Jerry Tipton on UK basketball

As the propriety of recruiting younger and younger prospects gets debated, Kentucky has offered a scholarship to another high school freshman.

“I was honored,” Jeremiah Davis of Muncie, Ind., said about the offer on Monday. “I don’t know if I’m going to take it yet. I’m still a freshman.”

Indiana, Ohio State and Tennessee are among the schools that have expressed a recruiting interest in Davis. None has offered a scholarship.

UK Coach Billy Gillispie saw Davis play in the recent Akron, Ohio, event that led to commitments from eighth grader Michael Avery and ninth grader Vinny Zollo.

Davis said he was not sure if or when he might accept the UK scholarship offer.

But his father, also named Jeremiah, said the offer would be the subject of a serious family discussion.

“When you have something great, you don’t want to let it go,” the elder Davis said.

The player’s father described his reaction to the offer as a mix of surprise and flattery.

Davis averaged about 10 points, four or five assists and three or four rebounds as a freshman last season, Muncie Coach Matt Fine said.

The latest member of Kentucky’s Kiddie Corps of basketball recruits may move to Lexington. Vinny Zollo, a ninth grader from southeast Ohio who committed to UK on Monday evening, is considering switching high schools.

His mother, Robyn Curry, said Tuesday that among the schools under consideration are Lexington Catholic, Scott County and Dunbar in the Lexington area. Zollo is also thinking of about Culver (Ind.) Academy, Oak Hill Academy and Wayne High in Dayton.

Zollo, a 6-foot-9 forward, has several ties to Lexington and Kentucky. His god parents live in Lexington. One of his mother’s brothers graduated from UK Law School. His mother parents and her husband all graduated from Morehead State.

Zollo committed after visiting UK. His mother noted the positive impression made in a 30-minute meeting with UK president Lee Todd.

The visit was one of several made by Zollo. He had also visited West Virginia, Ohio State, Dayton, Xavier, Tennessee, Ohio U and Miami of Ohio.

Zollo had attended UK summer camps since the fourth grade.

Chris Johnson of the Hoop Scoop recruiting service rates Zollo the seventh best player in Ohio in the high school class of 2011.

Zollo became the second prospect of a tender age to commit to UK in recent days. Late last week, Michael Avery, an eighth grader in the Los Angeles area, committed to the Cats.

Forward prospect Nicola Kecman committed to Ohio State over Kentucky, his junior college coach said on Tuesday.

Kecman, a forward with three-point shooting range, had been targeted by UK.

Tim Walsh, his coach at Eastern Arizona College, cited academics as a reason for the decision. He also noted how Kecman felt a greater sense of excitement with Ohio State, where he visited last weekend.

“I think when he left there, that’s where he wanted to go,” Walsh said. “When we rode back from the airport, I had a feeling that’s where he’d go.”

When asked what gave him that feeling, Walsh said, “The way he spoke of the team, the coaching staff. With everything, there was an excitement in his voice.

“I didn’t get that same sense when he came back from Kentucky. He enjoyed the visit (to UK). Who wouldn’t? But I didn’t see that excitement and energy.”

Ohio State apparently also had an advantage academically. Walsh noted OSU’s aviation engineering program as key.

“That really settled it,” the junior college coach said. “That’s what he wants to get into and he was very impressed with what Ohio State had to offer.”

Kecman, a 6-foot-9 player from Serbia, averaged 13.3 points and made 46 percent of his three-point shots this past season. He became the second prospect to get away from Kentucky this week.

On Monday, big man Ater Majok, a native of Sudan via Australia, committed to Connecticut.

Kentucky remains involved with at least two big men: junior college strongman Josh Harrellson of Southwestern Illinois College and high school senior Maurice Sutton of Largo, Md.