Leading off today: Rutgers recruit Dane Miller's shoulder injury will keep the basketball star out of Saturday's Jordan Brand Regional Game at Madison Square Garden, the Democrat and Chronicle reported today.

   I can’t extend (my arm) all the way up,” Rush-Henrietta's two-time All-Greater Rochester Player of Year told the paper. "It’s in a sling."

   The senior swingman said AAU coach Mickey Walker, on the advice of Rutgers coach Fred Hill, advised him not to play. Miller has had recurring trouble with his left shoulder, R-H coach Chris Reed said. Miller aggravated the injury in Tuesday’s practice in Manhattan for the all-star game.

   Rivals.com blogger Adam Zagoria spoke to Miller and Reed and reported that the injury is a bruised rotator cuff.

   Mexico Title IX inquiry OK'd: The federal Office for Civil Rights will investigate whether the Mexico school district discriminates against females in sports, The Post-Standard reported.

   James Bradshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, said the office will investigate whether the district discriminates in the way coaches are allocated to teams or by failing to accommodate the interests and abilities of female athletes.

   The inquiry will also probe whether the district reacted to a complaint by retaliating when it cut the number of coaches for girls lacrosse.

   "Opening a complaint for investigation in no way implies that the Office of Civil Rights has made a determination on the merits of the case," Bradshaw told the paper. "Rather, the office is merely a neutral fact-finder. It will collect and analyze all relevant evidence from the parties involved in the case to develop its findings."

   Elizabeth Passer, the mother of two girls lacrosse players and wife of girls coach David Prasser, filed the complaint after two assistant coaching positions were shifted from girls lacrosse to boys and girls track and field. Superintendent Nelson Bauersfeld said the move was made because there are more students on the track teams than the lacrosse teams.

   On the right track: Though they haven't played any top-shelf competition as of yet, the boys lacrosse players at Brighton deserve a mention for the progress they've made in one year. The Barons went 0-17 last season and were outscored by 175-65, but they're off to a 4-0 start this spring that includes avenging one-goal losses from 2008 against East Irondequoit and Spencerport. Senior Evan Davis has 14 goals as Brighton has rolled up a 63-14 scoring margin.

   Where's the commitment? While doing some research this week ahead of the announcement of the NYSSWA's

boys basketball all-star team it dawned on me that there's an unusually high number of uncommitted New York prospects still sitting out there.

   Lance Stephenson of Abraham Lincoln and Sherrod Wright of Mount Vernon are the two New Yorkers that everyone has been waiting on, but behind them is an assembly of unsigned talent unlike any that I can recall in mid-April of any recent year.

   Among the notables: guards Sean Johnson (Christ The King), Darwin Ellis (Lincoln), Kelvin Agee (Niagara Falls) and Russell Smith (Archbishop Molloy); and forwards Rasheem King (Xaverian) and James Stukes (Rice).

   Part of the problem might be the recent change in NCAA rules that has turned April into a "dead" period for recruiting. Concerned about the number of AAU tournaments and all-star events cropping up, the NCAA now prohibits coaches from attending those April showcases.

   The theory is that it should cut down on the number of events being held and push athletes back into the classroom. Anecdotal evidence suggest that is actually happening, so it's tough to argue with the change. But that doesn't diminish the fact that there are a lot of quality players out there sweating out offers before the spring signing period ends May 20.

   The wrong approach: Back several decades ago when the Sooners were a national powerhouse there used to be a joke that Oklahoma was striving to build a university that the football team could be proud of. Sure, the thinking was backward but at least there actually was a school.

   That element was missing a couple of weeks ago at the inaugural ESPN RISE National High School Invitational tournament in North Bethesda, Md. As Sports Illustrated reportedly recently, Findlay Prep won the event despite the fact that it's more of an apartment building than a school.

   That's not the way to lay the foundation for what some people hope will eventually be a true national tournament.

   According to 'SI,' the players live together in a suburban Las Vegas house, travel throughout the season and take classes at Henderson (Nev.) International School, a private school. But their basketball team is not sponsored by the school. The program is bankrolled by Cliff Findlay, described as a UNLV booster, and doesn't have to follow very many rules.

   Want proof? According to Deadspin.com, junior Tristan Thompson, a Toronto resident who was playing at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, N.J., got into an argument in February with coach Danny Hurley during a game and was kicked off the team on a Tuesday. By Saturday, he was already on the roster at Findlay Prep.