With the commitments of Charlotte United Faith's Braxton Ogbueze and North Edgecombe's Montrezl Harrell, four of the top five high school junior basketball players in North Carolina, according to scout.com, already have made college commitments.

The top-ranked junior in the state is Raleigh Upper Room Academy's Rodney Purvis. The 6-foot-3 point guard is committed to Louisville and is the No. 8-ranked player in the country.

Ogbueze, a point guard, is No. 2 in the state and No. 41 in the country. He committed to Florida.

Harrell, a 6-foot-7, 235-pound forward, is No. 5 in the state and No. 49 in the country. He chose Virginia Tech after averaging 16 points, 12 rebounds and 6.7 blocks on a 21-3 Warriors team.

He was on the Blacksburg, Va., campus when the Hokies beat Duke, which was ranked No. 1 in the country at the time.

"It was crazy," Harrell said. "The atmosphere was amazing, and we knocked off the No. 1 team.."

He already was leaning toward Virginia Tech.

"It feels like home," he said. "I love their style of play. The environment is wonderful, and the coaches are great."

Point guard Tyler Lewis of Forsyth Country Day (Nos. 4 and 73) is committed to N.C. State.

Raleigh Word of God forward T.J. Warren (Nos. 3 and 47) is uncommitted.

The commitments are not binding on the schools or the players.

Wake Forest adds two: Aaron Rountree of Wilson Greenfield and Codi Miller-McIntyre of Concord First Assembly made basketball verbal commitments to Wake Forest this week. Both are juniors.

The 6-8, 195-pound Rountree averaged 19 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 blocked shots for a Greenfield team that finished 23-9.

"He knows how to stuff a stat sheet," Greenfield coach Rob Salter said. "His basketball IQ is off the charts. Everybody loves to play with him because he is going to do all the little things that help make everybody better."

Greenfield was eliminated in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A semifinals by Charlotte United Faith.

Miller-McIntyre, a 6-2 guard, averaged 15 points and five assists on a 26-3 club that had an average winning margin of 30 points in league games.

"He only played about 23 minutes a game," First Assembly coach Dave Murr said. "His athleticism is his strong suit. He is the best athlete that I've had in my 20 years of coaching.

"He sees the floor very well and is a very good defender. He is just a great all-around player."

Murr said Miller-McIntyre could have put up much better statistics if he wasn't so unselfish.

"We had a good team, and we were very balanced," Murr said. "Codi was great at distributing the ball."

The two North Carolinians are Wake Forest coach Jeff Bzdelik's first commitments in the class of 2012.

Wake Forest was eliminated in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament on Thursday by Boston College, 81-67, and finished the season 8-24.

Sold on N.C. State: Recent N.C. State senior commitment Jaqawn Raymond of Statesboro, Ga., was fully aware of the Wolfpack's head coaching situation when he announced for the Pack. N.C. State might replace Sidney Lowe as head coach, but that wouldn't change Raymond's decision.

"We talked about that," Statesboro coach Lee Hill said. "Jaqawn loves the school, the community, the players and the coaches.

"He'd like to play for this staff, but he believes State will have a great coach and will be a great program. N.C. State plays in a great conference, the best conference in the country, I think."

tim.stevens@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8910