ESPN has him as the 75th best prospect in the 2013 class. Scout has him at #82. Rivals, who just updated their rankings Tuesday, has him at #106. And now Bill Carmody has him committed to the Purple.

Sina was drawn to all of Northwestern’s strongest selling points: the unbeatable location in Evanston, just north of beautiful Chicago; the highly-regarded academic programs that the school prides itself upon; and the style of play that Bill Carmody runs with the Wildcats. There was just a comfort level with the whole program that Sina felt was too good to pass up, comparing his home near New York City to his future home near Chicago.

Williams, a cousin of former DePaul great and 2x NBA champion Mark Aguirre, was born in Chicago and played one season at Southern Mississippi before transferring to junior college.

He posted modest scoring stats last season — 4.6 pts/game — but he dished out 4.5 assists per game and will certainly fight for playing time on a rebuilding Loyola team. Williams will be the 8th new scholarship player on the roster, joining 6 high school prospects and Iowa-transfer Cully Payne.

The Rambler struggled last season, Moser’s first, but with such a huge turnover on the roster things seem to be moving in the right direction. Nick Osborne, an Indiana All-Star from Muncie, leads the 6-man recruiting class that looks to improve upon last year’s 7-23 finish. Loyola went just 1-17 in the Horizon League, good for last place.

Perennial league power Butler has left the conference for the Atlantic 10, so a new era of Horizon League basketball will begin next season. There is no direction for the Ramblers to go but up and bringing in guys that can contribute right away will be key to their future success. Loyola has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1985.

The 6’4″ Grand Rapids (MI) prospect is both a shooting guard and a wide receiver, but as of now is more highly-touted as a hoops recruit. Michigan State, probably the only “basketball school” in his final group, is getting a top-50 guard for Tom Izzo and a tall, athletic wideout for Mark Dantonio.

Being a success on both the hardwood and gridiron is a rarity in college athletics, but Harris has the talent to be a star on each team. Harris has said that Izzo is okay with him playing football and actually came to watch him on the field this past season at Grand Rapids Christian.

Harris took an unofficial visit to East Lansing last weekend that sealed the deal for him. He cited the close proximity to home, the family atmosphere and the promise of being able to play both sports as major reasons why he chose Sparty.

Photo credit: AnnArbor.com

 If Harris continues to play both sports in college, Tom Izzo will be getting a star basketball player that does not actually count towards his team’s scholarship limits. Per NCAA rules, athletes that play both football and basketball will have a football scholarship and therefore be treated as a walk-on for basketball.

Harris is the first commit in the Michigan State 2014 class. He is ranked #46 overall (4-star) by Rivals.com and is just the fourth member of their Top 50 to make their college choice.

Other schools interested in Harris included Indiana (offer), Florida (offer), Illinois, Ohio State, Purdue, Texas and UCLA. According to Rivals.com, some schools were open to allowing him to play both sports while others were not. We are not sure where any of these schools stood on the issue.

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Morris, a 6’1″ point guard ranked in the top 100 by all the major recruiting services, made the announcement in front of an audience in his high school gymnasium. He put ISU assistant coach Cornell Mann on speaker phone so that he could hear the news at the same time as everyone else.

According to MLive.com (article linked above), Morris averaged 19.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists in his junior season with the Beecher Buccaneers. There is a connection between Ames and Flint: the Cyclones were led in the 1980s by a pair of Flint products in Barry Stevens and Jeff Grayer.

The final three schools for Morris were Iowa State, Illinois and Butler. He was recruited by a number of other B1G schools, including Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State, but did not report offers from any of those programs.

Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg has put together an impressive 2013 backcourt duo, as Morris joins Matt Thomas, a shooting guard from Onalaska, Wisconsin. Thomas is a top 150 recruit that chose ISU over Virginia just shy of two weeks ago.

Morris will join fellow Michigander Sherron Dorsey-Walker, an incoming freshman from Detroit, on the 2013 ISU roster. State’s 2012 class is also solid, headlined by big man Georges Niang.

Hoiberg has made ISU a popular transfer destination in his first few seasons at the helm, but now that he is getting things done on the high school front the Cyclones are poised to make a splash in the Big 12 Conference.

Moore averaged 10.0 points per game in his only season in Normal, which was good for 3rd best on the team. He shined as the team’s starting point guard, dishing out 3.8 assists per game (5th best in the Missouri Valley). The Redbirds made a surprising run in the MVC tournament, beating top-15 ranked Wichita State in the semifinal to face Creighton in the title. Moore scored 20 points in that title game, which was somewhat of a coming out party for the freshman. He followed that up with 24 and 25 point performances in the NIT to go out on a hot streak.

