The 2002-03 season hasn't even started, but the Duke Blue Devils already have notched a huge score.

Brittany Hunter, a 6-foot-3 post player from Columbus, Ohio, who's regarded as the nation's top prep prospect, reportedly verbally committed to Duke on Sunday, according to a story in Durham's Herald-Sun.

Hunter, who is ranked as the No. 1 senior in the country by the All-Star Girls Report, apparently caught Duke coach Gail Goestenkors off guard when she called to commit.

"I called her on her cell phone, and I said, 'I'm calling to commit,' " Hunter told the Herald-Sun. "I don't think she thought I was serious for a minute. She said, 'Really? ... You made my day, my week and my year all at the same time.' "

Hunter, who said her final two choices had been Duke and Connecticut, averaged 19.6 points and 14 rebounds last season as a junior for Brookhaven High School. She was a Parade magazine third-team All-American as a junior and first-team All-Ohio. After visiting UConn in mid-October and Duke on Oct. 26, Hunter eliminated Harvard, Tennessee and Texas from her top five.

Hunter told the Hartford Courant that she based her decision on non-basketball considerations.

"I liked the coaches and teams at both schools. They were tied from basketball aspects," Hunter said. "If I took basketball out, I know I wouldn't pass up a Duke education or the experience of going to Duke. I just know 15-20 years down the road, a Duke degree is going to open a lot of doors for me. I'm not going to play basketball forever. I had to look at it like that."

Hunter is expected to sign her letter of intent during the fall signing period, which begins Nov. 13.

"The decision was hard, but it was finally telling (UConn coach Geno Auriemma) and the team that I wasn't going there that was the hardest," Hunter said in the Courant.