It didn't take long for Bobby Maze to find a new home. The one-time Suitland High standout and recent Maryland recruit is bound for Tennessee.

"Stevie Wonder could see this is where I needed to be," Maze told the Knoxville News-Sentinel. "They've called me 'The Solution' here [at Hutchinson, Kan., Community College], so you do the equation: What better place could I be?

"The plane landed and I breathed in that Knoxville air. You see those seats in the arena and how high they go up, and all the sellout crowds, the Jumbotron screens everywhere, the practice facility. You have every tool here to be successful."

Interestingly, this story makes no mention of Maze's commitment to Maryland.

Maybe I'm reading too much into things. But reading between the lines of this story about Tyree Evans and Maryland and there are some pretty heady implications.

With Evans still awaiting admission to the university, Maryland AD Debbie Yow tells The Sun she was unaware that Maryland was recruiting Evans until after he had been offered a scholarship and accepted. Then she says that it is Coach Gary Williams strong desire to bring Evans to Maryland and his desire to mentor Evans is "critically important" in this situation.

You have to think that Williams know a) what is he getting into, b) that Evans will get into school, otherwise why go down this path and c) that things with Evans cannot take a turn for the worst for a program that has missed the NCAA tournament in three of the past four years.

"I've gotten to know Tyree very well and just feel he's put himself in a position where he gets a chance to see if he can get that done. I based that on 30 years as a head coach and being careful about who I take," Williams told The Sun.

Post reporter B.J. Koubaroulis sits down with Dunbar's Tyree White -- a 6-foot-2, 170-pound junior quarterback. White, an honorable mention All-Met selection, received his first scholarship official offer Monday, from Howard.

Reader Tom passes along this item: B-CC All-Met guard Austin Cooley has signed with Niagara. Funny how things sometimes work. Niagara assistant Akbar Waheed was at the Maryland semifinals, ostensibly to check out Springbrook guard C.J. Garner. However, a scholarship offer apparently never materialized for Garner, but things started picking up for Cooley.

Is Julian Vaughn bound for Georgetown? That's what the rumor mill has going around. If so, it would be pretty unique to see an ACC-to-Big East transfer take place, and a serious upgrade in programs.

Paul VI Catholic Coach Glenn Farello reports that guard Ronald Burks has signed to play for VMI. Surprisingly, the Keydets' roster does not include any other Washington-area players. Burks averaged 6.8 points last season.

Colleague B.J. Koubaroulis passes along that Eleanor Roosevelt rising senior Isaiah Ross reports that he's received a full scholarship offer from Maryland. Ross, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound versatile threat, recorded 111 tackles, 13 sacks, eight forced fumbles and four fumble returns and was named the Raiders' most valuable player in 2007. He played defensive tackle last year but projects as a linebacker. It is Ross's first official offer.

I think so. I empathize with Frank Ben-Eze. He was bound for Harvard, which would have been a good fit. Then he couldn't qualify academically for admission. So he picked Davidson, possibly another good fit for a player whom I think everyone would agree is still quite raw.

Then comes along this story on Davidson, touting its recruitment of Ben-Eze as the product of its terrific NCAA tournament run. And while that most certainly is true, it sure seems that there is a rush to make Ben-Eze into a better prospect than he is - much the same way that interest sparked in him after the 6-foot-10 Nigerian arrived in the United States two years ago. There is still a memory of Gary Williams making the trip to see Ben-Eze only to see the player go scoreless in scant foul-plagued playing time. Then this year, in the WCAC championship game, O'Connell Coach Joe Wootten opted to keep Ben-Eze on the bench until the final minute - when he entered, made a sensational block on Max Kenyi and torn his ACL upon landing.

Maybe Ben-Eze will have a great college career. But it sure seems the expectations for him are being set quite high.

Here's more on DeMatha's Naji Hibbert committing to Texas A&M.

Hibbert bcame interested in the Aggies after associate head coach Scott Spinelli saw him at a summer league game last year. Then head coach Mark Turgeon started recruiting him.

"They've been here as much as they were allowed to," DeMatha Coach Mike Jones said. "Coach Turgeon has been here three or four times. For the assistant to do all the work and then the head coach to show that interest, I think that went a long way with Naji."

Hibbert took an unofficial visit to College Station last September, then decided to make a commitment now because he was tired of the recruiting process. "I didn't want to keep going through all those phone calls if I knew where I wanted to be," Hibbert said. He said that Maryland, Xavier, Syracuse, Clemson, Miami, Florida State and N.C. State had offered him a scholarship. As for the local school, Hibbert said, "I was thinking about Maryland when I first started [the recruiting process] but they had too many guards."

In an indirect way, Jones said he thought that local product Kevin Durant's success at Texas may have played a role in Hibbert's choice.

"It opened up a few people's eyes that you can go away and be successful," Jones said. "They're not going to forget about you."

As for other DeMatha players, Jones said that guard Josh Selby remains "totally wide open" with Louisville and Memphis "two of the latest that want to get in the mix with him." And forward Jerian Grant recently picked up his first scholarship offer, from Virginia Tech. "I think that's the first of many for him," Jones said.

Sports Illustrated takes a look at Maryland's gamble on juco guard Tyree Evans. He can score, but he also has quite a checkered past. Personally, I think the key to the marriage between coach and school is buried at the end of this long (and good) story:

Williams must hope that this union formed out of mutual desperation -- the Terrapins' desperation to return to the NCAAs, buoyed by Evans' scoring power and his desperation to salvage his basketball career -- will not end badly. Because if it does, Maryland won't be able to argue that it didn't know what it was getting into, and Evans won't be able to easily find another college basketball destination. Williams is playing perhaps his highest-risk recruiting game ever, and Evans claims he is not going to let it blow up in his coach's face. Evans says he will treat his scholarship as a blessing. And all Maryland can do, now, is try its best to believe him.

The general thought about Maryland's recent struggles is an overall lack of talent on the roster. Folks still think Gary Williams can coach; they just wonder about the team's recruiting and its ability to evaluate players. Gus Gilchrist will make a difference when he joins the Terps in mid-December. But Sean Mosley has yet to qualify academically and the Terps were faced with the prospect of losing their best player (James Gist) and not having much with which to replace him. Enter Evans. Time will tell whether it was worth the risk.

And here is more on Evans from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.