PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON
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As one class tip toes somewhat to closure, another blinks to recruiting life.
Shay Selby of Geneva, Ohio, the highest ranked point guard in the 2008 class, became the second player in the HoopGurlz National Hot 25 to commit, verbaling on Sunday to Duke. Alicia Manning, the No. 6 overall prospect in '08 from Woodstock, Ga., yesterday told HoopGurlz that she has five leaders.
Meanwhile, Vicki Baugh of Sacramento, Calif., the highest ranked uncommitted prospect in 2007, may schedule an official visit to California this weekend, according to a relative. Baugh, who is No. 8 in the HoopGurlz National Hot 100, has taken three unofficial visits to Cal, which is the closest of the five schools on her final list. The others are LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Oklahoma, all of which already have hosted Baugh for official visits.
Selby's verbal to Duke is an interesting development in the arms race among women's college-basketball superpowers. Connecticut will sign its second consecutive national No. 1 prospect, Maya Moore of Suwanee, Ga., during the early signing period for 2007 recruits, Nov. 8-15. Tennessee will counter with a class that includes the No. 1 guard, Angie Bjorklund of Spokane, Wash., and No. 2 center, Kelly Cain of Atlanta, Ga.
Shay Selby |
Recently in the same stratosphere of recruiting success, Duke coach Gail Goestenkors so far has the top 2007 class with No. 6 overall prospect Krystal Thomas of Orlando, Fla.; No. 7 Jasmine Thomas of Vienna, Va., and No. 31 Karima Christmas of Houston, Texas, and has a jump on 2008 with Shelby. The No. 11 overall prospect, Selby averaged 23 points and 4.1 assists as a sophomore and is a nearly unstoppable penetrator and great distributor with a knockout mid-range game. She can be a good complement to Thomas, who is a better scorer, as well as Blue Devil super soph Abby Waner, who at 5 feet 11 has more size.
Selby, who averaged 23 points and 4.1 assists during her sophomore season at Regina High School in Cleveland, also had been considering Connecticut, Michigan State, Ohio State and Tennessee.
"Shay Selby is perhaps the most exciting offensive player in the class," said Chris Hansen, National Director of Scouting for HoopGurlz.com and Scout.com. "She can break down just about anyone off the dribble and, as quick as she is, she’s always on balance and her movement is very smooth. As she gets stronger, she is going to become even more difficult to defend. When teams sag off her to take away penetration, she can knock down the three point shot. Duke locked down a potentially great player."
Connecticut, Duke and Tennesse, incidently, are on Manning's final five list, along with Georgia and LSU. All five have made offers. An excellent shooter who can handle the ball and defend very well, Manning, at 6-1, offers versatility and seems poised to take over where Moore, her Georgia Metros club teammate, left off.
Manning just last weekend attended a practice at Tennessee along with 2008's No. 12 prospect, Caroline Doty of Doylestown, Pa.
"Alicia Manning had a great summer," Hansen said. "She played for a star-studded team, probably the best traveling team in the country, and still stood out. She is a very strong player on the perimeter and she takes advantage her strength and leaping ability. The most impressive element of her game is her defense, she is a shut down defender and she really gets after it."
Brittany Rayburn, the No. 14 overall prospect out of Attica, Ind., was the first player in the 2008 Top 25 to commit. She verbaled to Purdue last spring. She and Selby cannot officially sign with their chosen schools for more than a year.
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Glenn Nelson is the publisher of HoopGurlz.com and the editor-in-chief of Scout Media (www.Scout.com), an online sports network and magazine-publishing company and subsidiary of Fox Interactive Media. Glenn also founded and coached the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girl's basketball teams. He previously was a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle Times. His work also has appeared in several national magazines and books. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). He can be reached at hoopgurlz@comcast.net.
Chris Hansen is the National Director of Scouting for Women's Basketball at HoopGurlz.com and Scout.com. He leads the panel that evaluates and ranks girl's basketball prospects nationally for HoopGurlz and Scout.com. Chris has been involved in the women’s basketball community since 1998 as a coach, trainer, evaluator and reporter. He can be reached at chansen@scout.com.
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