Moore was instrumental in ISU’s MVC tournament upset of Wichita State

After Jankovich left the team in the offseason to take the associated head coach (“head coach in waiting”) position at SMU, Moore decided that it was time to take his talents to a bigger league. Back in May, the Sporting News reported that Moore had narrowed his list down to Illinois, Purdue and Notre Dame. He was also quoted in that article as wanting to join a BCS program.

Even though SMU is currently in Conference USA, the Mustangs are moving to the Big East effective 2013. Due to NCAA transfer rules, 2013-14 would be Moore’s first eligible season of three. Larry Brown has made SMU a transfer haven in his first months on the job. Moore joins former Arizona Wildcat Josiah Turner and former Illinois Fighting Illini Crandall Head. Both Turner and Head were top 100 high school prospects, with Rivals.com ranking Turner as #11 overall in the 2011 class. Former Illini assistant coach Jerrance Howard is also on the staff at SMU.

Moore came into college as an under-recruited prospect. A native of Warsaw, Indiana, he was runner-up to Hoosier star Cody Zeller for the state’s Mr. Basketball award. But, due to his size, he was overlooked by the bigger programs in the area. Now he will have a chance to show what he’s made of on the Big East stage. The move also says a lot about his relationship with Jankovich and perhaps the clout of a head coach like Larry Brown, as Moore passed up on the local powers to go a thousand miles southwest to Dallas, Texas.

The unofficial visit to Bloomington is the latest development for the 6’7″ Harris, who has been picking up interest from programs in the Big Ten and beyond. With offers from Miami (OH), Iowa and DePaul, the list of schools interested also includes Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Louisville, Marquette, St. John’s, Oregon State and Creighton.

“The visit went great,” he said of his trip to IU. He get to check out the team’s workout and then scrimmage with some of the current players. “It was just a great experience and I learned a lot from Indiana.”

Malek Harris is a local prospect from Orland Park (Sandburg HS)

Harris is running with Mike Mullins and the Illinois Wolves this summer, though he suffered a minor setback in early May when he sprained his ankle. He describes himself as an unselfish, high energy player and college coaches are certainly taking notice.

“The coaches like my versatility,” he said. “I try to make myself a player who can play all 5 positions.”

Harris is a rising prospect as he heads into his junior season at Carl Sandburg High School in suburban Orland Park. While a number of local schools have gotten involved, Harris says that location is not an important factor. When asked what he’s looking for, he said “just a place where I can fit into the system with a great coach and history.”

Don’t expect a decision soon, though, as Harris doesn’t plan on selecting a college until next summer. Until then, look out for Harris on the AAU and HS circuit as the offers continue to roll in.

Here’s a quick rundown of the four Hoosier head coaches, all of whom played/managed under legendary IU coach Bob Knight:

* Mike Woodson (New York Knicks): Woodson was an assistant coach with the Bucks, Cavaliers, 76ers and Pistons for a combined eight seasons before being hired as the Atlanta Hawks head coach in 2004. After a rough start, Woodson led the Hawks to three straight playoff appearances. However, the team could not get past the conference semi-finals and Woodson was not given a new contract in 2010. He was hired as an assistant with the Knicks last August and took over for resigned head coach Mike D’Antoni on March 14th. Woodson led the team to an 18-6 finish and gained the trust of Knicks’ star Carmelo Anthony. As an Indiana player, Woodson led the Hoosiers to the 1979 NIT championship. He then, alongside Isiah Thomas, led the team to a Sweet Sixteen in 1980.

* Randy Wittman (Washington Wizards): The Wizards are the third NBA coaching destination for Wittman, who had previously led the Cavaliers (1999-2002) and Timberwolves (2007-08). Though he has yet to make the playoffs as a head coach, Wittman’s leadership turned the Wizards around this past season after he took over for Flip Saunders in January. While an 18-31 record does not look too great, Wittman took over after the team limped to a 2-15 start. He had success as an assistant, playing a crucial role in the development of future Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett during his first stint in Minnesota (1994-99). In Bloomington, Wittman was a part of the 1981 Hoosier team that won the National Championship. The following season, Wittman was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and earned second team All-American honors. He is now enshrined in the Indiana Hall of Fame.

