The recruiting Web site rivals.com rated the class Cal signed last week as only the No. 8 group in the Pac-10 Conference. The Bears signed post players Markhuri Sanders-Frison and Bak Bak, but also have a commitment from point guard Brandon Smith of De La Salle High, who is expected to attend without a scholarship his freshman year.

Here’s how rivals ranked the Pac-10 recruiting classes (with national rankings in parenthesis): 1. UCLA (8); 2. Washington (20); 3. Arizona State; 4. USC; 5. Oregon State; 6. Washington State; 7, Oregon; 8. Cal; 9. Stanford; 10. Arizona

Arizona, of course, signed no one after coach Lute Olson announced he was retiring.

The big winner nationally, according to rivals, was the Big 12, which signed seven of the top 25 class. Texas (2), Kansas (5), Oklahoma (11) and Oklahoma State (12) led the way.

Keith “Tiny” Gallon, the powerful center at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., signed a letter of intent today to play for Oklahoma, his Houston AAU coach told the recruiting Web site, rivals.com.

Gallon, a 6-8, 285-pound native of Vallejo, also was considering Mississippi State and Cal, but had not yet made a visit to Berkeley. Steve Smith, his coach at Oak Hill, said in a phone interview last week that Cal was hoping to convince Gallon to visit during the Christmas break and to delay his signing until the spring.

Gallon is rated as the nation’s No. 5 center prospect by rivals.com.

Cal signee Markhuri Sanders-Frison, a sophomore at South Plains JC in Texas, had 16 points and 11 rebounds Friday night, helping the Texans (4-0) to a 107-77 win over Temple College. The 6-foot-8 center is averaging 16.3 points and 9.0 rebounds.

Cal bagged its two big-man prospects Wednesday in what may or may not be the end of its recruiting push for next season.

Signed on the first day of the fall letter-of-intent period was Markhuri Sanders-Frison, a 6-8, 265-pound center from South Plains JC, who will arrive next fall as a junior. Coach Mike Montgomery believes he will be ready to play productive minutes from the start.

Sanders-Frison, who grew up in Portland, is averaging 16.3 points and 8.3 rebounds for the Texans, who are 3-0 in early-season play. He had 21 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Lon Morris College last weekend.

Bak Bak, a 6-10, 200-pound native of the Sudan who grew up in Kenya, also formalized his commitment. Bak will play this season at Village Christian High in Sun Valley, Calif., after transferring from a school in Florida last fall. He has yet to begin his senior season, which will be his first in the U.S.

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Today begins the fall letter-of-intent signing period and it’s expected Cal eventually will announce three incoming players. But the school cannot release information until the signed letters have been received and checked by the athletic department. Thus, we have no official word yet from Cal.

Because this blog will be shut down beginning at 3 p.m. today in order to install a new server, it’s likely we won’t immediately be able to bring you coach Mike Montgomery’s first public comments on high school prospects Bak Bak and Brandon Smith and JC recruit Markhuri Sanders-Frison through BearTalk.

But we will post a story today on letter-of-intent signings on our Web sites, then follow with more on the blog Thursday morning.

Steve Smith, who coaches Keith “Tiny” Gallon at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., said his center is unlikely to sign with anyone Wednesday as the fall national letter-of-intent period begins.

But Smith admitted he has no clear picture of what the 6-foot-8 post prospect might be planning. Cal expects to sign three players on Wednesday, and is among three schools being considered by Gallon, who is rated the No. 31 prospect in the nation by rivals.com.

“He’s up and down,” Smith said in a phone interview Tuesday morning. “One minute he says he might get it over with, then he says he’ll wait ’til the spring. I don’t foresee him signing early, but he’s got papers here if he changes his mind. Schools are trying to get him to sign early.

“If he decided to commit to somebody, he could possibly verbally commit, but he’s not signing any papers.”

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Abdul Gaddy, who twice committed to Arizona before opting out last week after coach Lute Olson retired, has decided to stay home. A senior at Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, Wash., and the nation’s No. 2 ranked point guard, Gaddy told rivals.com he will attend Washington.

 ”I just felt like everything that happened at Arizona was a sign to stay at home. I can go to the NBA from home just as well as from anywhere else,” Gaddy told the recruiting Web site. “Coach (Lorenzo) Romar has proven himself. Look at the success of Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy. Going to Washington gives me a great chance to do what I want to do.”

The two big men expected to sign wth Cal in about two weeks wouldn’t seem to have much in common.

Bak Bak is 6-9, 210 pounds, comes from the Sudan in Africa and will arrive at Cal next fall as a freshman.

Markhuri Sanders-Frison is 6-8, 270, comes from Portland, Ore., and will arrive at Cal as a junior.

But they do share one thing — both will be playing in a new place this season before meeting up next year in Berkeley. Bak is a senior at Village Christian High in Sun Valley, Calif., having sat out last year due to international transfer rules. Sanders-Frison switched from Eastern Arizona CC to South Plains (Tx) CC, where he joins a club that won the 2008 NJCAA national title.

Here are scouting reports from the men who will coach them this season:

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Cal will be bigger up front in 2009-10 — about 275 pounds bigger.

Coach Mike Montgomery, responding to an immediate need on his frontline, got an oral commitment over the weekend from 6-foot-7, 275-pound post player Markhuri Sanders-Frison, a native of Portland, Ore., who will play this season at South Plains CC in Levelland, Texas.

Sanders-Frison, who visited the Berkeley campus this past weekend, becomes the third member of the Bears’ class of 2009. He joins 6-8 forward Bak Bak, a native of the Sudan, and De La Salle point guard Brandon Smith. The first day of the fall signing period is Nov. 12.

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I talked this morning with Steve Smith, coach at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., who admitted he has no new insights into where his 6-foot-9 center prospect, Keith Gallon, is headed to college. Smith confirmed that Cal is among Gallon’s three finalists, but said he hadn’t talked to Gallon since the player returned from a weekend recruiting visit to Mississippi State.

Smith said Gallon — rated as the No. 31 prospect in the nation by rivals.com — has waffled a bit between signing with a school during the fall letter-of-intent period that begins Nov. 12 or waiting until the spring. 

Asked about earlier comments by Gallon that he would wait to sign, Smith said, “That’s what he was planning. I’m not sure (what he’s going to do). He talked about signing early, but if he does that means Cal would probably be in a little bit of trouble because he hasn’t had a chance to visit Cal.”

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