The Haverford School's Tao Xu, a 6-11 center, has given a verbal commitment to the University of San Francisco.

Xu, who has completed his studies on Lancast Avenue, has qualified through the NCAA's Clearinghouse and will be eligible to compete for the Dons next winter.

“They want him yesterday,” Fords coach Henry Fairfax said of USF.

Xu averaged seven points, three rebounds and two blocked shots in his first and only season at Haverford School, to which the Chinese U-19 national team player transferred at the start of the 2011-12 school year.

Fairfax said Xu kicked around offers from Tulane, Mississippi State and Drexel, before deciding upon San Francisco.

“Tao told me he considered every offer he got,” Fairfax said. “He said to me, 'Coach, I came 7,000 miles to get here (to Haverford School). What's another 2,000 for college?'”

NOTE: Haverford School rising sophomore Sammy Foreman already has gotten more than a few Division I looks. The point guard turned heads in his first year at the high school level. He even earned MVP honors last week in the freshman game of the All-City Classic, at Community College of Philadelphia. Said Fairfax: "His team was down 20 with four minutes to go, and I said to my wife, 'Watch this.' Then he goes off for 20 in the final four minutes to send the game to overtime." According to Fairfax, Foreman recently received his first non-form letter, a hand-written piece of correspondence from a PAC-12 team.