Rutgers received a commitment from Shane Rector, a 6-foot-1 point guard who attends South Kent (Conn.) High School.

“He has the ability to create for himself and others off the dribble,” South Kent coach Kelvin Jefferson said. “I think that’s what attracted Rutgers to him.”

Providence and Xavier were among the other suitors for Rector.

“I want to play basketball at the highest level,” Rector said, “and with Rutgers going to the Big Ten, that’s a great league right there.”

Butler gained a commitment from Elijah Brown, a 6-foot-3 guard out of Mater Dei High School in Los Angeles.

Brown chose the Bulldogs over San Diego, St. Mary's, San Francisco and St. Joseph's.

Brown is the son of former Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown.

Malachi Richardson received a scholarship offer from Ohio State.

Richardson, considered a top-20 player in the class of 2015, has offers from Indiana, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Cincinnati, Maryland and Miami.

Kansas is expected to extend an offer, while Georgetown and Villanova are also expressing interest.

Aaron Gordon brings a mature approach to his game and is analytical when breaking down his options of Kentucky, Arizona and Washington.

"Let's start with Kentucky," said Gordon. "It's a winning organization. Coach (John) Calipari is a winner. It's a true basketball program. The Wildcat Launch is right across the street from the gym. You can go in there 24 hours a day. There's a curfew. It's almost like a business. If you really want to play basketball, that's the place to go.

"Arizona is a shooting program and coach (Sean) Miller is a really good shooting coach. They are losing two of their really good seniors, Kevin Parrom and Solomon Hill. It's a great place to go to school. I'd be happy there if I were to go there. Miller is a really great coach.

"Obviously (Lorenzo) Romar is a really great coach also at Washington. They have a really good offense – it's a 1-4 high, almost like a John Wooden offense. They look to push in the first eight seconds. It's up-tempo but also very structured. It's also very basketball oriented."

Gordon is applying the recruiting lessons learned by his older siblings Drew and Elisabeth to his own process.

"Drew made a poor decision his first time around and great one the second time," he said. "My sister made a good one to Harvard. I've been able to see the dos and don'ts of the recruiting process and it's allowed me to really open my eyes to a lot of things.

"Ultimately, it's my decision and nobody else's." 

Darius Thompson, a 6-foot-4 point guard out of Blackman (TN) High School, verbally committed to Vanderbilt, choosing the Commodores over Tennessee, N.C. State and Purdue, among others.

“When I went down there to visit and talked to the academic people, I really liked the school,” Thompson said. “Then, when I met with coach (Kevin) Stallings — he’s a great coach — he’s going to push me to the best I can be and get the best out of me.

“Then their players were really cool players. I liked the situation there.”

Tyus Jones will take an unofficial visit to Kentucky this weekend.

Jones, a 6-foot-1 point guard who plays at Apple Valley High School in Minnesota, is considered the top player in the 2014 class.

Apple Valley coach Zach Goring compares Jones’ playing style to Chris Paul and Tony Parker.

“The way he can totally control a game — and not even by scoring,” he said. “His basketball IQ is through the roof. We run a lot of screen-and-roll action and he understands where to go on that sort of stuff.”

Dakari Johnson committed to Kentucky on Saturday.

Johnson, the No. 1 center in the 2013 incoming class, chose Kentucky over Syracuse and Georgetown.

"I just want to win a national championship," Johnson said. "I want to win a high school championship, then a college championship and hopefully an NBA championship.

"(The coaching staff) told me this was not the place to come if I didn't want to work hard," he added. "But I want to work hard and I want to get pushed. And I think Kentucky is the place for me."

Johnson made his decision after No. 1 Montverde defeated Simeon by a final score of 82-53.

Johnson reclassified from 2014 to 2013 in November.

Dakari Johnson will announce his college commitment on Saturday evening.

Johnson is the top-ranked center in the class of 2013.

Johnson is expected to choose between Kentucky, Georgetown and Syracuse.

Johnson is choosing between the same final three schools as Nerlens Noel last spring.

Duke, UCLA, Arizona and Florida have recently inquired about JaQuan Lyle, a 6-foot-4 point guard who is considered one of the top juniors nationally.

"(Those four) have all kind of reached out here in the last couple weeks with the great start that he's had," Lyle’s head coach, Shane Burkhart said. "That's added on to the 10 schools he had already come down to."

Lyle had previously cut his list to Indiana, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas and Xavier.

Lyle has recorded a triple-double in seven of his first nine games this season.

"This past week, we had a tough game against Thurgood Marshall (High School) out of Ohio, but he still had 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists," Burkhart said. "Those are fantastic numbers, and he gets chastised because he doesn't have more. He pushes himself very hard to be an elite basketball player. He has to continue to grow maturation-wise, and has to understand how hard he has to work every day in order to be as good as he wants, but the start of the season that he's had has been matched by no other that I've been around."

Kentucky's John Calipari and Orlando Antigua will be in attendance for the Cancer Research Classic in Wheeling, West Virginia on Friday.

They will be there to watch Andrew Wiggins and Emmanuel Mudiay of Huntington Prep.