Valparaiso University's men's basketball program has received a verbal commitment from Moussa Gueye, a 7-foot center from Senegal.

The catch is that Gueye will not enroll at Valparaiso until 2011-12 and will spend the next two years at Lake Land College in Mattoon, Ill.

"Coach (Homer) Drew and I have a relationship from my time at Chicago State and he asked if they could place Moussa with us for the next two years," Lake Land College coach Cedric Brown said. "Moussa told me today that he wanted to make it official and tell Valparaiso that he was coming."

Brown compared Gueye to a better version of Deji Akendele, the former Chicago State center who is now playing with the Portland TrailBlazers in the NBA Summer League.

For more on this story, read Saturday's edition of The Times.