Majok Majok a major pickup for Fairfield

Regardless of where Majok Majok landed, Fairfield was going to enter the 2010-11 season as the MAAC team with the biggest upside.

After Majok, a 6-7 power forward from Australia via Northfield Mount Hermon Academy, gave Ed Cooley a verbal commitment Tuesday, the Stags took yet another step forward -- this time one that, as long as Cooley is still the coach, could keep Fairfield atop the MAAC pecking order for several more years.

Majok, whose first cousin Ater will enter his second season at UConn next year, had a long list of suitors that included Georgia Tech, Boston College and Siena.

Tuesday, in a move first reported on Twitter by Scout.com's Evan Daniels, Majok chose the Stags, adding himself to an already impressive recruiting class that includes point guard Jamel Fields and forwards Keith Matthews, Adam Jones and Maurice Barrow.

Derek Needham, a virtual lock as a preseason first-team all-MAAC pick as a sophomore, remains the biggest reason for optimism in Fairfield. The returns of Yorel Hawkins and Warren Edney from injuries and the emergence of Colin Nickerson and Ryan Olander help, too.

But the recruiting class Cooley has reeled in represents another step in a rapid transformation of the program that hasn't been to the NCAA tournament in 13 years.

Each of Cooley's classes has been better than the previous class, and that's saying something given Needham's immediate impact.

The high-rising Majok should have an immediate impact on both ends of the floor, but his physical tools are said to be far ahead of his basketball skills -- a tantalizing prospect for Fairfield fans and a likely cause for concern for other teams in the MAAC.