2019 Recruiting - WBB

WBB is becoming a game pretty much for tall girls only. Of the 35 invitees to the USA 17 trials, I counted only 8 under 6 feet, and only 3 under 5'11". I get it, but I think it's a bit sad. What are players like Brooke and Sug, and greats of the past like Hattie Browning going to do? Obviously, height in the front court is paramount. But there have always been some lightening quick shorter guards who could stand their ground with anyone. I like height at guard, too, if the other things are there. But I wonder if height at guard is being overvalued a bit. I believe Sarah Andrews was the shortest player of the invitees, listed at 5'7".

 

Haha!! No but we did get crushed might have to move to a warmer place.
I’ll give you some of what I have been hearing
Horston will not be coming to Texas most likely staying in the Big 10
Texas has a great chance at Jackson, Cooke and Owens.
Also big from Colorado

Brunelle to Notre Dame has been picking up a lot of steam which would make me wrong because I had her going to UConn but would be a good fit for her.
A lot of what I’ve been told are other kids that have no connection to Texas.
I will be going to Boo Williams in two weeks might head over to Tournament in New Jersey this weekend being that’s close to me.
I will have to sadly miss usa trials this year. July I can’t go to first session but should be able to make Chicago for the Nike championship.

 

Great post with valid points but I will say this from a person who has watched and still watching for quite a few years as an evaluator. The game has changed for the better it happened with the men also. For years myself with some fellow colleagues have been saying the 19 class and on is going to change women’s basketball in a positive way, more and more girls are picking up balls earlier they are way more athletic with more skills then ones who came before them of course there are girls that can be great in any era I’m sure we all can write down a bunch of names but my point is game is changing getting taller, faster more athletic with great skill sets. This is a good thing in my opinion. I predict in two years women’s college basketball will make a huge spike upwards and will be at its most competitive

 

Thanks for stopping by Oakman. Are you hearing anything about Haley Jones and her favorites? I'm not familiar with Cooke, can you give us a little tidbit on her style of play?

 

It's tough getting kids from out of state, especially when they have no ties to Texas or have never attended one of our camps (or visited unofficially). Not sure Rikea Jackson ever made an unofficial visit; so, I will keep my hopes for her on the low side. Glad our coaches made an in-home visit with her.

We did get unofficial visits from Haley Jones and Ashten Prechtel as both attended one of our home games a couple of months ago or so; can't ask for more than that up to now.

Zia Cooke (Ohio) is a new name for us. She and Jaden Owens seem to be the only (point) guards we are targeting, unless we have increased our efforts with Shemera Williams.

I don't expect both Haley Jones and Sam Brunelle to end up at the same school; so, if Brunelle announces for Notre Dame on 04/15, that could have an effect on Jones. Of course, I could be completely wrong. Obviously, everyone (UConn, SC, UCLA, Stanford, etc.) wants Haley. My gut says Stanford, mainly because UConn is loaded with tall guards and wing players.

Can't lose track of Taylor Jones from the metroplex. Believe we made her final 7 list a few weeks ago. Still not sure if she is projected as a Center or power forward in college.

 

We should get more clarity on the targets of the 2019 and 2020 recruiting classes in June if we find out which recruits attended the Texas basketball camp. Additionally, this Fall, recruits and their families will schedule official visits to tour the campus. A recruiting weekend usually coincides with Texas football games. I expect Karen to use the USC football game as a big recruiting weekend for the program.

 

Haley Jones must have (or at least had) an interest in us, since she made an unofficial visit. Haven't heard about her visiting UConn or ND, though I don't keep up with this that closely. Her apparent interest in us and South Carolina suggests that she's not set on staying in Cali.

 

Haley has every option out there from coast to coast: ND, UConn, Louisville, South Carolina, Texas, Stanford, and UCLA (to name a few). I get the feeling she will take all 5 of her official visits (in the Fall?) and probably won't announce until NSD in mid-November.

