After spending the last 18 months listening to a small army of college recruiters making their pitches, Lamar Patterson was ready to make his decision.

The University of Pittsburgh just felt like the right fit for him.

So on Thursday night, after he arrived home following his team's 76-54 rout of University City, he called Panther coach Jamie Dixon and gave his verbal commitment.

"I told him to reserve number 21 for me — I'm coming to Pitt," the 6-5, 230-pound junior forward said Friday afternoon. "He said I made his night."

Patterson picked Pitt over several other big-name programs. He was also being pursued by Rutgers, Miami, Penn State, Marquette, Michigan, Virginia, Minnesota, Arizona State, USC and UCLA.

Though he's only a junior at McCaskey, Patterson's early committment is not uncommon in the wild world of college basketball recruiting.

If you're a big enough star, it makes sense to get it out of the way early.

"These days, recruiters really hit high school juniors," said Patterson's cousin, Mark Bacon, who helped guide him through the recruiting process along with Patterson's older brothers, Perry and Lorne.

"Kids can't wait until their senior year to commit anymore, because the coaches won't wait," Bacon continued. "They want their teams stacked, and if you hold out too long they could look elsewhere."

Patterson said committing early also takes some of the weight off his shoulders.

"I wanted to do it now," he said. "Now I won't have to worry about it. I can just focus on playing my last two years at McCaskey and getting ready for the next level."

Pittsburgh, which entered the week ranked No. 6 in the nation by the Associated Press, is 11-0 heading into tonight's game at Dayton.

The Panthers finished second in last year's Big East tournament and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tourney, where they bowed out to UCLA. They finished the season 29-6.

Under Dixon, who is in his fifth year at the helm, Pitt is being transformed into a perennial Big East powerhouse.

He's led Pitt to four straight 20-win seasons. The Panthers have reached the Big East title game in three of the last four years, and they've made four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, reaching the Sweet 16 twice.

Patterson's committment is the second big-name Pennsylvania recruit landed by Dixon, who also locked up Chester star Nasir Robinson, who will join the team next year.

It didn't take long for Pitt's attributes to make an impression on Patterson.

"I like the facilities, their style of play and the way the coaches treated me," he said.

Watching the way Dixon reacted in the Panthers' recent victory over Duke, when freshman guard Mike Cook was lost for the season with a knee injury, also made an impact on his choice, Patterson said.

"When he went down, you could see the concern on Coach Dixon's face," he said. "He was out there on the court with him the whole time. I could tell he wasn't just concerned about how the injury would hurt the team — he was worried about his player."

So after watching Pitt beat Oklahoma State on Dec. 15, Patterson took a few weeks to mull things over.

On Thursday, he was ready to make his choice.

"I was thinking about it all day," he said. "It was on my mind before the game. I finally decided I'd heard enough from everybody else, and Pitt was the best place for me to go."

Pittsburgh envisions Patterson playing either shooting guard or small forward when he arrives on campus.

"I like that," Patterson said. "It's similar to what I'm doing now (at McCaskey). I'll have to do a lot of shooting off the dribble, but I'll also have to get ready for the physical stuff. That's what the Big East is all about."

And, just under two years from now, he'll be a part of it.

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