The early signing period for high school basketball players begins on Nov. 14, but 74 of the top 100 players ranked by Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports already have made commitments.

Nevertheless, Duke and North Carolina still have work to do with their recruiting classes. Wake Forest and N.C. State already have done most of their work.

NORTH CAROLINA: The Tar Heels have commitments from 6-foot-8 Ed Davis of Richmond (Va.) Benedictine and 6-0 point guard Larry Drew of Woodland Hills, Calif., Taft.

Both are among the consensus top 100 prospects in the country.

But Carolina is still in the hunt for two other exceptional players -- 6-11 Tyler Zeller of Washington, Ind., and 6-4 guard Iman Shumpert of Oak Park, Ill.

"UNC has a lot of eggs in those two baskets," Gibbons said. "If UNC gets one of them, it has a national top-10 class. If it gets both, the class is among the top five in the country."

Zeller has trimmed his list to UNC, Purdue, Indiana and Notre Dame. His brother, junior Luke Zeller, plays at Notre Dame.

Gibbons expects one of the three Indiana schools to get Tyler Zeller.

"His is a close-knit family," Gibbons said. "If Tyler picks one of the Indiana schools, his family can go to a lot of games.

"Of course, North Carolina is North Carolina."

Shumpert is an extremely good shooter and his reputation has been rocketing since early spring.

Memphis, Georgia Tech and Marquette are in hot pursuit with the Tar Heels.

DUKE: The Blue Devils landed their first commitment from the Class of 2008 on Wednesday: Olek Czyz, a 6-foot-8 power forward from Reno, Nev.

Czyz came onto the scene recently. He is ranked No. 88 by scout.com, although he is not ranked in the top 100 by Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports.

The merit of the recruiting class probably will be determined by the decisions of Greg Monroe, a 6-10, 220-pound center from Harvey, La., and 6-4 guard Elliott Williams of Collierville, Tenn.

Scout.com has Monroe ranked as the No. 1 player in the class. Gibbons said Monroe may be the No. 1 talent, but has him ranked No. 6 because of inconsistent play.

"If he learns to play consistently hard, he could be a James Worthy-type player," Gibbons said.

LSU may be the team to beat for Monroe, although he also likes Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, Georgetown and the usual assortment of top-tier teams.

Duke also is involved with Williams, a multi-dimensional guard.

"He's a good shooter and can run the point," Gibbons said. "He reminds me of [current Duke guard] Nolan Smith. I guess you can't have too many versatile players."

Tennessee, Virginia and Memphis are chasing Williams, too.

WAKE FOREST: The late Skip Prosser assembled one of the country's best classes and former assistant and new head coach Dino Gaudio has received renewed commitments.

Forward 6-8 Farouq Aminu of Norcross, Ga., 6-10 center Tony Woods of Rome, Ga., and 7-0 center Ty Walker of New Hanover form one of Wake's best classes.

"Wake Forest has another scholarship with Anthony Gurley's decision to leave, but I expect Wake will wait and possibly use the scholarship in the spring," Gibbons said. "They might just hold it for next year."

N.C. STATE: The Wolfpack has commitments from 6-4 guard C.J. Williams of Fayetteville Britt and 6-2 point guard Julius Mays of Marion, Ind.

State is expected to concentrate on underclassmen this fall.

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