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A Perfect Tenn.
Pat Summitt
Pat Summitt

Posted Nov 8, 2006

Tuesday night's dramatic commitment from No. 5 Vicki Baugh gives Tennessee the No. 1 class in 2007.

SEATTLE, Wash. – Tennessee is expected to sign the No. 1 recruiting class in 2007, according to a statistical analysis commissioned by HoopGurlz.com.

The analysis will be posted on the website – www.HoopGurlz.com – later on Wednesday, Nov. 8, the first day of the fall signing period for basketball. HoopGurlz will post its official team rankings after the period concludes on Nov. 15.


No. 1 prospect Maya Moore
The commitment of No. 5 overall prospect Vicki Baugh, reported first by HoopGurlz on Tuesday, Nov. 7, vaulted coach Pat Summitt’s class into the top spot. Tennessee previously had commitments from Angie Bjorklund of Spokane, Wash., ranked No. 2 overall in the HoopGurlz National Hot 100; Kelley Cain of Atlanta, Ga., No. 12, and Sydney Smallbone of South Bend, Ind., No. 38.

According to the statistical analysis by Joe Montes, the remainder of the nation’s top 10 recruiting classes were 2. Duke, 3. Stanford, 4. Maryland, 5. North Carolina, 6. Connecticut, 7. Ohio State, 8. Georgia Tech and UCLA and 10. Oklahoma.

As the fall signing period began, a whooping 96 members of the HoopGurlz.com National Hot 100 for 2007 women's college-basketball prospects have committed to Division I schools. Only one of the remaining four uncommitted top 100 prospects, No. 17 Tyra White of Kansas City, Mo., is expected to commit before the fall signing period concludes. White is expected to choose between LSU and Texas Tech.

HoopGurlz.com is the only independent news organization that covers high-school girl's basketball on a national basis. The website compiles rankings and evaluations for Scout.com. It also is the official content and selection partner for the national and state Gatordade Player of the Year program for girl's basketball and provides content and rankings to FOXSports.com, RISE Magazine, The Seattle Times and KING-TV.

"The commitment particularly of Vicki Baugh gives Tennessee an extraordinary 2007 class, virtually a ready-made team that can challenge for national championships during its four years together," said Glenn Nelson, publisher of HoopGurlz.com and editor-in-chief of Scout.com. "You add Candace Parker, the Next Big Thing in women’s basketball, to the mix, and Pat Summitt has the makings of something very special."


Regina Rogers, Christina Nzekwe
The biggest surprise nationally is UCLA, Nelson said. Bruin coach Kathy Olivier has commitments from five four-star prospects, all of whom are ranked in the Hot 100. Those include Christina Nzekwe of Seattle Wash., the No. 32 overall prospect; Regina Rogers of Seattle, Wash., No. 43; Candice Brown of La Puente, Calif., No. 63; Nina Earl of Sonoma, Calif., No. 75, and Doreena Campbell of Alexandria, Va., No. 86.

"Only the defending champs, Maryland, have as many commitments among the top 100," Nelson said. "The Bruins' is a very strong response to USC, which produced our national No. 1 class in 2006."

HoopGurlz will release an official version of its team rankings after the fall signing period, which concludes Nov. 15. Nelson said the site first wants to verify that the prospects signed with the schools to whom they committed.

Maya Moore of Suwanee, Ga., the No. 1 player in 2007, according to HoopGurlz, has committed to Connecticut, which signed the No. 1 player in the site's 2006 class, Tina Charles of Queens, N.Y.

"The 2007 class is loaded at the top," said Chris Hansen, the National Director of Scouting for women's basketball at HoopGurlz and Scout.com. "You have potential superstars from all over the country and at every position. You have Maya Moore from Georgia, Angie Bjorklund from Washington, Jantel Lavender from Ohio, Jasmine Thomas from Virginia, Vicki Baugh from California, Krystal Thomas from Florida, Kayla Pedersen from Arizona, Khadijah Rushdan from Delaware and Stefanie Gilbreath from Texas. The class is simply superb and while the ACC dominates in the total number of commitments these stars will litter several conferences throughout the country."

Maryland, the 2006 NCAA champions, have a huge class with one Top 10 prospect (Marah Strickland of Towson, Md.), another top 25 (Drey Mingo of Atlanta, Ga.) and three more in the Top 60. The ACC committed the most Top 100 prospects with 47. The Pac-10 was second with 30.



The HoopGurlz.com Rankings Panel:

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.

Nancy Pfaff is Eastern Analyst for Women's Basketball at HoopGurlz.com and Scout.com. More commonly known as Husky Nan on the Internet, where she is considered one of the nation's authorities on women's basketball and has been evaluating and ranking girl's basketball players for years (www.HuskyNan.com). Nancy also is a senior writer for UConnFan.com and moderator for one of the largest sports communities on the Web, the Boneyard. She can be reached at huskynan@yahoo.com.


Related Stories
Baugh's Bold Choice
 -by HSGirlsHoops.com  Nov 7, 2006
Summitt sings, players sign
 -by InsideTennessee.com  Nov 9, 2006
Prospect Watch - Nov. 3
 -by HSGirlsHoops.com  Nov 3, 2006

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