 

Samantha Brunelle’s decision is forthcoming:

 

I am hearing Haley Jones still has Texas as one of her top schools but don’t expect Texas to land her. What I was told it’s a three school race between Stanford, UConn, & Notre Dame. As far as Cooke she is a dynamic, athletic and ultra fast point guard who scores as well as passes with flare. She plays good man defense, can shoot the three at a high percentage. A special talent who I will say I am surprised she had Texas on her list but that tells me coach Karen is doing a great job recruiting. Also I’ve been told she is good friends with Celeste Taylor from their time at usa.

 

Oakman, why are u surprised Cooke has Texas on her list? Geographic location? Players who have attributes like you describe usually like the transition game and man to man defense, both of which Texas really stresses.

 

My surprise was not in relation to her style of play I actually agree with you that she fits perfectly but everything I heard from her side was a bunch of other schools none in the Big12 so to hear her add Texas so late is a surprise to me. All indications was her in SEC or Big10. She was one of the things I heard at her final four

 

I stopped in Jersey to catch fairfax stars vs Belles today. What a game I will post a little later but Amari DeBerry is the best Freshman in the country she can be ranked in either 20 or 19 class right now. She will be a star on the college level. Btw I saw Celeste Taylor play in that game and was good as expected

 

Not good news about Haley Jones but maybe the coaches can pull out a stunner. Maybe focus continues to be on Liz Scott for a wing.

 

I'm always hesitant to predict out of state recruits as likely Longhorn signees. The exceptions would be a connection (family or otherwise) to our state, program, or coaches; or, having attended our summer camp or an unofficial visit.

For Haley Jones, it was great that she visited us unofficially for a game; I'm sure the South Carolina fans felt likewise. But, for us, we are recruitting against other programs who have recent national championships and/or Final Four appearances, and Stanford's proximity and academic reputation. So, it was never going to be easy to land her.

While I applaud Coach A for going after these elite small forwards and wing players (Megan Walker, Christyn Williams, Haley Jones, Rickea Jackson, etc.), if you come up empty each time, and don't have a Plan B for that recruiting class, holes at certain positions start forming. Just 2-3 years ago, we were hurting at the power forward position; that has been addressed over the last few recruiting classes. We need to address the small forward position sooner rather than later.

 

I think we’re fine. Audrey Warren or Celeste Taylor can fill that role easily as big guards.

 

With Khaleanne conforming she is not returning next year that leaves us with 6 schlorships availabe for the 2019 class. Will be very interesting to see what Coach Aston does now. It is clear that the in State recruits in the 2020 class are much better than the 2019 class. She appears to be strongly pursuing several out of state kids this cycle but the likelihood of getting all she is after is remote. Hopefully the kids she is pursuing this year will see an opportunity and come on down.

 

Offensively, perhaps. Defensively, not when the opponent has 6'1 - 6'2 players at that position.

 

What teams have SF’s that tall? Baylor with Richards is 6’0 tall and Texas didn’t have any issues guarding her.I think Tennessee also has a freshman that’s over 6’0 at the SF position. And Vivian’s from Mississippi States. Those are the only Top 25 programs that I can think of that have a SF 6’0 or taller. The reality is that most SF’s are around 5’10 in women’s basketball.

 

6'3 Katie Lou Samuelson is a huge mismatch for most teams.

Baylor will also have 6'2 Aquira DeCosta for the next four seasons.

K-State is a pretty tall team all the way around.

 

I agree, Moooooo, we can't put all our eggs in the out-of-state basket, and have to have a Plan B. Don't you imagine there are some in-state players we are looking at, too? We did come close in the Megan Walker sweepstakes. Over the years, we've gotten a few highly ranked o-o-s players (Sug, Vicki Hall, Arriarian, Andrea Lloyd, E. Williams, must be others I'm not thinking of. Was Kayla Bowers from out-of-state?) I don't remember anyone from further away than Indiana and Idaho, no one from the Northeast I can remember until Celeste Taylor.

