Gorman’s Ben Carter chooses Oregon over UNLV and Utah

By Ryan Greene

Monday, Nov. 7, 2011 | 8 a.m.

The Pac-12 basketball scene got its second major dose of incoming Las Vegas flavor in a week on Monday morning.

Seven days after Bishop Gorman teammate Rosco Allen ended his lengthy recruitment by committing to Stanford, 6-foot-8 Gaels senior power forward Ben Carter chose Oregon over UNLV and Utah.

Carter took his final official visit to UNLV a couple of weeks back and was expected to make a decision not long after. He took a couple of weeks to mull things over and, in the meantime, was seen at a couple of Rebels practices and also their exhibition opener last Tuesday against Washburn.

In the end, he chose a spot where he'll be able to likely play major minutes from Day 1, as Oregon graduates three of its big men after this season. Carter will also get a chance to run alongside former Gorman teammate and close friend Johnathan Loyd, who is entering his sophomore season at point guard for the Ducks.

Rivals.com ranks Carter as the No. 129 overall prospect in the 2012 senior class, and not landing him stings a bit for Rice, personally, as he was one of the first Division-I coaches to begin recruiting Carter, doing so before he'd ever played a minute of varsity ball for the Gaels.

The lone member of Gorman's four-headed stellar senior recruiting class still uncommitted is 6-foot-6 wing Shabazz Muhammad, who is the unanimous No. 1 overall prospect in the nation. He likely won't decide on a school until the spring, and is considering — among others — UNLV, UCLA, Kentucky and Duke.

Moving forward, he will remain UNLV's top recruiting target in efforts to round out the 2012 class, which already includes Gorman forward Demetris Morant, Baltimore point guard Daquan Cook and California combo guard Katin Reinhardt. Many thought that the strong relationship that Carter and Reinhardt had built of late would help lead to Carter becoming a Rebel. Instead, UNLV, at the moment, still has two vacant scholarships to award in the class with the fall signing period starting on Wednesday.

Other local targets still commanding UNLV's attention for those spots include the Findlay Prep trio of Anthony Bennett, Matt Willms and Winston Shepard. Bennett and Shepard, like Muhammad, are not likely to decide and sign until the spring.

Rice and his staff are also tracking a handful of junior college prospects who could come in and play immediately next season.

yan Greene can be reached at [email protected] or 702-948-7844. Follow Ryan on Twitter at twitter.com/ryanmgreene.