Rice senior Kadeem Jack is coming off a breakout season that elevated him to major-college recruit status and brought lots of attention and adoration his way as he averaged 16.9 points a game. The attention carried over to the Jordan Brand Classic regional game at Madison Square Garden yesterday as he was surrounded by reporters after a 21-point, eight-rebound showing in th City team's 137-133 loss to the Suburban team.

   The fact that Jack said he wasn’t ready to announce that college plans wasn't surprising. What was somewhat stunning, though, was the report that University of Arizona coach Sean Miller managed to slide Jack a fresh National Letter of Intent with a note suggesting that perhaps he'd like to sign it at halftime of the nationally-televised contest.

   Sounds completely in character for Miller, who was one of the ultimate in-your-face pests as a guard for Pitt two decades ago.

   "I told them that I still have a couple of schools to visit,” Jack said.

   Had Doron Lamb not exited New York City a couple of years ago to continue his prep career at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, he's undoubtedly the Big Apple recruit the New York media would have been writing about all season.

   Flanked by his parents yesterday during the Jordan Brand All-American game at MSG, Lamb committed to continue his career at Kentucky. The decision by the Queens native, who played at Bishop Loughlin as a sophomore, had been rumored for awhile, but Arizona, Connecticut, Kansas and West Virginia were still holding out hope.

   Saturday highlights: Ossining and Sleepy Hollow pretty much maxed out the scoreboard in girls lacrosse. Molly Malone (seven), Caitlin Malone (six) and Caitlin Costello (five) combined for 18 goals in Ossining's 25-15 victory. Costello added five assists, and Sleepy Hollow's Jennifer Angevine finished with seven goals.

   There's no way a softball team can win when the other team scores four runs and only one player in your lineup produces a hit, right?

   Right?

   Think again. Somers beat Pleasantville 5-4 in eight innings under those circumstances. LSU recruit Tammy Wray posted all four of Somers' hits and drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the eighth. Wray had scored the tying run on a fielder's choice in the seventh to send the game into extra innings.

   In a boys lacrosse game between two up upstate's better squads, defending NYSPHSAA Class B champ Canandaigua downed Corning East 11-9 as Gannon Osborn scored three goals and Deven Alves and Adam Knapton each had two goals and three assists.

   Looking for a little help: A 40-something Caledonia-Mumford graduate now teaching and coaching football in

Get all the N.Y. boys lacrosse info

Florida is looking for help from New Yorkers who are maybe looking to clean up some clutter around the house.

   Tim Grant is trying to collect reference material on boys basketball, specifically the 1978-90 era, as he does some research as a hobby. If you have NYSPHSAA tournament programs from that era, he would like to hear from you. He's willing to pay mailing costs for items that could be useful to his research.

   Shoot him an e-mail if you can help with that or with Section 5 and 6 hoops programs from the 1970-90 era.

   If you can't beat 'em, change their name: I get a kick out of the decision by editors of the AP Stylebook to change "Web site" to "website" effective yesterday.

   The AP Stylebook is an important reference tool in the media world, especially for newspapers. Changes in that publication filter down to almost everyone from The New York Times to your local weekly paper.

   The change is a tacit admission that the World Wide Web has become ingrained and vital in our daily lives.

   Kind of like the way newspapers and the 6 o'clock news used to be.

   More budget developments: Several proposed changes to the Brocton school budget were rejected Thursday, leaving football on the chopping block but sparing boys soccer for the upcoming season, The Observer in Dunkirk reported.

   The board voted 5-2 in favor of a $14.41 million plan to be placed in front of voters on May 18. Board member Tom DeJoe cast one of the no votes, saying he preferred to save football at the expense of the soccer team.

   The proposed budget will require a tax increase of between 14 and 14.5 percent, which could be setting up the proposal for a major failure at the ballot box next month. About 18 positions were trimmed from next year's budget, but several others were restored leading up to Thursday's board vote.

   The New York State Sportswriters Association is tracking various budget developments across the state here.