So the Utes have scored another of the players they view as the best senior high school prospects in the state -- in a the move figures to provide an early barometer of new coach Jim Boylen's ability to "project" the potential of young players.

While the rest of the college basketball world has been salivating over his more heralded teammates, Lone Peak's Josh Sharp orally committed to the Utes after making a recruiting visit over the weekend. He plans to walk-on as a freshman, before departing for two years on an LDS Church mission and presumably earning a scholarship when he gets back for the 2011-12 season.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed -- which provides protection for the Utes, as much as anybody.

If Sharp doesn't turn out to be the kind of player they envision, they won't be under any obligation to commit a scholarship to him down the road. (Leaving a program for two years turns a college athlete into a recruitable player again.)

And judging by how little recruiting attention Sharp was receiving, not many other coaches see the same potential that Boylen evidently does. After all, Sharp was only the sixth-man for the Knights during their Class 5-A championship season last year, averaging 5.8 points and 4.2 rebounds.

That contribution was hardly insignificant, though, and scooping up Sharp probably has at least a little bit to do with trying to lure Lone Peak's Tyler Haws into the program a year from now. Just a junior, Haws already is considered probably the best prospect in the state and is attracting attention from major programs; both the Utes and rival Cougars reportedly have offered scholarships.

But Boylen surely isn't just recruiting guys for the slim possibility that they could help him land another player down the line. He loves Sharp's ability to run all day long, I've been told (coaches cannot comment on recruits until they sign letters of intent), and that he has a good head for the game and doesn't need to be the star or have plays run for him in order to be productive.

And that fits with what Boylen himself has told me, that he doesn't recruit with an eye toward always getting the very best players necessarily, but rather the very best pieces for the puzzle that comprises his team.

So perhaps Sharp is one of those pieces, and maybe the rest of the college basketball world simply hasn't fully realized it yet.

The only fear for the Utes, in that scenario, is that Sharp enjoys such a strong senior season at Lone Peak that other coaches come calling with scholarship offers. But even that possibility doesn't seem all that dangerous. When I saw Sharp while watching the Utes practice last week and asked him about reports that Weber State had shown some interest in him, he nodded his head and said:

"Yeah, but I just really want to come here."

Sharp reinforced that feeling last night, when I asked him specifically if he could imagine changing his mind before letter-of-intent day, if a good scholarship offer came along. "No," he said. "That's why I committed to the Utes."