According to the Northstar Basketball blog, citing an unnamed source close to the situation, the Binghamton Bearcats men’s basketball team has received a commitment from freshman shooting guard Tyree Graham to play for the 2010 season.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 190-pound Graham has spent time with a handful of teams in the past few years. Most notably, he spent the first two months of this past season with Texas Tech, a prominent Division I program in the Big 12 conference. He appeared in thirteen games for the Red Raiders before leaving the school to attend Harcum Community College in Pennsylvania in order to be closer to his hometown of Durham, North Carolina.

In his 13 games, Graham played 14.3 minutes per game and scored 3.9 points per game. His biggest game of the season came in a 77-73 victory at Mississippi State on Nov. 29, where he played 28 minutes and scored 11 points, including shooting 2-for-4 behind the arc. When Mississippi State closed the Texas Tech lead to 52-50, Graham had one of the top plays of that game, converting a four-point play to put the Red Raiders up for good with 11:56 left to play.

Graham also saw action against the Pittsburgh Panthers, who were undefeated and ranked No. 4 in the nation at the time. He scored one point in just 10 minutes of action in the 80-67 Pittsburgh win. Graham also tallied six rebounds and six assists in 18 minutes of play during Texas Tech’s 167-115 drubbing of East Central, but he was the only Red Raider to receive playing time that didn’t score in the contest, as he shot a total of 0-for-8 from the field.

Graham’s journey is a telling one. According to an article published by Mark Sparrow on the Texas Tech scouting Web site, he began his senior year at Southern Durham High School, dreaming of playing college basketball. He transferred to Mount Zion Christian Academy midway through the season, a school that has produced the likes of NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady and Kansas forward Brandon Rush.

Graham received scholarship offers from Wake Forest, Clemson and Virginia Tech, and was also contacted by North Carolina, Louisville and Villanova.

However, at the end of his senior year at Mount Zion, Graham found out that he did not qualify academically to participate in collegiate athletics. He then transferred to Village Christian Academy in North Carolina, where he once again received attention from the college basketball world.

His statistics can tell you why: 23.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.8 steals per game in his senior season. He scored more than 40 points in two games, tallied six triple-doubles and shot 79.4 percent from the free throw line.

Graham was offered a scholarship from Texas Tech, and while visiting the college on Oct. 6, 2007, he told legendary coach Bob Knight that he wanted to commit to the school.

The news broke of Graham’s commitment to Binghamton on March 31.

Bearcats head coach Kevin Broadus said that he could not comment on the recruitment of Graham, as it is against NCAA policy to do so before a player has officially signed with a school. Broadus was responsible for bringing in players with similar stories as Graham, such as Tiki Mayben and D.J. Rivera, who did not academically qualify into the schools that offered them an opportunity to play.

Graham will not arrive at Binghamton until the 2010-11 school year.

For more information on the life of Tyree Graham before his commitment to Binghamton, see the article at texastech.scout.com/2/699048.html.