Dunning: Most Wanted

One of 2008's most wanted players still has a long list of schools - and Ayana Dunning reveals it for the first time.

PHOTOS & PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GLENN NELSON

Ayana Dunning is a powerful interior player who is in demand by every major college program in the country. She’s been contacted, over and over again. She gets phone calls from coaches that get interrupted by call waiting from other coaches. On an average day she gets between 60 and 65 text messages. “It’s all hours of the day, too,” Dunning said, “even at school. I had to get an unlimited text package for my phone.”

The text-messaging issue may be a bit of a tangent, but unlimited text plans are usually $20-$30, depending on the carrier.

But back to what everyone really wants to know – who is on Dunning’s final list. She’s trying to narrow this down to around five this summer, but as it sits right now Baylor, Boston College, Georgia, LSU, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio State, Rutgers, Southern Cal, Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Vanderbilt and West Virginia are the schools she is contemplating.

“At this point I’m trying to figure out if I want to go to an established program or if I want to go and help build a program,” Dunning said. She added that the schools on her list were those she was most comfortable with the coaching staff. “(I) have to figure out what is real and what is just cliché about everything they’re telling me.”

Ayana Dunning

Dunning, who is ranked No. 3 in the 2008 class by HoopGurlz.com, also is trying to decide how important it is to stay close to home so her family can see her play. One thing she does know is what she wants to study. She aspires for a law degree with a minor in sports medicine.

Of the schools on her list, two - LSU and Texas - have had major coaching changess. Dunning said she always has been interested in Texas, though with Gail Goestenkors now the Longhorns' head coach, Dunning said, “Wow, I really need to consider them seriously.”

As for LSU, Dunning is excited that Van Chancellor is at the helm because of his experience coaching in the WNBA. She aspires to play professionally. “I’ve always been a big fan of LSU since Simone Augustus first got there,” Dunning said.

While we’re talking about coaches it was the entire coaching staff that drew her into Southern Cal, the only West coast school on her list.

Dunning has visited only Maryland and Ohio State, but plans on taking time to tour more school on her list in August, before school starts. By the fall she wants to trim the list to five so she can plan her official visits early in the school year. It is very unlikely she will commit before taking her official visits.

To those close to her, Dunning goes by “Ya-Ya”. The story goes that when she was two years old, people would ask her name and at the time the best she could say was “Ya-Ya”. Her brother heard it and started calling her that and it has stuck. Another top 2008 post player, Lynetta Kizer, also goes by the same nickname although they supposedly spell it differently.

Dunning was in good company in the front court last summer playing alongside Ohio State signee Jantel Lavender for their club team, All-Ohio. “I learned a lot from her in practice,” Dunning said. “This year I’m learning and am taking a leadership role.”

Playing with Lavender, Dunning, who has played ball since she was three years old, was playing at the high post in a lot of high-low sets and really forced her to expand her shooting range. She now can hit three-point shots with regularity when defenders back off. She’s struggling right now with her conditioning because of a recent bout with mononucleosis. Prior to the Boo Williams Invitational she was home from school for two weeks with the illness and the tournament was her first time on the court in more than two weeks.

As she recovers, the kid who went from the fourth grade through the eighth grade without losing a school game will be out to make her mark with her club team this summer, then her eyes set on an Ohio state championship with Eastmoor High School.

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