College basketball recruiting: 2012 talent flowing to Villanova, Indiana

Exit Anthony Davis, Austin Rivers and Michael Gilchrist.

Enter Andre Drummond, Isaiah Austin and Shabazz Muhammad.

When college basketball's regular signing period comes to an end May 18, the sport's recruiting attention will officially shift to the Class of 2012, making players like the aforementioned Drummond, Austin (committed to Baylor) and Muhammad household names.

Over 30 of MaxPreps.com's Top 100 juniors have already made a verbal commitment, providing an early look at programs hot on the recruiting trail.

Jay Wright and Villanova top the list with pledges from Philadelphia-area standouts Daniel Ochefu, Savon Lloyd-Goodman and Ryan Arcidiacono. All three are ranked among the Top 40 rising seniors in the country and No. 10 overall prospect Amile Jefferson is squarely in the Wildcats' sights.



After landing key target Cody Zeller in the 2011 class, Tom Crean's momentum at Indiana is carrying over to 2012 with three highly-touted in-state products and a pair of promising foreigners with Hoosier State AAU ties.

Indiana is also involved in one of the more pivotal recruitments in the Midwest, that of Hamilton Southeastern (Fishers, Ind.) star Gary Harris (No. 26 overall). The 6-foot-4 guard has strong interest in the Hoosiers, as well as Michigan State and Purdue – a pair of rivals making serious waves with a combined seven 2012 verbals.

While they didn't make the cut this time around, Arizona, Baylor, Duke, Rutgers and Texas all have a commitment from a Top 50 prospect and will be in the hunt for more blue-chip talent.

Never too early...
A look at the nation's top recruiting classes for 2012.

1. Villanova
Committed: No. 17 Daniel Ochefu (6-9, 225, C/PF), No. 38 Savon Lloyd-Goodman (6-6, 210, SF), No. 39 Ryan Arcidiacono (6-3, 185, PG)
The Wildcats have the top recruiting class in the country once again. But this time it's the Villanova Wildcats, not Kentucky.

2. Indiana
Committed: No. 20 Kevin Ferrell (5-11, 165, PG), No. 53 Hanner Perea (6-8, 225, PF), No. 60 Jeremy Hollowell (6-7, 200, SF/PF), No. 76 Ron Patterson (6-3, 190, SG), Peter Jurkin (7-0, 205, C)
Ferrell, Hollowell and Patterson are Hoosier State standouts, but Crean also has some international appeal with Perea (a native of Colombia) and Jurkin (Sudan).



3. North Carolina
Committed: No. 28 Jean-Pierre Tokoto (6-6, 190, SG/SF), No. 33 Marcus Paige (6-1, 160, PG)
Roy Williams would love to see superstar Las Vegas guard Muhammad (No. 3 overall) in Carolina Blue.

4. Florida
Committed: No. 37 Michael Frazier (6-4, 180, SG), No. 47 Braxton Ogbueze (6-0, 185, PG)
Billy Donovan continues the flow of backcourt talent to Gainesville with Frazier and Ogbueze, both capable of scoring in bunches.

5. Michigan State
Committed: No. 45 Matt Costello (6-8, 210, PF), No. 66 Kenny Kaminski (6-7, 230, PF), Denzel Valentine (6-5, 205, SG)
Tom Izzo locked up this trio early as all three made a pledge to the Spartans during a two-week span last summer.

6. Notre Dame
Committed: No. 31 Cameron Biedscheid (6-6, 190, SF), No. 68 Austin Burgett (6-8, 210, PF)
Landing this kind of talent is essential for Mike Brey and Notre Dame after saying goodbye to their top five scorers from the 2010-11 season.

7. Purdue
Committed: Raphael Davis (6-5, 190, SF), Kyle Molock (6-1, 175, PG), Javarion Simpson (6-8, 230, C/PF), Ronnie Johnson (5-11, 160, PG)
In addition to this foursome in the Class of 2012, Matt Painter has four more already on board for 2013.

8. Virginia
Committed: No. 34 Evan Nolte (6-8, 205, SF), Mike Tobey (6-11, 210, C)
It won't be long before the on-court results shadow Tony Bennett's recruiting efforts, which have been stellar since arriving in Charlottesville.

9. Butler
Committed: No. 93 Chris Harrison-Docks (6-0, 160, PG), Kellen Dunham (6-4, 160, SG), Devontae Morgan (6-3, 175, SG)
Under the radar no more? Harrison-Docks was an All-State selection in Michigan highly recruited by major conference schools. Dunham would have received the same attention had he not committed to the Bulldogs so early.



10. Michigan
Committed: No. 83 Glenn Robinson (6-6, 190, SG/SF), Nikolas Stauskas (6-4, 185, SG)
Yes, Big Dog's son is headed to Ann Arbor. Stauskas is a native of Canada who elevated his stock over the winter at St. Mark's (Southborough, Mass.), which also produced Murphy brothers Alex (Duke signee) and Erik (Florida).