2019 Recruiting - WBB

Celeste making headlines for her performance last weekend in the She Got Game tourney. From the write-up, Coach George was in attendance watching Celeste (and other future recruits).

 

ESPNw’s preview of the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix this week included this blurb about Celeste:

Celeste Taylor: This 5-foot-11 guard from New York's Long Island Lutheran is headed to Texas. She already has won two gold medals with USA Basketball. She's a high flier and explosive in transition. She's also got range on her jumper.

Stanford signee Haley Jones and defending champion Archbishop Mitty headline 2018 Nike Tournament of Champions field

 

More Celeste highlights from the Nike TOC...

 

Well we added a point guard in the class. From Newcastle, New South Wales. Another Australian. The staff is really going International! I love it!

 

Good interview with Isabel. Hope she fills all our dreams.
ISABEL PALMER PREPARES FOR A BIG BASKETBALL DECISION - NBN News

 

Isabel was on the same team as our other Australian commitment, Ashlee Hannan, on the Australian FIBA U18 team. Ashlee is the tall girl in the top row and Isabel is #7 in the second row.

 

Good height for a PG - listed as 5’ 10” at the FIBA Asia tournament this past summer. Seems the money spent sending Jamie Carey to Australia is paying dividends.

 

Agree. I would think Jamie would have a good eye for talented guards. At 5'10", I wonder if Palmer will play both SG and PG.

 

A few highlights of Isabel Palmer (#11)...has a high arc on her shots.

 

I like what she brings to the table.

 

Good dribbling with off hand, really good hesitation dribble, good high arcing shot, seems to see floor well, good passer. Average quicknes/speed. Definitely can play point and slide over to 2-guard against some quicker defenses. Sure glad to have another option at point guard in Sutton’s senior year.

 

This is excellent news to receive just before Christmas. I took note of Isabel when I was looking for information about Ashlee Hannan. More proof that the Texas coaching staff never stops working.

 

I love seeing those three's. The arc is so high, takes awhile to see if it's going in. I'm psyched.

 

Agreed. Her other highlights are even more impressive than the ones posted. Also because she doesn’t have the elite athleticism/quickness Coach Aston is going to have to continue to improve and evolve as a coach in terms of using her correctly offensively and defensively. Another thing that I like about Isabel and Ashlee is that most international players of their caliber also always tend to have a really good understanding of how to play the game.

 

I can’t find any information on the UCN Recruiting rankings? Be interesting to see the 20 ahead of her and where Ashlee sets on that list.

 

Watching the U17 game of Australia vs France. And Isabel is a great shooter. She made five 3 pointers in the game. She’s definitely going to help the team.

 

After a little digging, I found a UCN page that lists the 2019 international players who have committed to a college. Although it's not updated, UCN has Isabel ranked a couple of spots above Ashlee, who is listed at #23.

https://www.theusacollegenetwork.com/signees

 

Good digging Luther. It looks like we got a couple of highly ranked international players. Isabel does have a good stoke on her 3.

 

Can't have enough shooters.

 

Came across this from Mark Williams, a global scout for PBR hoops recruiting service as well as a Naismith and McDonald’s AA voter:

 

Can' t wait to see who start next year.
It's going to be a battle...

 

Celeste at the Blue Star Invitational this past weekend:
Finding her range again…Aggressive in her attack…Got the pull up going early…Elevation is elite among perimeter players…Has shown dynamic possibilities on the defensive end of the floor…Consistency will come

 

Whoever plays DEFENSE!!!

I'm excited for the new recruits. But I hope Coach is also considering their defense, effort and grit. We definitely need these young ladies to have a knack for solid defense and/or the ability to learn and execute defense. This is a MUST for coach's program. If they have the defense plus the scoring then they should be GREAT!!!!

 

Celeste checks all 3 of those boxes - no idea about the Aussies but their national team always seems to have an aggressive approach to defense and loose balls.

 

Defense doesn't really seem to be a big problem. Now, an offensive approach that doesn't capitalize on our size advantage? That's a whole 'nother kettle of fish...

 

Here's the link to Mark Lewis' article about the Blue Star Invitational Celeste was at.
12th Annual Blue Star Elite Invitational - Bluestar Media

It has some evaluations on other Texas targets such as Angel Reese and Azzi Fudd among others. Hopefully, when watching Celeste, our coaches are getting a good look at her PG:

 

Really would’ve liked this to have been a matchup of 2 future Longhorn teammates but, that being said, Go Crusaders!

 

Congrats, Celeste!!
McD's AA Game nominees:
https://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/content/dam/aag/2019-mcdonalds-all-american-nominees-list.pdf