 

I believe Kayla was from Oklahoma, if I’m remembering correctly.

 

We land a lot of o-o-s prospects. in addition to those mentioned (Celeste, Kayla, Sug, Earneisa, Erika, Vicki, Andrea) there is Imani, Destiny, Rellah (now back in her home state), Olamide, Celina Rodrgo, Sara Hattis, Chassidy Fussell, Ashley Gayle, Yvonne Anderson, Shanice McKoy. Anne Marie Hartung, Carla Cortijo (only ended up in Texas her last year of HS), Jody Bell, Tamra Cobbins....And if you're going back as far as the great Andrea Lloyd, I'm sure there are many others, there's about a 15 year gap between the earliest names and those more recent recruits mentioned above. I'm fairly certain the vast majority of those listed were ranked on the recruiting lists.

 

I only had time to see one game which was Belles vs Stars. It’s early in the summer so I don’t give to much stock to how the teams or players look now with that said you can see both teams will be good come July with the exception that they will lose a few players to usa basketball. For the Stars Azi Fudd stood out only a freshman but played beyond her years vs older more physical players, she had more turnovers than I would like and didn’t shoot very well but again it’s early in the summer. What I did notice was she was very poised, took the right shots at the right times and passed when she was supposed to her upside is big. Fudd was the best player on the Stars and yes Brunelle is on that team. As far as Brunelle she struggled yesterday from the field but did show flashes of what people like about her. She hit 3 open threes on three consecutive possessions but other than that the Belles just threw to many good players at her and she was having a hard time creating for herself. As far as the Belles they are deep! Very deep. They were missing two players Watson & Jefferson and didn’t miss a beat. They can beat you in many ways a real nightmare for opposing teams trying to matchup. As mentioned yesterday Amari DeBerry was a stud if Texas or any school for that matter is not on this kid they better. Ali Campbell was solid but I don’t think her style or for that matter Burke are good fits for what Texas likes to do, they are both shooters who struggle in man defense. Leilani Carea was solid very athletic reminded me of Celeste Taylor but not as good a shooter. Celeste was solid she played menacing defense all day and literally shut down whoever she was matched up on including Fudd and Brunelle. She was not aggressively looking for her shot early but getting teammates involved until the 4th when it was a tight game she made a baseline drive where she exploded went up and did a reverse layup that looked like it was out of a men’s game. Overall great game to see with a lot of future college stars. Look forward to next week at the Boo Williams

 

Too bad Celeste can’t reclassify to the 2018 class - there are scholarships open and a need for what she brings to the table.

I would really like to see Fudd at work. She made some publication’s list of the 5 best high school players as a freshman and I remember how she exploded at the U16 tryouts last summer.

 

Oakman--are college coaches allowed to attend the tournaments? I assume they are but they are probably prohibited from talking to the athletes. If so, keep us posted on any coaches (from any school) who are in attendance.

Thanks for posting your observations.

 

Typically they can come out this weekend being it’s a open weekend but because SAT’s were this weekend no D1 coaches were allowed. Next weekend is a full go so all college coaching staffs will be out

 

I am not saying that we don't land out of state recruits, or that Coach A shouldn't recruit out of state; I am glad that she does.

What I am saying is that Coach A has been recruiting the elite players across the country (Ionescu, Walker, Williams, Jones, Jackson, etc.), but hasn't landed any of the ones who are true small forwards (with the elite size, speed, and skills). So, even though she has missed on those who are considered Top 10 nationally, it would be great to sign some (in-state or out-of-state) who maybe are Top 50-100 nationally if it helps fill holes in the roster. I guess it's even tougher when the elite recruits wait until NSD to make their decisions.

 

Brunelle to Notre Dame

 

Good pickup for them she reminds me of Kathryn Westbeld.