Stan Heath is still working on finishing his 2008 recruiting class, but the Bulls have their first commitment for 2009, as Shaun Noriega, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound shooting guard from North Port, committed to Heath on Wednesday afternoon.

"It's a program on the rise and I really want to help them out," said Noriega, a third-team all-state selection who averaged 24.9 points per game as a junior in helping North Port to a 21-7 record. "The location was great, and the academics and the coaching staff were great, too. In college, I want to be a guy who can hit 3s and make big shots."

Noriega, who hit 85 3-pointers as a junior, was also being strongly recruited by Butler and Washington State, and North Port coach Curt Allen said he expected more big schools to jump on Noriega after a strong finish to his junior season in which he averaged nearly 30 points over his last 10 games.

"Shaun is a real loyal, hard-working kid with a great shot," Allen said. "He probably takes 300, 400 shots a day in practice. He had a checklist of everything he wanted from a college. The first thing was education, and he wanted a place where his family could see him play. The wanted to play at the highest level, and when you put all that together, he's excited about South Florida. And now that he's decided, he can just work on becoming a better player over the next year."

Noriega comes from an athletic family, as his father Gilberto was a professional boxer in Mexico; his older brother is a golf pro in Naples. He plays with the Tampa-based Florida Team Elite program in AAU and will be in Ohio for a tournament this weekend.