Just for the record, Matt Simpkins followed through with what he told me earlier this afternoon and verbally committed to Memphis tonight.

Assuming Simpkins signs and qualifies — he has been to several different prep schools to shore up his academics — the Tigers should be set in the frontcourt for a little while. Amazing job by coach John Calipari and Derek Kellogg to recognize a need in the 2008 recruiting class, get in one of the few elite players available and get him committed. A lot of people were fretting when the Morris twins de-committed. And for all but 10 or 15 of the 330 Div. 1 programs in the country, something like that would have been a recruiting disaster. But it all worked out in the end, with the Tigers now getting Simpkins and Angel Garcia instead.

Forward Matt Simpkins, a top-50 recruit from the Oakland, Calif., area, told The Commercial Appeal after the Tigers’ 90-53 victory over Pepperdine that he will commit to Memphis tonight at a dinner with the coaching staff.

“It’s been great so far; I’m getting along with the guys, the coaches,” Simpkins said. “It seems like a perfect fit for me. My process was for me to come here and visit the school before I made my decision to commit to Memphis. We haven’t talked about it yet, but I leave tomorrow so I’m going to get some time to sit down with the coaches later on today.”

Simpkins chose Memphis over California and Washington. Simpkins is a fifth-year senior in high school who currently plays at The Patterson School in North Carolina. Simpkins is roughly 6-9, 215 pounds and is ranked 47th by Rivals.com in the class of 2008.

Simpkins will join Angel Garcia in the recruiting class, giving the Tigers two top-50 players to add to their frontcourt next season.

It’s 44-31 at the half after a very lackluster performance by the Tigers. Pepperdine has 14 offensive rebounds, which is the only thing keeping the Waves in the game after shooting 10-of-33 from the field. That should never happen against a Memphis team that has more size and strength at every position. Pepperdine has several second, third and fourth-effort buckets at this point, out-fighting Joey Dorsey, Robert Dozier, Pierre Niles and others for rebounds. Fortunately for Memphis, it’s a good shooting day. The Tigers are 7-for-13 from 3-point range.

It’s a pretty nice crowd today, though the student section is an embarrassment. There’s maybe 100 or 150 students, and the rest of it is empty space. Pretty sad showing.

Meanwhile, I just spoke with Matt Simpkins’ mother, Tanya Brown. She said that she thinks Matt is going to commit to Memphis, and that this will be his first and only visit. I’ll catch up with Matt after the game.