North Carolina flexed its basketball recruiting muscle Monday when it received a commitment from Tyler Zeller, one of the top high school basketball players in the country.

A 6-foot-11, 220-pound senior power forward at Washington, Ind., Zeller was the highest-rated uncommitted player in the country before he opted for the Tar Heels.

Zeller, No. 16 on the Scout.com's Top 100 list, chose North Carolina despite strong pitches from local schools Indiana, Purdue and Notre Dame.

UNC needed Zeller to strengthen a two-man class of 6-8 forward Ed Davis of Richmond Benedictine and 6-0 point guard Larry Drew.

"Schools used to go into recruiting with a Plan B, a Plan C and maybe a spring Plan D," said Dave Telep, national recruiting director for Scout.com.

"But you have to go after players so hard now that coaches are literally seeing their recruiting success for a season coming down to the day of the press conference."

"It is the Dave Kingman approach to recruiting," he added, referring to the retired Major League Baseball slugger. "You homer or you strike out."

The commitment is not binding, but Zeller is expected to sign a national letter of intent during the early signing period that begins Nov. 14.

Telep said Zeller runs extremely well, probably better than any other senior big man, and is polished as an inside rebounder and scorer.

"I've watched him throughout his high school career and wondered if he would ever get the confidence that he needed to become a great player," Telep said.

"He was going to be a prospect, but this spring and summer he gained confidence and blossomed as an elite player."

Telep predicted Zeller will be a good fit at UNC.

"Carolina's philosophy is becoming run fast, show your speed and change things quickly," Telep said. "One of Tyler's strengths is that he can play quickly."

Telep noted that UNC has had great success with other big men from Indiana -- Eric Montross and Sean May -- who played on national championship teams in Chapel Hill.

"They definitely brought it up to me," Zeller told Telep. "It was a trivia question on my official visit."

Zeller told Telep that the distance to Chapel Hill (630 miles or 10.5 hours driving time) was never a factor in his deliberations.

"I was looking at the school and not the distance," Zeller said. "Everyone thought it mattered to me. It's a long trip home, but I won't be coming home much."

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