Leading off today: I missed this story when it broke last week and then passed up the chance to comment over the weekend because I was busy with graduation parties and yard work. Feeling tanned and rested now, however, I'm ready to comment in the form of a question to Tim Floyd: Are you serious?

   For the second year in a row, the Southern Cal basketball coach has offered a scholarship to an eighth-grader.

   This year's prodigy is 14-year-old Ryan Boatright, a 5-foot-10 prospect from Aurora, Calif., who made an oral commitment to the school -- and the commitment really is to the school rather than to the coach, because Floyd could jump schools two or three times between now and 2011 -- a week ago after attending the USC camp and being offered.

   "Ryan has always loved USC and North Carolina," Tanesha Boatright, Ryan's mother, told reporters. "So when one of his favorite schools offered him a scholarship, he couldn't pass it up."

   A year ago, Floyd lined up a non-binding commitment from another 14-year-old, 6-6 Dwayne Polee Jr. of Westchester, Calif. That one actually almost made sense, because you've got to like the odds of Polee growing out to be a 7-footer -- a valued commodity in basketball as long as he can walk and chew gum at the same time.

   Now that he got the easy choice out of the way, Boatright has to select a high school to attend this fall. He has family on both sides of town in Aurora, so the youngster can end up at either East or West High.

   NCAA rules prohibit college coaches from discussing specific recruits before they sign a letter of intent, but Floyd did talk in general terms.

   "I don't want this portrayed as if we're hovering over some eighth-grader by himself," he said. "Families are involved and they view the opportunity for a $188,000 scholarship as something important to them."

   Mike Boatright, the player's father, had the best perspective on the recent delevopments.

   "I'm tremendously concerned," he said. "It could get ugly as far as kids getting jealous. I also don't want it to get to his head. I want him to stay humble."

   That's a reasonable goal to shoot for, but good luck managing the circus that's about to roll into town.

   Cricket on the horizon: A thumbs-up to the PSAL for laying the groundwork recently to introduce the sport of cricket in a handful of schools.

   PSAL officials became intrigued with the idea last summer after attending some adult-league matches. They began targeting schools with large immigrant populations (seven schools in Queens and Brooklyn are interested in fielding teams next spring) and allocated $2,500 for equipment.

   The United States Cricket Association said it will supply instructional materials that schools can use in their physical education curriculum.

   PSAL Executive Director Donald Douglas says the program broadens the reach of the PSAL.

   "The interest is already there," he told The Daily News. "Many of these kids who are interested are not playing other sports, and this is a new opportunity for them. The more sports we offer -- the more kids we have participating -- the better."

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