Goodbye, Cleveland

Cleveland Melvin, the 6-foot-8, "freakishly athletic" Class of 2010 forward out of Notre Dame Prep, has backed out of his committment to attend UConn.

"It's very mutual," said Notre Dame coach Ryan Hurd. "There was open dialogue over the last few days. Cleve expressed his interest to be a wing player, and Coach Calhoun and Coach Sellers expressed interest in him being an interior player over the next four years. Cleve thinks his chance to play at a higher level was playing the wing.

"It's totally amicable."

Melvin, a Baltimore native, had verbally committed to the Huskies in November. According to Hurd, Melvin has already heard from many of the same suitors he had before committing to UConn: South Florida, Seton Hall, Miami, Marquette, Oklahoma State, TCU.

"Cleve has a ton of respect for the guys at UConn," Hurd added. "Probably even more now that they realized it wasn't the right fit. How much courage does it take to say to Coach Calhoun, 'UConn's a great basketball program, but I'm looking for something different.' That's a bold statement on his part."