"I'm not good at decisions," she said at the time.

Demonstrating that she develops requisite skills quickly, a month later Boothe has figured it out. After wrestling mostly with the distance factor, the 6-foot-5 post from Gurnee, Ill., has committed to the Cardinal.

Interestingly, Boothe said Stanford had been her "dream school" when she was a freshman at Warren Township. Academics also was important back then, she said, as well as the allure of California and "having an adventure." Going that far from home became more daunting, but discovering that she was connected to several people in the Palo Alto area, including an aunt's friend who has pledged home-cooked meals, helped create a comfort zone.

The addition of Boothe will give Stanford a rather imposing front line, come the 2008-09 season. Jayne Appel, who is 6-4 and was ranked by HoopGurlz.com as No. 3 in the 2006 class, is coming off a Pac-10 Freshman of the Year season, is great on the boxes, from the high post and, even, from beyond the three-point line. Incoming freshman Kayla Pedersen, also 6-4 and ranked fourth overall in the 2007 class, has the athleticism and skillset to play on the wings.

Boothe doesn't have the footspeed of either of those two, but she is bigger and a master at creating space in the low post. She has an accurate turnaround jumper from the elbows and is a very good passer from both the low and high posts. In other words, she fits right into the picture.

In fact, it was Stanford's tradition of developing bigs that was the final, deciding factor in Boothe's decision.

"They're great coaches," she said of the Cardinal staff, "who get great players and make them better."

White Signs with A&M

"To be able at this late of date to sign a top 20 player in the country is just unbelievable," A&M coach Gary Blair said. “Tyra is one of the top two or three shooting guards in the Class of 2007. She’s got tremendous range, is versatile and has a tremendous upside to her game."

The Gatorade Player of the Year in Missouri, White averaged 18.5 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks per game during her senior season at Hickman Mills in Kansas City, Mo. Her signing gives Texas A&M two guards who were ranked among HoopGurlz.com's top 20 overall prospects in the 2007 class. The other was Sydney Colson, the rocket-propelled shooter out of Houston, who happened to be ranked right next to White at No. 18.

RIM SHOTS

It apears that Chicago's D'Frantz Smart, aka the "best 5-1 guard in the country," could be making a choice between Bowling Green and Rice, both of whom she will visit in September. Illinois and Toledo remain in the picture. She has dropped Northern Illinois, Ohio and St. Louis from her list and South Florida and Temple went other directions. ... The field already was crowded for 6-3 wunderkind Michala Johnson, a 6-3 rising sophomore at Montini Catholic in

Michala Johnson

Lombard, Ill. The 2010 post has added Duke and Maryland to a school list that includes DePaul, Georgia, LSU, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. She is headed to Notre Dame on Sept 1 for an unofficial visit. This mean seem like heady stuff for such a young player, but Johnson is legit. She is mobile, athletic and astonishingly polished on the boxes. She averaged 20.6 points and 12.2 rebounds as a freshman at Montini. ... The state of Alabama is proving to be very good to Louisiana Tech in the 2008 class. Jasmine Bendolph, a point guard from Davidson High School; DeAngela Sword, a 5-8 swing player from Carver High School, and Kiara Young, a high-scoring guard from Lauderdale High School, all committed recently to coach Chris Long. ... Keep an eye peeled for Regis Jesuit of Aurora, Colo. Regis lost just twice last season and returns a pair of rising juniors in 5-4 Mariah Williams and 6-3 Diana Rolniak, who were all-tournament at Oregon City's End of the Trail and being recruited by Stanford, among many other Division I programs. Regis also has four more 2009 prospects who have several offers, according to club coach Carl Mattei of Mile High Magic. Those include 5-10 May Bokenkamp (Colorado, Illinois, SMU, Texas Tech and Utah), 5-11 Kelsey Roben (Colorado State, New Mexico, North Carolina and Santa Clara), 6-foot T'Keyah Sheally (Boston College, Fordham, Kansas, New Mexico, UCLA) and 5-11 Meghan Winters (Boston College, Colorado State, Marquette, New Mexico and UCLA). Winter's father, Brian, is a former NBA player who now is the head coach of the Indiana Fever. ... Courtney Schiffauer, a 6-foot forward from Boardman, Ohio, has committed to Michigan State. Schiffauer averaged 25 points during her junior season. ... Jennifer Nwokedi, a 6-1 forward out of St. Agnes Academy in Houston, has committed to Tulane.

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