College Basketball: Big Conference Programs Snag Recruits Over the Weekend

Minnesota

Tubby Smith and Minnesota scored the commitment of ESPNU Top 100 prospect Joe Coleman this past Friday.

Coleman, a 6'3" shooting guard out of Minnetonka, Minnesota, is considered the 80th best prospect in the class of 2011 and chose the Gophers over Colorado State, Seton Hall, Iowa State, and Santa Clara. His brother, Dan, played at Minnesota from 2004-2008.

Washington

After saying he was attending VCU last week, Jernard Jarreau has once again made a collegiate decision. However, he will not be playing for Virginia Commonwealth, but in fact will be heading to the west coast to play for Lorenzo Romar and the Washington Huskies. The 6'10" Jarreau will join Hikeem Stewart in 2011 for the Huskies.

Oregon

The Oregon Ducks had a very good weekend, picking up the verbal commitments of two stud guards. Both Bruce Barron and Brett Kingma made their decision to head to Eugene, Oregon less than 24 hours apart over the this past weekend.

Kingma, a 6'1" guard out of Washington state will join Barron, a 6'2" point guard out of Illinois in 2011. Barron is considered one of the top point guards in the country and declined to remain in the Midwest despite numerous interests from Big Ten programs.

The two join already committed 2011 prospect Austin Kuemper in the class, as new head coach Dana Altman looks to rebuild a thin Oregon program after much of their roster from a season ago has departed for various reasons.

Rutgers

Why slow down, Mike Rice? The new head coach at Rutgers has been on a recruiting roll since taking over as the head coach of the Scarlet Knights and, over this past weekend, received yet another verbal commitment, this time from Brooklyn, New York native Mike Taylor.

Taylor, a 6'3" guard, is quick and should have no problem blending in the back court with already committed prospects Myles Mack and Jerome Seagears. Taylor becomes the sixth verbal for Rutgers this offseason, building up what could be a very impressive freshman class down the road in Piscataway.

Texas Tech

Rutgers has already brought in a number of recruits this offseason, but so has Texas Tech. Although the potential star power may favor Rutgers, Tech received its fifth verbal commitment from the class of 2011 this past weekend.

Toddrick Gotcher, a 6'3" guard, will be a Red Raider and keep the trend of in-state commitments going, as all five of Texas Tech's verbals have been from the Lone Star state.

Iowa State

Iowa State and new head coach Fred Hoiberg already have talent and experience coming in for 2011. Royce White, a Minnesota transfer and Chris Allen, a transfer from Michigan State, have already declared their intentions to joins the Cyclones once they are eligible for the 2011-2012.

However, from the recruiting ranks, Iowa State has now added New York point guard Tavon Sledge, a speedy play maker at 5'9". Sledge chose the Cyclones over UTEP, West Virginia, St. John's, and Fordham, to name a few.

Vanderbilt

It will be tough for Vanderbilt and head coach Kevin Stallings to replace A.J. Ogilvy inside this upcoming year, but the Commodores did receive the verbal commitment from Minnesota big man Shelby Moats over the weekend.

Moats, a 6'8", 225 lb. power forward is considered a tough, physical low post player and should help Vandy inside. The Commodores also picked up the verbal commitment from ESPNU Top 100 prospect Kedren Johnson just last week.

Penn State

The Penn State Nittany Lions added their fourth commitment to their class of 2011 over the weekend. Ross Travis, a 6'7" wing man from Chaska, Minnesota, has pledged to play in the Big Ten. Travis will join the likes of Pat Ackerman, Trey Lewis, and Peter Alexis in 2011, choosing Penn State over Iowa State, Santa Clara, Iowa, and Oregon.

UCLA

UCLA and head coach Ben Howland have not exactly had the same firepower about them since reaching three consecutive Final Fours a few years ago. They may have received a big boost this weekend, however, earning the verbal commitment of ESPNU Top 100 guard Norman Powell.

Powell becomes the first addition for the Bruins in 2011, one that should be able to instantly contribute once he arrives. The San Diego native chose UCLA over the likes of San Diego State, Oregon, and Arizona.

This article was originally featured on The Arena Pulse