Eaves sleeping no longer

It's over before it ever got started for Ben Eaves. Just as the high-major schools were finding out about the 6-foot-7, 210-pound small forward from Worcester (Mass.) Academy, the Preston, England native verbally committed to a Big East school on Monday evening.

Who is Eaves? College coaches called Worcester head coach Ed Reilly on an hourly basis wanting to know about the class of 2006 sleeper. Reilly said Eaves didn't stay unknown for too long.

"All of the sudden, he was on the radar screen," Reilly said.

And all of the sudden, he's headed to Connecticut. Eaves visited the Big East school last weekend and decided that he wanted to join the stellar class headed to Storrs next season. He joins five-star prospects Stanley Robinson and Ramar Smith as well as four-star prospects Jon Mandeldove and Curtis Kelly and stellar combo guard Jerome Dyson.

"The mystery is out, it's way out," Reilly said of Eaves. "Ben is a talented kid. At 6-7, he's extremely gifted and has a great skill set. He runs great and is an excellent three point shooter. His skill level is really the total package and he really competes."

Reilly believes Eaves is still reaching his potential.

"Very high," Reilly said of how high Eaves' ceiling is. "Everything he does, he does it really well. I think with more repetition and coaching, he's going to get exposed to the parts of his game that he needs to work on. He's already very solid right now. He runs the floor, he passes well and just a versatile kid."

Eaves has had little problems making the transition on the court and to the social scene at Worcester since coming to the United States six weeks ago.

"He's a special kid in the sense that he's real unique because he gets along with all of these 35-year-old grizzled college coaches and English professors and his teammates all the same. He gets along with everybody."

Eaves's addition throws the Huskies into serious contention for one of the top five recruiting classes in the class of 2006.