The recruitment of Chaminade junior guard Bradley Beal began a year ago, before the start of his sophomore year of high school. On Monday, he may have put an unofficial end to it by committing to the University of Florida.
"I really liked the school a lot when I visited," Beal said. "I wanted to commit when I first went there, but I decided to wait and visit other schools. In the end, it was the perfect match for me."
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound shooting guard had narrowed his college choices to Florida, Kansas, Illinois and Missouri.
"Next would most definitely be Kansas," Beal said. "That's a great school. I love Coach (Bill) Self. But I just really liked Florida just a little bit more than I liked KU."
Beal's scoring average jumped from 8.2 points per game as a freshman to 23.5 points as a sophomore, when he led the Red Devils to the Missouri Class 5 championship. He made 71 of 180 3-point attempts (39.4 percent), 153 of 196 free throws (78.1) and added 4.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
Playing for the U.S. under-16 national team this summer at the FIBA Americas tournament in Argentina, Beal averaged a team-best 19 points per game in leading the squad to a 5-0 record and the event's championship. Beal scored 26 points and had seven 3-pointers in the title game.
He is ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 7 prospect and the top shooting guard in the junior class. Scout.com ranks the Chaminade standout as the No. 10 prospect and second-best shooting guard in his class.
"Brad Beal is one of those guys who knows how to win, is the consummate team player and an exceptional talent," said Dave Telep, the national recruiting director for Scout.com. "He's a big-time college prospect who can score but doesn't need to dominate the ball to do so. He's a winning guy."
Another factor in Beal's decision was that the Gators also have a commitment from junior guard Austin Rivers, the son of Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers and rated as the top shooting guard ahead of Beal in the Class of 2011.
"Austin is a great player," Beal said. "I communicated with him by text message and on Facebook. He really convinced me to come to Florida along with the coaches also. He's just an overall great player, and I'd really like to play with him."
Beal is the most sought-after recruit in the St. Louis area since David Lee, a McDonald's All-American at Chaminade in 2001. Lee played four years at the University of Florida and is now with the New York Knicks.
"It was a tough decision, but he had great schools involved and Billy Donovan did a great job recruiting him," said Chaminade coach Kelvin Lee, who also coached David (no relation) with the Red Devils. "I think he'll go down there and fit well in that system because he can shoot the ball. Billy Donovan is a guard coach. He was a guard. He expressed that to me. He came to practice last night and said, 'Kelvin, I'm going to take care of your boy.' That's all I want is for Bradley to be happy. That's the bottom line."
