013.

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At 6 feet 10 inches and with natural shot-blocking abilities, Nerlens Noel may well be the best defensive player in the Class of 2013.

“Nerlens has cat-like reflexes, incredible instincts, quickness, reflexes for a guy his size,” said Tilton (N.H.) School coach Markus O’Neil. “He has uncanny shot-blocking ability.

“He can do a lot just naturally on defense. He’s got a decent frame on him. He needs to continue to get stronger and build his offensive skills.”

O’Neil said Kentucky, Georgetown and Syracuse have offered Noel and other major programs are involved. John Calipari, John Thompson III and Jim Boeheim have all been through to check out Noel, the No. 6 prospect in the Class of 2013 per Rivals, and teammate Wayne Selden, a 2014 small forward.

“Those schools have all been in,” O’Neil said. “Those guys are heavyweights.”

Michigan, Iowa State and Providence are also involved.

“We put the word out there that Nerlens is going to start thing seriously about college at the end of this summer,” O’Neil said. “It’s too early. He’s not thinking about it yet.”

DJIMDE TO ILLINOIS

Ibrahima Djimde, a 6-9, 250-pound big man from Huntington (WV) Prep, will sign Monday with Illinois.

He chose the Illini over Duquesne, Indiana and Old Dominion, per Huntington coach Rob Fulford.

“Illinois is getting a very good player in Ibby,” Fulford said. “He rebounds and defends at a very high level. He will be an instant impact post player for Coach [Bruce] Weber].

“He has greatly improved his face-up game and mid-range jumper. As this part of his game continues to develop, he will be able to move to the power forward spot.”

CHRIS WALKER BLOWING UP

During the fall, Chris Walker was considered one of the top sophomores in the country. Since AAU basketball started this spring, the 6-9 forward has impressed scouts, coaches and competitors who once doubted him, just as he once doubted himself.

The 2013 star out of Holmes County in Florida said, “I never thought that I would have a chance to actually play college ball one day.”

Walker, who used to reach out to Calipari and numerous scouts through Twitter, wanted to prove everyone that he deserved a shot to be the best.

“I wanted to try to get Kentucky and everyone else to check me out and find out who Chris Walker is,” he said.

Now, it appears as if everyone knows who this athletic freak is.

Baylor and Mississippi offered the native of Bonifay this week. The Bears and Rebels join an elite list of schools who have offered, including Florida State, Florida and Alabama. He also has interest from Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse, UConn and Ohio State. A fair number of those teams are close to offering.

The 2013 star speaks his mind and has always considered staying close to home by going to Florida or Kentucky. However, he remains wide open in his mind.

“I’m just an open prospect looking for scholarships and interest,” he said.

Walker, who began dunking in the fifth grade, hopes to cut his list down by the end of the summer and take more visits. Sooner or later, Coach Calipari will offer the sophomore who used to Tweet him all the time asking for looks. Now, Coach Cal is watching Walker in action and Walker has a smile on his face because of that.

RECRUITING RUNDOWN

2011 guard Shaq Stokes of Lincoln High in New York is considering two schools that are extremely different from his hometown. Stokes took an official visit to Colorado State earlier in the week and landed in Hawaii for another official visit on Thursday night. With TCU and Western Kentucky out of the race for him, it appears to be a 2-team race at the moment.

Another 2011 guard took two official visits this week. Kelvin Amayo of NIA Prep took a trip to Towson on Tuesday and left for the College of Charleston on Thursday night. Both Pat Skerry and Bobby Cremins have impressed the Newark guard. Seton Hall is also involved with Amayo, who will announce this week on ZAGSBLOG.com and SNY.tv.

2012 guard Charles Mann of Union Grove in Georgia is set to take an unofficial visit to Georgia Tech on Wednesday. He recently picked up an offer from the school he considers to be his “dream school”, UConn.

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When Johnnie Vassar decided to leave his home state of Illinois for prep school in Massachusetts, the state did not forget about the talented guard.

Now a freshman at Lawrence Academy, Vassar is one of the top point guards in the country. On Saturday, he returned home to take an unofficial visit and picked up his first scholarship offer.

“I just finished my visit to Illinois,” he said. “It went really well and they offered me, as well.”

While he has no intentions of speeding up the recruiting process and committing or even naming favorites, the 6-foot guard is enjoying the experience.

