ESPN 100 guard Markelle Fultz made a verbal commitment Friday night to Washington, announcing his decision live on ESPNU during the Elite 24 3-point and dunk contest.

Why he committed: Ultimately it came down to Washington, Arizona and Louisville, and to a lesser extent Kentucky and Maryland. Fultz had taken recent visits to all three of his top suitors and came away favoring Washington, in large part due to the relationship with head coach Lorenzo Romar and assistant coach Raphael Chillious, as well as the opportunity to play with the ball in his hands from day one. The most intriguing part of his recruitment, though, is that Kentucky never became a bigger player. Fultz had gone as far as calling Kentucky his dream school in the past and talked of taking an official visit right up until the day he committed. The bottom line is that Fultz was never the Wildcats' top priority and that much was evident during the July evaluation period. Meanwhile, Washington made it clear he was its No. 1 target.

What he brings: Fultz is a late bloomer whose recent rate of improvement has been off the charts. He went from competing on DeMatha Catholic's JV team as a sophomore to the MVP of the prestigious Washington Catholic Athletic Conference as a junior. He currently checks in as the 21st-ranked player in the ESPN 100 but is set to make another jump when our post-summer rankings are revealed Aug. 26. An athletic 6-5 combo-guard, he's as good as it gets in the open floor with his long, fluid, gazelle-like strides to the rim and complete economy of motion. While Fultz rarely beats you with his first move in the half court, he's still a playmaker who is learning to attack off of ball screens, is also capable of creating for others off the bounce and is improving as both a 3-point and midrange pull-up shooter.

How the class is shaping up: On the heels of a 2015 class that included seven incoming freshmen, the Huskies had far fewer but much more specific objectives in the Class of 2016, and an immediate impact playmaking guard was tops among them. Fultz was atop their wish list from the beginning and although they were perceived as a dark horse until very recently, the Huskies continued to build in-roads at each and every step. Now he joins Sam Timmins, a 6-foot-11 big man from New Zealand, to become the second player to commit to Washington in the 2016 class.