The winner of the Jai Lucas sweepstakes is: Florida.   The Bellaire (TX) basketball star signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Gators next season. Lucas picked Florida over his other two finalists, Kentucky and Oklahoma State.

"They lost basically their whole team this year, with the main position being point guard," Lucas said.  "Taurean Green played 38 minutes a game. I feel like if I can come in and produce I have a chance to play a lot of minutes too."

Lucas, the son of former NBA player John Lucas and younger brother of current Houston Rocket John Lucas III, is coming off a stellar senior season in which he averaged 25 points per game and six assists. He was named to the McDonald's All-American and Parade All-American teams and played in the Jordan Brand All-American Classic.

Ranked #42 overall in the country among seniors by Rivals.com and sixth among point guards, Lucas is one of the last top prospects to sign. The only other prospect in Rivals' Top 50 who hasn't signed is Huntington's (W. Va.) Patrick Patterson — the #15 recruit in the country. He's expected to sign by Wednesday, the last day of the spring signing period.

Lucas is good friends with Patterson and said he'll try to sway the 6-8 forward to join him.

"I spoke to Patrick and told him where I was going," Lucas said. "I told him (Sunday) that 'Wherever I'm going, I'm coming to get you and you're coming to school with me.'"

The 5-10, 160-pound point guard led the Cardinals to district championships each of the last three seasons. This year, Bellaire was 25-10 before falling in the Region III-5A area round to Cypress Falls. During the regular season, Lucas proved to be one of the top shooters in the area hitting 3-pointers at a 51 percent clip and 83 percent from the free-throw line.