“Illinois, Pittsburgh, Temple and Texas A&M are recruiting me,” he stated. “I’m keeping all of my options open but Coach Jerrance Howard, Bruce Weber and the rest of the Illinois staff were great. They are really good people who are down to earth; I really enjoyed my visit.”

Vassar runs with the BABC U15 team on the AAU circuit, where he teams up with Tilton forward Wayne Selden, another highly recruited freshman, who recently picked up an offer from Kentucky.

Although he once sat the bench for an entire AAU Nationals game when he was 11 years old, Vassar keeps it in the back of his mind as motivation to get better. On Saturday, all of his work paid off as Howard, the Illinois assistant, recruited him the hardest of any college coach yet.

RECRUITING ROUNDUP

A number of commitments took place on Saturday. Three seniors, Chris Martin, Marco Banegas and Casey Carroll, made their college decisions. Martin, a guard from St. Patrick in New Jersey, opted for Marshall. Banegas, a guard out of Brimmer & May in Massachusetts, chose Northeastern, while Carroll of Kiski Prep in Pennsylvania chose Drexel.

Iowa also picked up a commitment from Anthony Hubbard, a junior college standout.

Purdue got in on the fun, as well, when they landed the fourth member of their 2013 class in Derek Willis. Willis, a 2013 forward out of Bullitt East in Kentucky, joins Basil Smotherman, Bryson Scott and Kendall Stephens in Matt Painter’s elite group of Boilermaker sophomores.

2011 guard Kelvin Amayo of NIA Prep in New Jersey returned from his weekend official visit to Rice pleased and happy with the situation. He remains uncommitted.

2013 forward Jabari Parker of Simeon in Illinois flew across the country to Washington where he had a great unofficial visit.

Former Oklahoma commit Richard Peters, a 2012 power forward out of Westwind Prep in Arizona, now boasts offers from Clemson, Tennessee, Memphis, Oregon, Davidson, Georgia, West Virginia, Seton Hall, Marquette, Alabama, Auburn, Washington, Washington State, Indiana and Nebraska.

Another 2012 big man whose recruitment has taken off is Robert Upshaw, a 6-foot-11 center out of San Joaquin in California. Maryland, Tennessee and Arizona all offered him a scholarship this week.

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NEW YORK

Class of 2010 stars who have looked impressive early in the season include Kyrie Irving of Duke, Harrison Barnes of North Carolina, Jared Sullinger of Ohio State, Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb of Kentucky, Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph of Texas, Jereme Richmond and Meyers Leonard of Illinois, Tobias Harris of Tennessee, C.J. Leslie of N.C. State, Joe Jackson of Memphis, Pe’Shon Howard of Maryland, Dwayne Polee of St. John’s, J.J. Moore of Pittsburgh, Sean Kilpatrick of Cincinnati, Dion Waiters of Syracuse  and Mike Poole of Rutgers.

Click here to read the full story at SNY.

(Photo courtesy Austin-American Statesman)

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After growing seven inches in a year, Davis is now 6 feet, 9 inches and 187 pounds.

“He went through a major, major growth spurt,” said Anthony Davis Sr. “He’s eating us out of house and home, for sure. He just won’t gain the weight.”

Davis burst onto the national scene this past spring and was named Most Promising Prospect at the recent NBA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, Va.

“It’s a great award,” Davis said by phone from the Kevin Durant Skills Academy in Chicago. He will also soon play at the LeBron James Academy in Akron, Ohio.

“It feels good knowing that they say that I”m really working hard.”

Davis plays at Chicago Perspectives Charter School, hardly a national hoops powerhouse. Yet with a 7-foot-2 wing span and the ability to hit short jumpers, score from the wing and in the post, Davis is making major waves.

He has transitioned from a shooting guard to a combo forward as he has gotten taller.

“He’s gotten bigger,” said his father. “He has to face up and do a lot of post-ups instead of just shooting. He’s a adapted well to the position.”

“I see myself more as a three,” added Davis. “I like playing the wing instead of down low. I can shoot the ball and put in on the floor when I have to.”

Davis said he’s learning from Durant how to use his lower legs instead of his torso to generate power.

“He’s teaching us how to stay low when you get the ball,” Davis said. “When we are dribbling we  have to stay low and when we’re coming up use your legs instead of our torso.”

