Weatherford (Texas) College guard/forward Marius Prekevicius committed to South Florida, rivals.com reported.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Prekevicius, a native of Lithuania, played one season at Melbourne Florida Air Academy and one at Weatherford. He will have three seasons of eligibility with the Bulls.
Prekevicius, who also considered New Mexico, Washington State and Hawaii, is a member of the Lithuanian national team. He is considered a superior long-range shooter who can play both guard spots and small forward. He averaged 16.2 points and 3.8 assists this season.
"I'm really excited about the team going to the Big East," Prekevicius told rivals.com.
Prekevicius and another USF commitment, Albany (Ga.) Westover guard Montavious Waters, can sign April14, when the spring signing period begins. Two signed with USF in the fall, Texas high school guard Collin Dennis and junior college power forward Solomon Jones, who played part of this season for Daytona Beach C.C. before becoming academically ineligible.
WOODEN AWARD: Connecticut's Emeka Okafor, Duke's Chris Duhon and Oklahoma State's John Lucas are among 10 candidates for the award as the nation's top player. Okafor, Duhon and Lucas led their teams to the Final Four.
The five finalists will be announced this weekend, with the winner decided in voting by more than 1,000 members of the media and college basketball experts.
The other candidates are: Josh Childress of Stanford, Andre Emmett of Texas Tech, Ryan Gomes of Providence, Devin Harris of Wisconsin, Jameer Nelson of Saint Joseph's, Lawrence Roberts of Mississippi State and Blake Stepp of Gonzaga.
The award will be presented April10 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Stanford coach Mike Montgomery will receive the Legends of Coaching award, and a women's Wooden Award will be presented for the first time.
AUBURN: The coaching search was narrowed to between five and eight candidates, including UAB's Mike Anderson, but the point man for the process said there is no clear-cut frontrunner. Hal Baird said he has sought permission from athletic directors to contact his primary candidates, but has not conducted any interviews.
He would not name any candidates, but the group likely includes Anderson and Tennessee-Chattanooga's Jeff Lebo, whose schools have been contacted by Auburn, and Virginia Commonwealth's Jeff Capel.
Indiana's Mike Davis and Gonzaga's Mark Few - prominent coaches mentioned as possible candidates by Auburn's interim president Ed Richardson - apparently are not on Baird's list of primary candidates. Officials at Indiana and Gonzaga said Auburn has not contacted them. Auburn is seeking a replacement for Cliff Ellis, fired March 18 after failing to make the postseason for the second time in three years.
LOYOLA: Maryland assistant Jimmy Patsos was named coach. Patsos, who served as Gary Williams' assistant 13 seasons at Maryland, will succeed Scott Hicks, whose contract was not renewed after Loyola went 1-27 this season.
STANFORD: All-America forward Josh Childress will declare for the NBA draft but still leave open the option of returning for his senior season. Coach Mike Montgomery had said after the season he expected his leading scorer to return. Childress missed the season's first nine games with a left foot injury, then averaged 15.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks the rest of the way and was named Pac-10 Player of the Year.
- Information from Times wires was used in this report.
