MORGANTOWN -- Devin Ebanks is no longer the top unsigned basketball player in the recruiting class of 2008.

And at West Virginia University, well, things are suddenly very different there as well.

Ebanks, a 6-foot-9, 205-pound forward from Long Island City, N.Y., sent a signed letter of intent to WVU Sunday and will be eligible to play this fall.

He's easily the top recruit to choose the Mountaineers since Jonathan Hargett in 2001.

Ebanks signed with Indiana in the early signing period, but was granted a release when Coach Kelvin Sampson resigned.

"He's a pretty darned good recruit and the people they got him from, the people they beat out are national powers," said Steve Keller, publisher of the National Recruiting Report. "A lot of people are beginning to think Bob Huggins can win a national championship there, maybe."

Ebanks spent the past six weeks making official visits to Texas, Rutgers, Memphis and WVU. He graduated from St. Thomas More, a preparatory school in Oakdale, Conn., Saturday and made his announcement Sunday at halftime of the iS8/Nike Spring Classic championship game, in Jamaica, Queens, N.Y.

Ebanks finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and three assists in helping his team successfully defend its title at the event.

"There are a couple ways to look at this and I think if you look at it from Devin Ebanks' perspective, you have a versatile small forward who can pass it, handle it and shoot it and you've got a player who has a lot of tools to work with who some day, if he polishes those tools up, should be playing professionally," said Dave Telep, nationally recruiting expert for Scout.com.

"The bigger picture is looking at the class as a whole now for West Virginia. They've won some heavyweight recruiting battles now. Getting Devin Ebanks this year after getting Kevin Jones and Darryl Bryant is a pretty good indication of where Bob Huggins is taking this program. It's not easy to get those guys, so this is now a pretty big deal."

Ebanks joins the 6-9 forward Jones, 6-2 guard Bryant and 6-10 forward/center Roscoe Davis in the recruiting class.

"We have four guys who will be outstanding Big East players and who will keep us in the national picture," Huggins said.

Evan Daniels, Scout.com's recruiting analyst, ranked Ebanks as the No. 3 recruit in the Big East behind Georgetown-bound Greg Monroe and Louisville signee Samardo Samuels. Scout.com ranks Ebanks as the nation's 13th-best player. Rivals.com places him at No. 11.

Ebanks averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists as a senior and 23 points, five rebounds and four assists as a junior.

"This takes West Virginia's 2008 recruiting class from a solid class to a great one, probably one of the nation's 10 best, for sure," Daniels said. "Kevin Jones is really good and can score at (power forward) and Darryl "Truck" Bryant is a typical Bob Huggins kind of player. He's really tough. But Devin Ebanks is different. He's an elite-level player."

Daniels believes Ebanks picked WVU over Memphis, which was widely believed to be the other serious contender for his services, because he has a greater chance to make an immediate impact. The national runner-up Tigers already signed a trio of touted wing players in 6-5 Tyreke Evans, 6-8 Matt Simpkins and 6-8 Wesley Witherspoon.

"He wants to get his shots and wants to be the guy," Daniels said.

It isn't all offense, though. Throughout his recruitment -- and his re-recruitment -- Ebanks maintained he was interested in playing for a coach who would make him a better defensive player.

"Devin has always come across as one of the guys who gets it and he understands that if he was a better defensive player, he'd be top five in the country," said Rivals.com national recruiting expert Jerry Meyer. "One reason he chose Indiana originally was because of Kelvin Sampson's defensive-mindedness and toughness. That's why I'm not surprised he chose West Virginia. He wants to get better defensively and he can do that with a coach like Bob Huggins."

Ebanks visited WVU first and followed with weekend stops at Texas, Rutgers and Memphis. Something clicked on campus in Morgantown.

Former manager Mark Richmond showed Ebanks around and guard Joe Mazzulla and forward Da'Sean Butler were at the front of the effort to make him feel at home. Many of his new teammates, including Joe Alexander, who Ebanks might have to replace if the junior forward remains in the NBA draft, stayed in touch to the very end.

Assistant coach Larry Harrison, who led the recruiting, maintained contact, but gave Ebanks his space. Huggins helped close the deal and was greeted with a call from Ebanks Sunday morning.

"I really liked Coach Huggins," he said after the championship game. "He called me when he was supposed to. He visited me when he was supposed to."

Huggins then applied some constructive pressure and told Ebanks he wants him to be the Big East's Rookie of the Year.

"Assuming he gets playing time, he'll be in the 15 points-per-game range and maybe even a little higher," Meyer said. "He's going to have a handful of assists and he'll probably be in the six-to-eight range for rebounding. His numbers, I think, are going to be very strong across the board, but more than numbers is the fact he's a guy that can facilitate the offense and a guy you can run the offense through and trust with the ball."