Davis lists Ohio State, Kentucky, Syracuse, Kansas, Kansas State, Duke and North Carolina as his suitors but says he has no favorite. His father also mentioned Georgia Tech, Illinois and Memphis.

“We’ll probably be taking some visits in late August,” Anthony Sr. said.

“We’ll probably go see Kentucky, Memphis, Georgia Tech, Duke and North Carolina. He’s already been to Ohio State, Illinois and Purdue.”

(Photo courtesy Rivals.com)

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Quincy Miller

A 6-foot-10, 210-pound power forward from High Point (N.C.) Westchester Country Day ranked as the No. 3 player at his position in the Class of 2011, Miller rattled off an impressive list of college offers.

“Syracuse, Kentucky, Wake Forest, Illinois, Duke, Memphis,  Texas, Tennessee, Baylor, N.C. State and Oklahoma,” Miller said by phone from the USA U18 team trials in San Antonio, Texas.

Miller said he has no favorites and no timetable in mind.

“I visited Duke a couple times, Kentucky, Wake Forest, N.C. State,” he said.

Surrounded by talented players on the U18 team, Miller, like his uncommitted teammate Austin Rivers, has no shortage of people telling him where to go.

“Yeah, all the players,” Miller said. “Patric [Young], he’s like, ‘You’re coming to Florida.’ Kyrie [Irving] says the same stuff, that I’m coming with him [to Duke]. Josh [Hairston] says the same thing. Abdul [Gaddy] says I’m coming to Washington.”

Miller laughs at the pressure and says, “I’ll play with any one of them. All of them  are great players.”

As far as his high school plans, Miller said he considered transferring to Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep, but will most likely stay at Westchester Country Day.

“I think I’m going to stay at my old high school,” he said.

Going against players like Hairston, Young, Tony Mitchell and Amir Williams helps Miller test his skills and learning from coaches like Jeff Capel of Oklahoma is also opening new doors.

“Most definitely, we go so hard that everybody’s elevating their game,” he said. “I learned so much. I can’t even tell you how much I’ve learned these last few days.”

The ultimate goal, of course, is to win it all in San Antonio.

“Most definitely,” he said. “We have to win the gold medal.”

RELATED CONTENT

**USA U18 team finalized

**Rivers talks USA Hoops, Celtics & recruiting

**LeBryan Nash has a top five

(Photo courtesy Steve Maikoski/ USA Basketball)

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The 6-foot-7 forward from New Hampton (N.H.) prep has now taken four official visits and has one remaining.

“He’s going to decide if he’s going to visit either Arizona State or Alabama with his last visit,” New Hampton coach Peter Hutchins said.

Cain visited Rhode Island and Northern Illinois before committing to Rhode Island. After decommitting he has been to Illinois and West Virginia.

He spoke very highly of Arizona State last week in an interview.

“I don’t have a favorite school right now, but the one that stands out the most is probably Arizona State because they need immediate help with the forward spot and the three spot,” Cain said.

“They don’t have that many forwards so it’s like if I go to Arizona State, there may be a chance of me starting there as a freshman.”

Hutchins said it was possible Cain could visit one school officially and one unofficially, but any visit wouldn’t happen until after the dead period ends May 28. New Hampton’s graduation is also May 28.

“If he takes another visit it won’t be until after he graduates May 28,” Hutchins said.

As for West Virginia, Hutchins said he hadn’t talked to Cain in detail but that the visit went well.

“I haven’t talked to him in great detail but he had a great visit,” Hutchins said.

Cain also spoke highly of Mounties coach Bob Huggins before the visit.

Wherever Cain lands, Hutchins said they will be getting a special player.

“Kyle’s improved so much over the course of this year,” Hutchins said. “He’s a very talented player. Very athletic. His biggest strength is related to his intangibles. He’s such a hard worker and he’s ultra-competitive.

“He could end up being a great high-major basketball player, which is something very few people anticipated heading into a year of prep school.”

**In other Big East-related news, Brooklyn’s Greedy Peterson was booted from Providence for violation of team rules. Sources say he is headed to play pro ball overseas.

**St. John’s transfer Omari Lawrence tells ZAGSBLOG contributor Alex Kline he’s considering Clemson, Xavier, George Washington,Virginia Tech.

“No visits have been set,” he said. “I have no favorites.”

(Photo courtesy RamReportCox-sports.com)

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