Basketball
Andreas Bloch of California's Central High in Fresno turned down Pepperdine and Northwestern University and signed with Big East member Villanova this week. The 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward averaged 22 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots, in addition to shooting 81 percent from the free throw line, this year. Bloch's decision may have been partially based on the fact that Chris Walker, who was an assistant at Pepperdine, took a job at Villanova and told Steve Lappas about Bloch.

Various sources, including the Memphis Commercial Appeal, are reporting that 6-foot-5 prep All-American DaJuan Wagner will play his college basketball at the University of Memphis under new head coach John Calipari. Wagner's father, Milt Wagner, who starred at Louisville in the early 1980s, was quoted in the Commercial Appeal as saying that his son would play for Calipari.

The decision came as no surprise to most people. Wagner, who led Camden High (Camden, N.J.) to the New Jersey state championship this year as a junior, is following the lead of his teammate and friend, Arthur Barclay, who committed to Memphis earlier this year.

Although Louisville appeared to be the clear loser in the Wagner decision, the Cardinals did manage to sign 6-foot-9, 235-pounder Mac Wilkinson of Ballard High in Louisville. Wilkinson, the younger brother of NBA big man Felton Spencer, chose Denny Crum's program over UNC-Charlotte, Xavier and others. Wilkinson averaged 14 points and six rebounds for Ballard this past season and played an integral role on the school's 1999 state championship team.

Chris Thomas, a junior at Pike High in Indianapolis, Ind., ended his recruiting process early by committing to Notre Dame. The 6-foot-1 point guard announced his decision at a press conference this week. He averaged 24.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists a game this past season for a Pike team that went 18-6. Michigan State and Stanford were Thomas' other two finalists.

Brock Gillespie, a 6-foot-1 junior point guard from Clarksville High (Clarksville, Tenn.), also committed early when he announced for Rice University this week. He chose the Texas school over Austin Peay, Pepperdine, Tulsa and Iowa State. Gillespie averaged 18 points and five assists this past season for Clarksville.

In its continuing effort to build its program back to respectability, Boston College landed another top recruit this week when 6-foot-2 Ryan Sidney of Pioneer High (Ann Arbor, Mich.) signed with the Eagles. Considered a late bloomer, Sidney may be a steal for BC. He averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and six assists this past season and led his squad to the state Class A quarterfinals. Michigan State was also very interested.

Andrew Bryant of Denison, Texas, and Ludmil Hadisotirov of the Winchendon School in Massachusetts have already committed to play for Eagles coach Al Skinner.

Texas Tech has received a commitment from 6-foot-5 Rodney Bass of Philadelphia Christian School (Philadelphia, Pa.). Bass, who previously played for Lake Clifton High (Baltimore, Md.), was also considering Xavier, St. John's, Syracuse, Marquette, Connecticut, George Washington and Texas A&M.

Baseball
Pitcher Greg Atencio of Eldorado High in Albuquerque, N.M., signed a letter of intent with the University of Mexico last week. Atencio helped lead the Eagles to their second straight Class AAAA state title with a 13-4 rout of La Cueva last week. He finished the season with a three-day playoff run that included 19 strikeouts in 10 innings.

Football
Florida State led this week's surge of college signings by juniors as the Seminoles landed 6-foot-5, 260-pound offensive lineman Matt Heinz of Class A champion North Florida Christian (Tallahassee, Fla.), and 6-foot-5, 295-pounder Andrew Henry-Kenon of defending Class 6A state champion Lincoln High (Tallahassee, Fla.). These top-notch additions give FSU five in-state commitments, including three from its own back yard of Tallahassee.

The south, in general, seems to be doing well at getting players to commit early this year, which is a departure from the past when programs like Penn State have dominated the early signing period. Auburn received a verbal commitment from running back David Irons of Dacula, Ga., while SEC rival Arkansas countered with running back Cedric Houston of Clarendon, Ark. South Carolina and Clemson have also done well in the early going with a total of seven between them.