Miles staying close to home by tapping UT

C.J. Miles never will forget the day 1,300 fans stood and cheered as he entered Kansas University’s Horejsi Center to watch a Jayhawk men’s basketball scrimmage.

“A standing ovation, I was impressed,” Miles, a 6-foot-5 senior guard from Dallas Skyline High, said Tuesday at a news conference announcing his decision to attend the Texas instead of KU or Georgia Tech.

“I was really impressed with Kansas, but you’ve got to look at everything,” added Miles, who said he was close to committing to KU after his Aug. 27-28 visit, but changed his mind after a discussion with his dad, Calvin Miles Sr.

“He was pretty much like, ‘Let’s look at all the options,'” the younger Miles said.

Those options included official visits to Tech on Oct. 8-9 and Texas last weekend.

“Distance was a big factor,” said Miles, noting his hometown of Dallas is about a three-hour drive from Austin, home of the Longhorns.

“A lot of people want to be able to see me play. I figured all the schools had great players and coaches, so why not go somewhere my family could see me, too?”

Also, Miles wants to be able to start as a freshman. While that might have happened at Kansas, he figured it was a certainty at Texas, where the Longhorns have a pair of seniors — Kenny Taylor and Sydmill Harris — competing for the starting shooting-guard slot.

“They didn’t promise anything,” Miles said, “but it’s a definite possibility.”

Like most blue chippers, Miles, who is rivals.com’s No. 26-rated player, wouldn’t discount an early entry into the NBA draft.

“It’s what people tell me,” he said of being an NBA-ready player after a year or two of college.

KU has filled three of its four scholarship allotments for the Class of 2005. The Jayhawks have received commitments from Mario Chalmers, 6-1, Anchorage, Alaska; Micah Downs, 6-8, Bothell, Wash.; and Julian Wright, 6-8, Chicago Heights, Ill.

Wright is ranked 10th nationally, Chalmers 12th and Downs 14th.

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Pocius to look at Duke: Martynas Pocius, a 6-5 guard from The Holderness School in Plymouth, N.H., will make an official visit to Duke University this weekend.

Pocius, who said he had a great time at Late Night in the Phog at Allen Fieldhouse, is expected to choose either KU or Duke next week.

Pocius — he hails from Lithuania — is not ranked nationally because he competed in overseas events this past summer, not events in the U.S. He is a scorer with great range shooting the ball.

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Alabama lands forward: Richard Hendrix, a 6-8, 250-pounder from Athens, Ala., Monday chose Alabama over North Carolina.

The No. 5 player in the Class of 2005 could be headed straight to the NBA, though.

“My ultimate goal is to play in the NBA, so if someone could assure me that I was going to be a lottery pick, I would have to look into it and give it serious consideration,” Hendrix told rivals.com. “Anybody who plays competitive sports wants to compete at the highest level. But right now, I’m all about Athens High School and the University of Alabama.”