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LEVELLAND, Texas - South Plains College Texan basketball players Yanick Moreira, Anthony Walker, and Forrest Robinson each took a load of stress off their minds Thursday afternoon when they verbally committed to play for Division I schools next fall and can now turn their focus on the season that begins Friday afternoon in Odessa.

Moreira - the 6-foot-10 star that helped the Texans to an undefeated season and NJCAA national championship a year ago - decided the best fit for him was to play for Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, now in his first season at Southern Methodist University.

Moreira said he felt at home on his visit to the SMU campus and though he had several scholarship offers from other schools the decision to choose SMU was simple.

"He said ‘I want you to do three things for me: Run the floor, block shots, and get rebounds,'" Moreira said of his conversation with Brown.  "I said, ‘that's my game, why not.'"

Moreira added that he is happy to have the recruiting process behind him so he can focus on school and the season ahead.

SMU begins play in the highly competitive Big East conference during the 2013-14 academic term.

Walker, a 6-foot-9 forward from San Antonio, Texas, originally signed with the University of Texas at Arlington when he was in high school.  During the ceremony he made it public record that he would be fulfilling that pledge.

Green said he felt Walker's decision was a very good one as the Mavericks have enjoyed a high level of success over the last year in addition to upgrading their facilities.  

The Maverick's were the Southland Conference champions a year ago and just missed an undefeated conference record when they dropped the season finale to fall to 15-1 in Southland conference action.  

South Plains has a history of players going to Arlington as Bo Ingram was a member of last year's record setting team.  Next season Walker will reunite with former Texan Greg Gainey.

Robinson is a sophomore transfer from the University of North Texas and has decided he will play for Depaul University following his lone season in Levelland.

According to Robinson, Depaul began their recruitment of him during a jamboree in Dallas last month.  

I took a visit and it was everything I was looking for in a school," said the 6-10 forward from Ranger, Texas.

Robinson will see Moreira from time-to-time as Depaul is also a member of the powerful Big East conference.

Now that they each have this decision off their minds, they can now turn their attention beginning the season with a bang when they face Ranger College - the 2012 champions from the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference (NTJCAC) - Friday at 3 p.m. in Odessa.

South Plains will play Monterrey Tech (Mexico) Saturday at 2 p.m.

Live video and stats will be available for both games and can be accessed at www.spctexans.com.http://www.dakstats.com/Websync/Pages/WebcastPlayByPlay/WebcastPBP.aspx?association=14&sg=MBB&compID=150628&sea=JUCMBB_2012