* Keith Smart (Sacramento Kings): Many thought that Keith Smart was not given enough time to prove himself as the Golden State Warriors’ head coach in 2011. After just one season, in which the Warriors finished with a 36-46 record, Smart was let go. The season was actually a 10-win improvement from the year before. Smart was hired as an assistant in Sacramento in November and in January was hired to replace Paul Westphal. The Kings finished the season with a 20-39 record under Smart’s leadership. Luckily, he will be given another chance to prove himself as the Kings coach next season. Smart’s most notable moment came during his first season as an Indiana Hoosier, in which he sunk the game-winning shot in the 1987 National Championship game to beat Syracuse. The shot is one of the most memorable moments in Indiana basketball history and was the highlight of Smarts two-year IU career (he came to IU as a JUCO transfer in 1986).

* Lawrence Frank (Detroit Pistons): Frank’s tenure as the New Jersey Nets head coach ended on a sour note, getting fired after a 0-16 start in 2009. In his first four seasons in NJ (2003-07), the Nets made the playoffs each year. Altogether, he accumulated a 225-241 record as the Nets head coach.After a year as an assistant with the Boston Celtics, Frank was hired to be the head man in Detroit. He led the Pistons to a 25-41 record in his first season at the helm. Frank is the only coach on this list that did not actually play at Indiana. Instead, he served as a team manager for four seasons (1988-92) under head coach Bob Knight. During that time, the Hoosiers won two Big Ten titles and reached the 1992 Final Four.

Marquette coach Buzz Williams has built up a reputation among the JUCO ranks as a coach that can take prospects to the next level. The 2011-12 Big East Player of the Year, Jae Crowder, came to Marquette as a 3-star JUCO prospect in 2010. Williams also coached Darius Johnson-Odom, an all Big East player who came to the team from Hutchinson CC in Kansas, as well as current Chicago Bulls wing Jimmy Butler, who transferred from Tyler JC in Texas.

The reputation Williams has with JUCO players was a major factor for McKay, as was the opportunity to return home and play in front of friends and family. Speaking with JucoRecruiting.com, McKay said “Nobody is getting any younger and to have the opportunity to have my family see my play during my final two years was very important.”

Jameel McKay - 2013 JUCO PF (picture credit: BleacherReport)

Williams’ 2013 class now stands 3-men deep, with all three players hailing from Milwaukee. The other  two are high school studs Duane Wilson (Dominican HS) and Deonte Burton (Vincent HS). Both Burton and Wilson are in the 2013 top 100 according to Rivals and, like McKay, are considered 4-star prospects.

McKay just finished his first season at Indian Hills CC in Iowa, where he averaged 14.6 points and 7.7 rebounds. He will enter his sophomore season as one of the more highly-coveted Division I prospects and will have two years of eligibility remaining when he transfers to Marquette after next season.

Though the guard runs with the Illinois Wolves AAU team and is a native of the state, he is playing his prep ball at La Lumiere School in LaPorte, Indiana. This past season, his first at the school, he was able to team up with future B1G players Hanner Perea, Jay Simpson and Raphael Davis.

James was influential in the recruitment of Malcolm Hill (SG, Belleville East), who is now the only member of Illinois’ current 2013 class. Hill committed to the Illini just a day after James and has recently confirmed his loyalty to the school and the new coaching staff. Hill is a rising star, currently ranked #52 nationally by Rivals.

The news comes just one day after the Illini lost new assistant coach Isaac Chew to Marquette. According to Mike Mullins, James’ AAU coach, James has already been contacted by Marquette, SMU, DePaul, Nebraska and several others. SMU hired former Illini player/coach Jerrance Howard as an assistant this off-season, as they are entering their first season under Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown. Expect to see Kansas State get involved, as their new head coach Bruce Weber is the man who James committed to in the first place.

James tweeted his support for the program shortly after the news was announced: “I wish Coach Groce And The Illini Staff The Best Of Luck In The Future!”

Marquette head coach Buzz Williams grabbed Chew to be an assistant for him up in Milwaukee. Chew had originally turned down a spot at MU before taking the Illinois job, so it is assumed that the monetary offer was much greater this time around.

Chew was the recruiter that Groce needed to re-establish the Illini presence in the Chicago prep circuit. The Chicago-native played his high school ball at Wells and was the Chicago Public League Blue West POY in 1994. His Chicago ties will be beneficial to Williams and Marquette, as they continue to compete for the top talent in the city year after year. Williams already has a solid Chicago freshman coming to campus in Simeon big man Steve Taylor.