Weekend Notebook: Midnight Madness pays off for several schools

Midnight Madness is arguably the biggest recruiting weekend of the fall. It's when schools get a chance to roll out the red carpet for potential recruits, making their pitches in an attempt to woo them into a commitment. We know Florida State (Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Jarquez Smith) and Kansas (Wayne Selden) are happy with the results, but they weren't the only schools.

Sterling Brown made a commitment to SMU after taking an official visit during Midnight Madness. (Davide DePas)

-- Sterling Brown, the No. 24-ranked small forward at CBSSports.com, went to SMU on his official visit over the weekend and pledged to the Mustangs on Monday. Brown is Larry Brown's first commitment in the 2013 class, but transfers Markus Kennedy and Nic Moore will become eligible next fall. Former Illinois assistant Jerrance Howard also played a key role in this commitment.

-- South Florida has done well on the recruiting trail recently, and Stan Heath made another addition over the weekend. Bryon Zeigler, a Detroit native, pledged to the Bulls after considering offers from Providence, Iowa and others. Zeigler was ranked No. 25 among small forwards. Top-100 big man John Egbunu is the headliner of the 2013 class, but Zeigler and Chris Perry are two more impact players in the five-man group.

-- Memphis finally missed out on a recruit. Dwight Coleby, the No. 15-ranked center, chose Ole Miss over the Tigers on Sunday. After picking up four perimeter players, Josh Pastner turned to Coleby for help on the inside -- but Ole Miss had too much of a head start. Coleby held his own at the NBA Top 100 camp in June, proving himself against some of the other top bigs in the country.

-- We knew a decision from Darin Johnson was coming. He had said he would decide on Sunday between Washington, Oregon, San Diego State and Texas A&M – and Johnson went ahead and popped for the Huskies. Johnson is a very good scorer, and should complement four-star guard Nigel Williams-Goss in Lorenzo Romar's class of 2013.

-- San Diego State hosted a number of players over the weekend, and it paid off with a commitment from guard D'Erryl Williams. Williams is a high school and AAU teammate of Dakarai Allen, who already committed to the Aztecs. The 6-foot-3 guard also had offers from Marquette, USC, Fresno State and others.

Commitment Catchup

• Ben Emelogu, Virginia Tech
• Alex Foster, Minnesota
• Graham Woodard, Penn State
• Tony Bagtas, Penn
• Walter Foster, Towson
• Daniel Dixon, William & Mary
• Leo Edwards, Louisiana Tech
• Marcus Mathieau, McNeese State
• Jeff Beverley, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
• Carlin Dupree, North Dakota State
• Markus Terry, Presbyterian
• Rashad Richardson, Fort Wayne