The Washington men's basketball team received its second commitment for the Class of 2007 Saturday from forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning, a London native who currently attends South Kent (Conn.) School, where he will be a senior in the fall.
Bryan-Amaning, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound power forward, took an official recruiting visit to the university this weekend and gave a commitment to Huskies coaches before leaving town.
He also had been seriously considering Pittsburgh and Wake Forest.
"I just felt like this was the best situation for me," Bryan-Amaning said. "I felt this is a good up-and-coming program and that it was a good opportunity to go to a team that can win the national title."
Bryan-Amaning averaged 14 points and nine rebounds last winter for South Kent. The 18-year-old is entering his second year at the high school after coming over from London to pursue his basketball career.
The Huskies, however, have been recruiting him for about two years, valuing a wingspan that measures more than 7 feet, which would give them the kind of length to combat the type of interior players that others in the Pac-10 have been recruiting, most notably UCLA.
The Huskies earlier secured a commitment from guard Isaiah Thomas of Curtis High School for the Class of 2007.
Thomas and Bryan-Amaning can't sign official letters of intent to become Huskies until November.
The Huskies are expected to sign at least one more player for that class with their sights set now on Kyle Singler, a 6-8 forward from South Medford (Ore.) High who is considered one of the top juniors in the country.
The Portland Tribune reported Friday that Singler is favoring either UCLA or Duke and is also considering Kansas and Arizona. But he is expected to take an unofficial visit to UW in about two weeks and will also try out later this month for the USA Basketball Men's National U-18 team that will be coached by UW head coach Lorenzo Romar.
Kings contacted Romar
The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee reported Saturday that the NBA's Kings contacted Romar to see if he was interested in their coaching vacancy before hiring Eric Musselman.
Romar, however, told the Kings he's happy where he is.
"It was flattering, but I've always said this is where I want to be," Romar said.
NOTES
• Phil Nelson, who will be a freshman forward for the Huskies next year, recently received a qualifying score on his SAT and will be eligible to enroll this fall. The other members of UW's incoming four-man freshman class gained eligibility previously.
• There is one potential twist to the recent transfer of Stanford forward Tim Morris, who officially has only one year of eligibility remaining, to Washington. Morris apparently will petition the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility in an effort to play two seasons for the Huskies. He has to sit out this season as a transfer and will officially be a senior for the 2007-08 season. Morris redshirted at Stanford as a freshman in the 2002-03 season, and missed much of his sophomore year after being declared academically ineligible. "I know he's definitely going to explore that, and then we'll see where it goes from there," Romar said.
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