Dunson, Creekmur sign with Sun Devils

Arizona State has received signed Letters of Intent from 6-foot-3 point guard Brandon Dunson out Wabash Valley Community College in Mount Carmel, Ill., and 6-foot-7 forward Chanse Creekmur out of Marshalltown High School in Marshalltown, Iowa, to bring the school's 2010 signing class to five members.

Dunson and Creekmur join 6-foot-1 guard Corey Hawkins, a senior at Estrella Foothills High School in Goodyear, Ariz., 6-foot-5 guard Keala King, a senior at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., and Jordan Bachynski, a 7-foot-2 center from Alberta, Canada who is in the final month of a two-year Latter Day Saints Church mission in Florida.

Dunson committed to ASU after a rather short courtship in late January even though he had offers from Nevada and Oklahoma State and has never been to Arizona. He is taking his official visit to Tempe this weekend, but felt comfortable faxing his LOI in before making the trip.

"I'm not worried about that," Dunson said Wednesday evening. "I know I'm going to like it when I get out there. They have a great basketball facility and I'm sure the campus and arena will be nice. I've seen a lot of it already (online and on television) and everything looks good."

Dunson grew up in the Los Angeles area until the age of 15 and has followed the Pac-10 closely. He took a circuitous path to Wabash, redshirting at University-Tennessee Chattanooga before transferring for his second year of college to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville after being homesick. Dunson then dropped down to Wabash Valley, where his recruitment took off.

"For me it was just about feeling comfortable with the coaches," Dunson said. "They put me as ease and let me know about the opportunity there and to have something like that in the Pac-10 and for a winning program and a coach who runs a good program, is a big deal. I wasn't going to pass something like that up."

Creekmur also had a long route to end up at ASU even though he hasn't been anywhere other than Marshalltown. He made previous verbal commitments to Iowa and Santa Clara, but signed with neither and considered playing Division I football as a quarterback before ultimately re-opening his recruitment earlier this year and settling on the Sun Devils.

"It's good to get it over with," Creekmur said. "It's all set and settled now and it's a good feeling. I've known coach (Herb) Sendek since I was 14 years old. I felt comfortable around him. I've known the assistant coaches. I know a player on the team who previously played on my AAU team, Trent (Lockett). So everything about it felt good.

"I'm really excited. I'm actually headed out for the first summer school session so we can get started with the trainer and classes and get everything going. I'm looking forward to it a lot actually."

The Sun Devils have now watched their largest signing class of the Sendek-era -- they signed five recruits in the 2007 and 2009 classes -- but aren't done yet. Visiting officially this weekend along with Dunson is Dwight McCombs, a 6-foot-8 power forward at Morraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Ill.

McCombs has offers from Auburn, Indiana, DePaul, and Middle Tennessee State, but is close with Dunson, and it is believed the Sun Devils are the team to beat at this point.

ASU is also expected to have a strong chance at landing Mesa native Aaron Fuller, who announced his intention to transfer from Iowa. Fuller, a 6-foot-6 forward, averaged over 12 points and seven rebounds in Big-Ten play as a sophomore last season.

Cody Larson, a 6-foot-9 senior power forward at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls, S.D., is also considering the Sun Devils after asking for a release from his Letter of Intent with Iowa following a coaching change at the school. Larson is expected to officially visit ASU, Florida and Ohio State.

ASU will likely attempt to add two of Fuller, McCombs and Larson, and if successful would find itself with a rare seven member recruiting class.

Such a large signing class became a likelihood following decisions by sophomore Taylor Rohde and freshmen Brandon Thompson and Demetrius Walker to transfer out of the ASU program in recent weeks. Another freshman who had been considering a possible transfer, Victor Rudd, is now more likely than not to return to the school in the fall.