Hacket headed to USC

Schools try even possible recruiting tool imaginable to land players. But few can say, "Son, we need you in our program." USC can and did. Daniel Hackett, a 6-foot-5, 195-pound shooting guard from St. John Bosco High School in Downey, Calif., will play with his father Rudy. The younger Hackett verbally committed to the Pac-10 program on Sunday.

The elder Hackett was recently hired onto Tim Floyd's staff and it didn't come as a big surprised that his talented son, who is in the class of 2007, followed him.

Did dad's position help Daniel make up his mind?

"No, not really. That didn't really have much impact on me," Hackett said. "He talked to me as a coach and that helped me make my decision. I like the school a lot and I think they are going to be a winning program."

With interest from a host of other programs across the country, including Syracuse (dad's alma mater), Arizona, Wake Forest and Washington, Hackett felt like the Trojans was the right team for him.

"I felt like they were the best situation for me," Hackett told Rivals.com on Monday evening. "Coach Floyd is a great guy and I can see myself playing for him. Plus, they have a new arena and a lot of things there that helped make my decision easy for me."

The Trojans had a great Sunday. Not only did they land Hackett, they nabbed Hackett's AAU teammate, the talented 2006 prospect Taj Gibson. Hackett said the two discussed playing together.

"We talked about it before I committed and next thing you know, he was in the office right after I was and committed, too," Hackett said.