Coleman picks hometown Syracuse
Syracuse kept its star prospect at home, beating out Kentucky and Ohio State on Tuesday in the long recruitment of New York center DaJuan Coleman.
Coleman, a 6-foot-9, 280-pound player for Jamesville-Dewitt High School, announced at a press conference at his school that he'll play for the Orange. Coleman's hometown is just miles away from Syracuse's campus.
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Coleman, ranked as the nation's No. 27 player, visited UK officially the weekend of Oct. 14 and attended Big Blue Madness at Rupp Arena.
He skipped a visit to Ohio State last weekend and instead attended the Orange's Friday night football game.
Coleman said on Tuesday that he had made up his mind to commit to Syracuse about a month ago but went ahead with his visit to UK anyway to make sure of his decision.
He has been one of the nation's most prominent 2012 prospects ever since he started high schools because of his combination of size and agility.
He has been thought to be a primary 2012 target of UK's John Calipari since at least the summer after Coleman's sophomore year.
With Coleman off the board, UK will look elsewhere for big bodies in this recruiting class.
Kansas' Willie Cauley visited UK the same weekend as Coleman, and Georgia's Robert Carter has mentioned the Cats as a team he's considering.
Carter, however, has not set up an official visit to UK and apparently doesn't have a scholarship offer from Calipari at this time.