Prospect Watch - Oct. 13

High-profile prospects such as Jantel Lavender of Cleveland, Ohio, will hold the key to the race for the mythical national recruiting championship.

STORY & PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

As evidenced by the rate of recent commitments, which are falling as fast as water at Frostbite Falls, a sense of urgency has gripped the state of women's college-basketball recruiting. And why not? There are fewer than 25 shopping days left until the early signing period, Nov. 8-15.

Only five players - No. 3 Jantel Lavender of Cleveland, Ohio; No. 8. Vicki Baugh of Sacramento, Calif.; No. 10 Khadijah Rushdan of Wilmington, Del.; No. 13 Melissa Jones of Thornton, Colo., and No. 17 Tyra White of Kansas City, Mo. - in the top 20 of the HoopGurlz.com National Hot 100 remained uncommitted. And the destinations of all but Jones will determine the mythical, early-signing-period national championship.

To say the big guns have banged loudly so far this year would be an understatement. As opposed to last year, when three schools - Duke, Rutgers and USC - had commitments from at least two players in HoopGurlz's top 25, this year already has seven - Duke, Connecticut, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, Stanford and Tennessee - with the possibility of adding more.

The Leaders

1. Duke

Krystal Thomas

Committed: No. 6 Krystal Thomas (five stars) of Orlando, Fla.; No. 7 Jasmine Thomas (five stars) of Vienna, Va.; No. 31 Karima Christmas (four stars) of Houston, Texas.

Now: With most of the leaders earning verbals from at least three top prospects, we've taken the top three and averaging their ranking. By that count, Gail Goestenkors clearly leads the pack and hers is the only program with two top 10 commitments.

Prospects: Duke likely will finish in the top 3-5, though it's doubtful the Blue Devils will hang on to the top spot because they are in on none of the remaining top prospects. If Goestenkors perhaps had asked Kelley Cain for her sentiments on another day, we could have been talking about an unbelievable class.

2. Tennessee

Angie Bjorklund

Committed: No. 2 Angie Bjorklund (five stars) of Spokane, Wash.; No. 12 Kelley Cain (five stars) of Atlanta, Ga.; No. 37 Sydney Smallbone (four stars) of South Bend, Ind.

Now: Funny, but two days ago, Vol fans were scared stiff about their team's recruiting fortunes. Gaining Cain is the recruiting equivalent of coming out of the final turn in position to draft and pass the leader to take the checkered flag.

Prospects: If Howie Mandel offered you the No. 1 guard in the country, plus the No. 2 center, you'd slap the button right now and take the deal. Not Pat Summitt. She's still in the running for Baugh, who'd give Tennessee three five-stars and three of the top 12 prospects for a Wow class.

3. Maryland

Marah Strickland

Committed: No. 9 Marah Strickland (five stars) of Towson, Md.; No. 16 Drey Mingo (five stars) of Atlanta, Ga.; No. 45 Anjale Barrett (four stars) of the Bronx, N.Y.; No. 48 Kim Rodgers (four stars) of Virginia Beach, Va.; No. 57 Katheryn Lyons (four stars) of Winston-Salem, N.C.

Now: Statistically tied with Stanford, but we give the Terps a slight nod because two players are top 20 prospects and they undeniably will have the deepest signing class in the country.

Prospects: Coach Brenda Frese can cap an impressive class by landing a verbal from Lavender or Rushdan, though the latter seems highly unlikely with guards Strickland, Thomas and Lyons already in the fold. Lavender would give Maryland No. 1, but only if Tennessee doesn't get Baugh.

4. Stanford

Kayla Pedersen

Committed: No. 4 Kayla Pedersen (five stars) of Fountain Hills, Ariz.; No. 22 Jeanette Pohlen (five stars) of Brea, Calif.; No. 44 Hannah Donaghe (four stars) of Atascadero, Calif.; No. 72. Ashley Cimino (four stars) of Portland, Me.

Now: Cardinal fans likely would argue similar depth plus a higher ranked top prospect should give Stanford the third spot, and they'd have a case. Another program might not recruit this exact combination, but one can imagine all four fitting perfectly with how Stanford plays.

Prospects: Coach Tara VanDerveer is still in on Amy Jaeschke, who'd give the Cardinal three top 30 players, but would not advance it in the standings.

The Contenders

5. North Carolina

Italee Lucas

Committed: No. 5 Italee Lucas (five stars) of Las Vegas, Nev.; No. 14 Cetera DeGraffenreid (five stars) of Sylva, N.C.; No. 46 Rebecca Gray (four stars) of Georgetown, Ky.

Now: We're not putting the Tar Heels among the leaders because, though it qualifies with three verbals, it has no diversity. We wouldn't, however, want to try outrunning or outgunning this trio.

Prospects: Think Sylvia Hatchell doesn't dream about surround Lavender, the country's best post scorer, in the middle of that firepower? If UNC got Lavender and Tennessee got Baugh, we'd have to figure out a tie-breaker for No. 1.

