Rivers staying close to home

Austin Rivers, the son of Coach Doc Rivers of the NBA champions Boston Celtics, won't be traveling too far from his Winter Park, Fla., home for college.

Thursday morning the 6-foot-3, 175-pound point guard committed to the Florida Gators.

"It came down to who I was comfortable with," said Rivers. "I'm really comfortable with Florida and the coaching staff. Also, it is close to home, it's a strong academic school and there are lots of fun things to do there. The football team is great, and I think I'll fit in well with the basketball program."

Although Rivers had some of the other top programs in the country beginning to recruit him, he just thought that the Florida situation was just too good to pass up.

"I was thinking about going to some elite camps at Kansas and Texas, and Memphis was also recruiting me, but I just can't see how it could be any better than Florida."

Rivers, who is establishing himself as one of the top prospects in the class of 2011, has the size, skill package and basketball IQ to excel at either guard position at the next level.

Next week Rivers will participate in the Lebron James Skills Academy against the top upperclassmen in the country.