Get ready to add another name to the trio of players seriously considering jumping straight to the NBA: Oak Hill Academy (Va.) mammoth center DeSagana Diop.

Diop (pronounced Jop) has narrowed his choices to North Carolina, Virginia and the NBA, with the pro circuit becoming more of a reality each and every day.

"In April, he'll have to make some kind of a decision,"

	St. Jude High (Ala.) power forward Ousmane Cisse is one of four high school big men still considering a jump to the NBA.

says Oak Hill coach Steve Smith. "I've been hearing things through the grapevine that he'll be picked in the top 10."

Diop is a rare commodity. Although he is a raw talent, big men with NBA bodies are so hard to find that it wouldn't be much of a surprise if the Senegal native declares for the draft and goes higher than both Dominguez High (Calif.) slender 7-footer Tyson Chandler or St. Jude High (Ala.) power forward Ousmane Cisse. Those three, in addition to legitimate center Eddy Curry of Thornwood High (Ill.), are the four major players debating whether to make the leap to the pros.

"All the scouts tell me that they really don't care if DeSagana can score because he's seven feet and 310 pounds," says Smith. "But he can."

Diop isn't the only player at top-ranked Oak Hill with a D-I future. Point guard Billy Edelin committed to Syracuse prior to transferring to Oak Hill from DeMatha Catholic High (Md.) before this season. Shooting guard Rashaad Carruth is headed to Kentucky, while rotund power forward Mario Boggan and junior guard Justin Gray are reaping the benefits of playing with three premiere players.

Boggan is getting recruited by the likes of Ohio State, Clemson, North Carolina State and Wake Forest, and Gray is looking at Clemson, UNC-Charlotte and Virginia Tech.

Family Matters
Brentwood Academy (Tenn.) big man David Harrison's final four list reads a little strange if you didn't know better. Powerhouses Duke and North Carolina are in the mix, along with mid-tier programs Vanderbilt and Colorado.

Harrison's father is an assistant football coach at Vandy, while his older brother, D.J., is a junior and the leading scorer on the Colorado basketball team.

David is averaging 30 points, 12.3 rebounds and 5.6 blocks per contest this season and also plays on the football team.

"He's taken his time and will visit Colorado this weekend," says Brentwood coach David Butler. "There's not much he needs to work on - maybe his offensive moves and his free-throw shooting. That's about it."

Special Delivery
Larry O'Bannon is the only senior on a Louisville Male High (Ky.) squad that has been a fixture in the Top 25 all season. But he still hasn't gotten much respect from the so-called recruiting gurus.

The 6-foot-5, 200-pound O'Bannon averaged 19 points per game last season and is putting up 22 points and eight rebounds per contest this year. He is one of a handful of elite seniors who still haven't committed yet.

But O'Bannon is fairly certain where he'll take his skills. He favors Tennessee over Dayton, Houston, Oregon State and Murray State. He says Maryland was pursuing him prior to the season, but the Terps have cooled off lately.

"I'll be more of a two-guard in college, but in high school I play everywhere," says O'Bannon, who has a 41-inch vertical leap. "My first option is getting to the basket. I slash to the basket and try to dunk over people."

O'Bannon is hoping to make a decision in the next couple of weeks.

"It'll probably be Tennessee," adds O'Bannon, whose game resembles that of current Milwaukee Bucks guard Ray Allen. "They lose four starters next year, and (Vincent) Yarbrough is probably leaving."

Another Future Vol?
Buffalo Traditional High (N.Y.) 6-foot-10, 235-pound senior Darryl Jacobs is another senior who is favoring the Tennessee Volunteers.

Jacobs is averaging 14 points, 15 rebounds and a mind-boggling 13 blocks per contest this season and has a lengthy list that includes UMass, Temple, North Carolina State, nearby St. Bonaventure and Tennessee.

In the Shadows
While Boston College-bound senior guard Jermaine Watson continues to soak up most of the headlines this season at Tabor Academy (Mass.), one of his younger teammates is getting plenty of looks from college coaches as well.

Six-foot-10 junior Torin Francis is playing his second season for Tabor coach David First and is being recruited by Duke, USC, Georgetown and basically the entire Big East.

"He's about the best kid I've ever come across," says First. "He's a junior taking AP calculus and physics - he's very bright. We've joked that I want some Jermaine in him.

"Jermaine is mad when he gets on the court, while Torin has to get elbowed in the face to get upset."

Francis, 17, has only been playing basketball for four years, according to First, but is the team's top 3-point shooter and has few apparent weaknesses in his game.

Young Gun
Oak Hill barely found a way to take care of St. Vincent-St. Mary High (Ohio) last week, but SVSM almost pulled the upset thanks to super sophomore Lebron James' 33 points.

James is regarded as the top underclassman in the nation and is drawing interest from all the big-name schools, including Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, Ohio State and California.

His teammate, 6-foot-2, 190-pound senior Aly Samabaly, is looking at Texas Christian, James Madison and South Alabama.

Major Talent
St. Bernard High (La.) guard Drionne Major, who lit it up at last month's Slam Dunk to the Beach tournament, is being passed over by the major programs but is being looked at by in-state schools such as Tulane, New Orleans and Southwest Louisiana.

The 6-foot-3 Major is averaging about 29 points per game this season and can play either spot in the backcourt. Major needs to score 147 points in the team's final seven games to reach the 2,000-point mark for his career.

His teammate, 6-foot-3 forward Byron Santiago, is a standout linebacker in football and is visiting Louisiana Tech this weekend.

Key Find
Tony Key was looking for a place to play prior to this season and wanted to join Tyson Chandler at Dominguez. But thankfully for Rod Palmer, it didn't work out.

Key, a 6-foot-11, 265-pound senior center, ended up at nearby Centennial High (Calif.) playing for Palmer.

"I've been very impressed with him, and he hasn't really even scratched the tip of what he can do," says Palmer. "His mom told me he came out to go to Dominguez, but there were some problems there and we were the next best thing, I guess. He just stumbled on us, and I'm glad."

Key is averaging 24.3 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks per contest and has a lengthy list that includes Kentucky, Louisville, Tennessee, Auburn, West Virginia, St. Louis and USC.

Tidbits
Grambling High (La.) senior guard Antonio Hudson is deciding between LSU, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. ...

Hargrave Military Academy (Va.) center John Chappell committed to Wake Forest. ...

Mercersburg Academy (Pa.) 7-footer James Hughes will attend Lafayette. ...

Heritage Christian Academy (Texas) junior guard Cedric Hensley, who scored 101 points on Tuesday night, is being recruited by Arkansas, Oregon, Houston, Texas Tech and Oklahoma.