6. Connecticut

Lorin Dixon

Committed: No. 1 Maya Moore (five stars) of Suwanee, Ga.; No. 19 Lorin Dixon (five stars) of Springfield Gardens, N.Y.

Now: Though the Huskies don't qualify with three Hot 100 commitments, any class with the No. 1 player and both in the top 20 is difficult to overlook.

Prospects: Geno Auriemma, who never follows conventions anyway, won't win a national recruiting title, but in a year he will pair consecutive, consensus No. 1 players in Moore and Tina Charles of Queens, N.Y., which could lead to the real-deal championship.

7. Georgia Tech

Alex Montgomery

Commitments: No. 15 Alex Montgomery (five stars) of Tacoma, Wash; No. 20 Iasia Hemingway (five stars) of Newark, N.J.; Shaday Woodcock (one star, pending) of Avdondale Estates, Ga.

Now: Like UConn, the Jackets don't qualify with three rated players, but impress with two five-star, top 20 recruits.

Prospects: Pretty good for coach MaChelle Joseph, actualy. She's still in on Nzekwe and four-star guards Chimere Jordan of Gray, Ga., and Chynna Bozeman of Wheeling, W.Va. Landing one of those three likely will keep her in the top 10.

The Darkhorses

8. LSU

Khadijah Rushdan

Committed: None that we know of, though Pokey Chapman has been in on a bunch of top 20 kids.

Now: Chapman wants kids who are truly committed to the program, and is known to like to let prospects make sure.

Prospects: These next weeks will be nail-biting time for the Tigers. They are in on Lavender, Baugh and the leader for Rushdan. Sweeping those three gives Chapman an amazing class that will be No. 1 in the country. She also has her paws on White, No. 32 Christina Nzekwe of Seattle, Wash., and No. 51 LaTear Eason of Chicago.

9. Oklahoma

Jenny Vining

Committed: No. 21 Danielle Robinson (five stars) of San Jose, Calif.; rankings pending Jenny Vining (four stars, pending) of Marshall, Ark.

Now: Robinson's commitment didn't quite have the domino effect some thought it would. We all should have known girls are hard-pressed to follow up on late-night text fantasies.

Prospects: Sherri Coale still has a shot at Baugh, which would give her two five-star prospects. Vining is a stud and maybe the next-best shooter in the country to Bjorklund, and very well could end up a five-star prospect and in the top 25 in revised rankings.

10. California

Lenita Sanford

Committed: No. 24 Lenita Sanford (five stars) of Lynnwood, Calif.; rankings pending Kelsey Adrian (three stars, pending) of Langley, B.C.; rankings pending Rachelle Federico (rating pending) of Tucson, Ariz.

Now: Sanford obviously is the headliner, but Adrian will be a pleasant surprise. We've seen her plenty, but not any more recent than two summers ago, so we're on the lookout for more to evaluate.

Prospects: Joanne Boyle still has a shot at Baugh, plus Nzekwe. Landing at least one gives her a stellar class. Landing both keeps the Golden Bears in the top 10.

Rim Shots

The way we hear it, Keilani Moeaki was a pretty good player before she suffered an ACL tear in her right knee. We didn't see her until after that, and we still thought she was a

Keilani Moeaki

pretty good player, which is why we ranked her 55th in the country. This week, Moeaki, from Wheaton, Ill., verbaled to BYU, which is getting a four-star prospect who has the size of most centers at 6-3, but definitely plays like a forward. She chose BYU over Marquette. Her brother, Tony, is a 6-4, 234-pound tight end at Iowa. ... Moeaki's Full Package teammate, Angelique Robinson, a 5-8 guard out of St. Paul, Minn., chose Marquette over Minnesota. Robinson is a four-star prospect ranked 79th in the Hot 100. ... Four-star guard LaTear Eason of Chicago, the No. 51 prospect in the HoopGurlz National Hot 100, has not committed to Michigan State, as has been widely reported on the Web. She still plans to visit DePaul and LSU. Michigan State remains an option. ... Jordan Barncastle, a 6-foot-2 forward from Martin's Mill High in Ben Wheeler, Texas, told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that she has verbaled to Texas Tech. The 2008 East Texas standout also has offers from Iowa State, Kansas State, Southern Methodist, Texas Christian and Vanderbilt. Barncastle averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks as a sophomore and led Martin's Mill to the Texas State 1A championship. ... Ndidi Mudu, a 6-3 post from Nashville, Tenn., committed to Florida over Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi and Vanderbilt. ... Sarah Strand, a 6-1 forward from Seattle, Wash., has committed to Montana State. She also had offers from Eastern Washington, San Francisco and Seattle Pacific. ... Emily Clarke, a guard out of South Gwinnet High in Georgia, has committed to Western Carolina. ... Tierra Brown of Orlando, Fla., and Jessica Conners of Cocoa, Fla., have verbaled to Stetson.

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