Recruiting News: Spiker Gets First, Columbia Just Misses a Big One

Below, some late day recruiting news in the Ivy League.

Former Cornell assistant coach, Zach Spiker, now the head coach at Army, just landed his first verbal commitment in his building project at West Point. Alton Tanner, a 6'7" forward from Katy, Texas committed to the Cadets this week as reported by Rivals.com. "They haven't had a good record in the past, but the last two years, they've gotten a lot better," Tanner said. "I see them as a really good contender in the Patriot League, and I feel like I can help them get over that hump. I want to get there and bring some championships home." Tanner had interest from Dartmouth.

An Ivy League school just missed out on a high major target and that school was not named Cornell, Penn, Princeton or Harvard. RivalsHoops.com reports that Raphael Akpejiori, a wide-bodied 6'9" 230 lb. power forward from Bel Aire, Kansas' Sunrise Christian Academy committed to Miami (FL) this week. "Raphael had a bunch of interest from the Big 12, but in the end it came down to Columbia, South Florida and Miami," said Sunrise Christian Academy head coach Kyle Lindsted. He had offers from all three schools.

Scout.com reports that 6'9" Tony Wroblicky of Loyola High School in Los Angeles committed to American University over interest from UC-Davis, Irvine, Pacific, Columbia and Penn. Wroblicky's teammate, Miles Cartwright, a 6'3" guard is headed to Penn.