A day after saying the Spartans were tied with Ohio State at the top of his consideration list, jettisoned Michigan basketball recruit JaQuan Hart said MSU is now out of the running for his services.

“It’s down to Ohio State and Cincinnati,” Hart told The State News on Wednesday night. “Michigan State is just not the place for me.”

On Tuesday, U-M released the 6-foot-6, 175-pound Flint Northern High guard from the National Letter of Intent he signed with the Wolverines last November because Hart doesn’t have a qualifying standardized test score.

He received a 16 on his ACT, but needed a 17 to play at U-M because the school does not accept partial qualifiers.

While it’s not known how interested the Spartans were in pursuing Hart - the 2001 Michigan Mr. Basketball runner-up - the player, in an interview Tuesday, sounded intrigued by the idea of playing for head coach Tom Izzo.

But personnel issues ultimately dissuaded him from transferring to MSU.

“They have a lot of guards on the perimeter, I mean a lot,” Hart said. “They just have too many perimeter players already.”

Hart would have had to compete for playing time with sophomore point guard Marcus Taylor, as well as incoming freshmen Alan Anderson, Chris Hill and Kelvin Torbert, who beat out Hart for the Mr. Basketball Award.

Hart won’t be able to play in the 2001-02 season because of NCAA regulations. He expects to choose between the Buckeyes and Bearcats by Monday.