Zeller not coming to IU

After months of speculation, IU recruiting target Tyler Zeller has made the decision to play college basketball at the University of North Carolina. Zeller announced his decision Monday at a press conference in his hometown of Washington, Ind.\nZeller, a 6-foot-11 center, is ranked No. 22 in the nation for the 2008 recruiting class, according to recruiting service www.rivals.com. UNC coach Roy Williams adds another five-star prospect to his team, beating out IU, Purdue and Notre Dame.\n“North Carolina was the best fit for me,” Zeller told www.CarolinaBlue.com, part of the Rivals recruiting network. “I felt more comfortable with the Carolina staff and players than any of the other schools.”\nZeller said the other three schools all tied for second place after UNC.\nAt the beginning of the summer, Zeller was a three-star prospect (out of five stars) on Rivals. However, after a couple of outstanding AAU tournaments this summer with the Indiana Elite team, Zeller shot up in the recruiting rankings to a five-star prospect.\nZeller’s size and skill made him one of the hottest commodities on the recruiting circuit this summer. Early in the process, Zeller decided to visit only four schools.\nWhile Zeller said throughout the recruiting process he had no clear leader, in the end, Zeller became the third notable big man to choose the Tar Heels over the Hoosiers. Former Lawrence North center Eric Montross and Bloomington North forward Sean May both left Indiana to help lead UNC to national championships in 1993 and 2005, respectively.\nZeller told recruiting expert Mike Pegram of www.peegs.com that the self-imposed sanctions IU placed on coach Kelvin Sampson did play a factor in his final decision.\nZeller becomes the second IU recruiting target to make a decision after the sanctions were made public. Point guard Terrell Holloway committed to the Hoosiers on Oct. 29.\nForward Kevin Jones, ranked No. 79 nationally by Rivals, is the Hoosiers’ sole remaining prospect for the class of 2008. Jones is expected to make his decision between IU, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Ohio State and Massachusetts in the coming weeks.\nThe Hoosiers have three commits, in addition to Holloway, headlined by forward Devin Ebanks, ranked No. 13 by Rivals. Three-star prospects Tom Pritchard and Matt Roth round out the current crop of recruits for the Hoosiers.