Bynum holds press conference

6-foot-11, 275-pound center Andrew Bynum will announce his decision today at a 6:30 p.m. press conference at St. Joeseph's HS in Metuchen, NJ. The final three schools were North Carolina, Connecticut, and Georgia Tech, and with all the votes counted Rivalshoops.com has a bead on the winner of the race.

According to Rivalshoops.com National Recruiting Analyst Bob Gibbons Bynum will announce his decision to sign with coach Jim Calhoun's defending NCAA Champion University of Connecitcut Huskies at his press conference today.

Bynum visited Connecticut this past weekend and had the opportunity to spend some time with the coaching staff and current Huskies Rudy Gay and Josh Boone. We spoke last night with Bynum's brother Corey Thomas.

"We'd made a previous trip to Storrs to see the campus, but we only stayed for a couple of hours," said Thomas. "This time we had a chance to meet with the academic advisors and spend some quality time with the players on the team.

"We went to the Celtics vs. Cavaliers NBA pre-season game and afterwards got to see how the fans really flocked to the Connecticut players, asking for autographs, etc... We were definitely impressed by the Connecticut fans."

Thomas told us that the final schools were selected on the basis of their ability to win an NCAA Championship quickly.

"The only reason that we dropped Georgia from the list at the end is that Andrew really wants to go to a school that can win the national championship within the first couple of years. We felt that Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Connecticut were just a little closer to that goal," Thomas stated. "We were up unitl 3 a.m. Tuesday morning with his high school coach weighing all of the positives and negatives of each program. It's been a tough process and I think we'll all be glad when it's over."

Bynum joins 6-foot-6 forward Jeff Adrien and 6-foot-5 swingman Marcus Johnson in Connecticut's fall recruiting class. Rated #28 nationally by Rivalshoops.com he gives them a legitimate post prospect to share time next year with current center Josh Boone and build upon the success of former Husky and current NBA player Emeka Okafor.

Bob Gibbons states that while this is a huge get for Connecticut, it is also a big loss for the programs that were eliminated. "This has to be a major disappointment for North Carolina and Georgia Tech," Gibbons said. "especially North Carolina, who for some reason seem to have been unable to recruit an effective true center since Brendan Haywood joined the Tar Heels in 1997. Roy Williams will now turn his attention to Class of 2006 post targets Spencer Hawes and Brian Zoubek."

Rivalshoops.com believes that other important factors that weighed in Connecticut's favor in the end were its relatively close proximity to the Bynums' New Jersey home and the fact that Connecticut made Bynum feel like he has been their only recruiting priority in the Class of 2005 since the beginning of September.

Bynum averaged 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 7 blocks per game last season. He is an excellent student who has scored over 1100 on the SAT.