One of the nation's leading prospects, Brian Butch, a Top 100 center from Appleton-Appleton West, Wis., has officially committed to the Wisconsin Badgers.

Butch also considered North Carolina, Marquette and Kansas. Arizona dropped out of the recruiting race after pledging Kirk Walters. Butch, who averaged 21 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks as a junior, was the player of the year in the state of Wisconsin for 2001-2002.

Olu Famutimi, a Top 100 guard/forward from Flint-Northwestern, Mich., is headed to Arkansas over Missouri and Memphis. Famutimi averaged 23 points and 13 rebounds as a junior. The Razorbacks recently gained Top 100 center Julius Lamptey of Oklahoma City-Northeast, Okla/New Hampton Prep, NH., and forward Vincent Hunter of Little Rock-Fair, Ark.

Top 100 center Wesley Green of Eustis, Fla., pledged to DePaul. Green, who averaged 21.6 points and 13.7 rebounds as a junior, also drew interest from Indiana, Tennessee, Marquette, Florida State and South Florida. His father, Kenny, was a star for Wake Forest and the No. 12 pick in the 1985 NBA draft. Forward Marcus Heard of Springfield-Southeast, Ill., recently picked the Blue Demons over Boston College and Southern Illinois.

Top 100 forwards Luol Deng and Charlie Villanueva, both from Blair Academy, NJ., plan to announce their college choices on Tuesday (Nov. 5). Deng is considering Duke, Indiana, Missouri and Virginia, while Villanueva lists Illinois, Villanova, Indiana and Seton Hall.

Louisville, Maryland, Kansas and Arizona lead the Early 2003 Top Classes.

More Basketball News:
Wyoming has a pledge from guard Mikel Watson of Oceanside-El Camino, Cal.

Eastern Illinois has pledges from guard Bobby Catchings of Naperville-Neuqua Valley, Ill; center Kevin Lowe of Tinley Park-Andrew, Ill; and guard Derik Hollyfield of Aurora-West, Ill/Lincoln CC, Ill.

Western Illinois pledged forward Anthony Lenoir of Evanston-Township, Ill/Redlands CC, Okla.

Maryland-Eastern Shore gained forward Dewitt Scott of Chicago-Whitney Young, Ill.

Charleston pledged guard Dontaye Draper of Pawling-Trinity Pawling, NY.

Drexel pledged forward Chaz Crawford of Philadelphia, Pa/Hargrave MA, Va.

Northern Illinois gained commitment from guard Mike McKinney of Evanston-Evanston Township, Ill.

Florida International pledged guard Filiberto Rivera of Puerto Rico/Southeastern CC, Iowa.

Guard Anthony Miller of Mableton-Whitefield Academy, Ga., has selected Citadel over interest from Hawaii, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee. Teammate Top 100 guard Tim Morris had earlier pledged to Stanford.

Guard Andre White of Zion/Zion-Benton, Ill., pledged to Wisconsin-Milwaukee over Northern Illinois. He averaged 21.6 points as a junior.

Forward Todd Martin of Upland, Cal., picked Albany.

Class 2003:
*Search the list of Prospects/Commitments.
*Post-Summer list of Top 100 Prospects/Commitments/Remaining Top 100 Prospects.
*Top 100 Prospects by Position: Centers/Forwards/Guards.
*More players projected to make an impact: Super Prospects.
*Check out the Early Top Classes.
*Check out the Early Top 100 JC Prospects.
*Early Top 100 JC Prospects by Position: Centers/Forwards/Guards.
*Basketball Signing Periods: Early: Nov. 13-20; Regular: Apr. 16-May 15.

Class 2004:
Search the early list of Junior Prospects/Commitments.

Basketball Commitments/Signings:
OCSN: Main Recruiting Page.
Class 2004 Men: Database.
Class 2003 Men: Database/Top 100/Top Classes/Women: Database.
Class 2002 Men: Database/Top 100/Top Classes/ Women: Database.
Class 2001 Men: Database/Top 100/Top Classes/Women: Database.
Class 2000 Men: Database/Top 100/Top Classes/Women: Database.
Class 1999 Men: Database/Women: Database.
Class 1998 Men: Database/ Top Classes/Women: Database.
*McDonald's All-American Game stories/Rosters for 2002, 2001, 2000
*USA Men's Junior National Team.
*The NBA selected only one high school and a single junior college prospect during the 2002 draft: Center/forward Amare Stoudemire of Orlando-Cypress Creek, Fla., was taken 9th in the first round by Phoenix, while Portland took forward Qyntel Woods of Northeast Mississippi CC, Miss., at No. 21 in the first round. The NBA passed on three other high school/prep school prospects and seven JC players (List).

Bill Hodge is the executive editor and director of recruiting coverage at CollegeSports.com. For daily columns on prospects, commitments and signings, plus databases, go to CollegeSports.com's Recruiting Page.