Spring Signing Period Begins

Wednesday was the first day of the college basketball spring signing period. I will be having daily updates of course on as many signings as I can. I will continue posting on any updates in the coaching world as well.

According to the Detroit News Corperryale Harris of Detroit Redford and Kelvin Grady of East Grand Rapids will both be staying with the University of Michigan, honoring letters of intent they had already signed. This announcement ended weeks of speculation as to what the players would be doing after head coach Tommy Amaker was replaced with West Virginia's John Beilein.
The 6'4" Harris averaged 22 points per game during his senior season and is the 12th rated shooting guard in his class according to scout.com. It is believed that the announcement that Wolverine assistant coach Mike Jackson would be staying with the program had a significant role in Harris's decision to stay.
"I'm staying," Harris said. "That's where my heart is. With Jackson back, it made me feel more comfortable. But I still had to make the best decision for me. I talked to Kelvin last week. He's staying."
Grady is listed at 5'10" and is the #27 ranked point guard in the class of 2007. All focus now will turn to a third Michigan recruit, Alex Legion of Oak Hill Academy (VA) who could be making his decision to stay or leave at some point this week. Legion would be another welcome addition to the backcourt in Ann Arbor; a 6-4 shooting guard ranked 11th at his position in the country.

According to Scout.com and AP reports JayDee Luster, one of the most prolific point guards in the history of San Diego High School basketball has signed a letter of intent to play at New Mexico State. Luster, who is listed at 5'9" and will be graduating from Hoover High this spring, is San Diego's all-time leader in career assists with 857 and career steals with 559. His senior year was cut short after 11 games by a car accident, but Luster still finished his career with 1,890 points.

According to the Tulsa World and an AP report, Glenn Andrews, a 6'3" guard out of T.C. Williams High School (VA), has signed a letter of intent with Tulsa. Williams averaged 18 points on 45% shooting from the field, and an impressive 39% from beyond the arc.
"We're excited to have Glenn join our basketball program,"Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik said. "Glenn is an exceptional shooter who will fit in nicely with our returning team. He's an athletic player who has a scorer's mentality."
Andrews will be joining an experienced back court for the Golden Hurricane who will be returning their top two scorers Roderick Earls and Ben Uzoh.

Washington State's official athletic website reports that sophomore guards Mac Hopson and Chris Matthews will be transferring.
"Our program wishes Mac and Chris nothing but good things," head coach Tony Bennett said in an interview. "For the last two years, Chris has helped our program rebuild and Mac was an important part of our 2007 NCAA team. We will help them in any way we can."
Hopson averaged 4.2 points in 16 minutes this year while Matthews averaged 3.7 points in 11.5 minutes.

The Detroit Free Press reports that former Michigan coach Tommy Amaker has accepted an offer to be the new head coach at Harvard. Amaker was fired by the Wolverines in March after six straight seasons of failing to make the NCAA Tournament; he had a 109-83 record during that stretch. He will be replacing former Harvard coach Frank Sullivan whose contract was not extended after 16 seasons with the program. The Crimson were 12-16 last season and haven't made the NCAA Tournament since 1946.

According to The Register-Guard Oregon head coach Ernie Kent agreed to a 5-year contract extension that would keep him with the Ducks through 2011-12. The deal will pay Kent $1 million annually with incentives potentially bringing that total to $1.3 million. In his ten years with Oregon Kent has compiled a record of 193-120; this season the Ducks went 29-8, winning the Pac-10 Championship and advancing to the Elite 8.