No. 1 – USC
A class with the No. 1 guard in the class is quite impressive in it of itself, but pile on a 6-foot-1 ball handler in Hailey Dunham, a 6-2 athlete in Aarika Hughes and one of the toughest forwards in the country with a college ready body in Morghan Medlock and Troy could again fend off the ancient Greeks.
|
No. 2 – Stanford
Say what? The top two classes are on the left coast. In deed when you land the top center in the country who had an amazing senior year in Jayne Appel, add one of the savviest point guards in the country in JJ Hones, sprinkle in a 6-2 wing that can dunk and shoot the three and an overlooked athletic combo guard from Brooklyn.
|
No. 3 – Rutgers
They were top 10 material even before they landed the released Dee Dee Jernigan, the No. 20 player in the country as ranked by Scout.com. Also weighing in at guard is the ridiculous scoring talent that is Epiphany Prince, Scout.com's No. 10 player in the 2006 class. Rounding out the class are No. 21 Myia McCurdy, No. 44 Brittany Ray and No. 45 Rashidat Junaid, making Rutgers the only school to land five prospects in the Top 50.
|
No. 4 – Baylor
The 2005 National Champions capitalized on their amazing season to land a few elite prospects. Led by a guard duo of Latara Darrett and Whitney Jones, ranked No. 22 and No. 28, respectivel,y the Bears finished the class off with Danielle Wilson, a Parade All-American Fourth Team selection and Scout.com's No. 15 forward in the country as well as Jessika Bradley and Kaitlin Oberg.
|
No. 5 – Connecticut
The Huskies had quality over quantity in this class with Tina Charles, the consensus player of the year and Scout.com's No. 1 ranked prospect, as the capstone. Add another top 50 player in Kaili McLaren, a 6-2 forward from Maryland, and two other solid players in Meghan Gardler of Springfield, Pa., and the Tarheel State’s Kristen Phillips who checks in at 6-5 and you have quite a recruiting class indeed.
|
No. 6 – Duke
Headlined by Bridgette Michell, Scout.com's No. 12 overall prospect in the country, and including Joy Cheek, the North Carolina state player of the year, the Duke recruiting class included two very good players. Mitchell and the 6-foot-1 and 180-pound Cheek add more depth to the Blue Devil front court.
|
No. 7 – North Carolina State
The headline prospect for the Lady Wolfpack is Nikitta Gartrell, a 5-9 guard who can shoot the three and is gifted athletically. NC State also adds Connecticut guard Sharnise Beal, 6-5 center Chinita Jordan from Philadelphia, Amber White, Lucy Ellison and Megan Zullo.
|
No. 8 – Georgia
UGA lands a top-notch point guard in Dade County’s Ashley Houts who the No. 15 player in the country, according to Scout.com, and a tough competitor and floor leader. Joining Houts is the No. 39 overall prospect, Christy Marshall, a 6-1 forward from Savannah, Ga., and a 5-8 combo guard in Jalessa Rhoden, from London, Ontario.
|
No. 9 – Texas
The Longhorns nabbed a very gifted guard in Brittainey Raven, a 6-foot speedster from Fort Worth. Raven was a Scout.com Super Six selection and was the No. 4 overall ranked player in her class. Texas also signed 6-1 forward Vantranique Hughes and 6-3 forward Kristen Nash adding size in the front court.
|
No. 10 – Xavier
The Musketeers won the late-season sweepstakes for the amazingly talented Amber Harris who initially signed with Purdue but was released at her request. At 6-6 with athleticism, handle and touch, she’s got more upside than anyone in her class. Xavier also signed Amy Johns, a 5-9 guard who averaged nearly 31 points per game, Alesia Barringer, Maureen Hester and Brittney Moore.
|
No. 11 - Oklahoma
The Sooners signed two very talented front court players in Amanda Thompson and Abi Olajuwon who will join and already imposing roster of bigs. Thompson, the No. 5 prospect in the class, is rock solid, a great athlete who should be an impact player alongside the Paris twins. Olajuwon had ups and downs and her size and coordination could blossom into a very good collegiate player if she harnesses those talents.
|
No. 12 - Virginia
Monica Wright, the 5-11 two-guard who has incredible athleticism and has the strength in high school to play at the college level. She's one of the better defensive guards you will find and is ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the 2006 class. Also joining Wright at Virginia is 5-8 guard Paulisha Kellum.
|
Clay Kallam of Full Court Press, Glenn Nelson of HoopGurlz.com and Nancy Pfaff of HuskyNan.com also are members of the evaluation panel.
Chris Hansen is the National Director of Scouting for Women's Basketball at HoopGurlz.com and Scout.com. Chris leads the panel that evaluates and ranks girl's basketball prospects nationally for HoopGurlz, Scout.com and Full Court Press (www.FullCourt.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.
|