Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Ariya Crook-Williams verbals to USC

WHOA.

Ariya Crook-Williams, the No. 15 prospect in the ESPN HoopGurlz Hot 100, has given a verbal commitment to play for the University of Southern California.

The 5-foot-7 guard, who has a knack for hitting big shots and plays what her Cal Sparks club coach Elbert Kinnebrew describes as a "power" game from the perimeter, announced her decision to USC coach Michael Cooper on Wednesday afternoon
.

I was just talking to someone last night about UCLA's seeming lack of recruiting knack, and this underscores the point.

Crook-Williams was at every Bruin home game this year, and it was rumored that she was at the top of their list. What happened?? (I knew there was a USC Elite camp this week, but was it really all that? I guess so...)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes the concern is that they are missing out on the talent we have in the 2011 year which is more abundant than the years 2012 on

Lewis Uc
Hartman Boston College
Crook Williams USC
Samuelson Stanford
Alofaituli ASU
Swain UCLA

Gray I heard is not a UCLA lean tho' I hoped she was. Vaioletama I don't think lists UCLA.

From ranking lists identified locals for

2012
Adams
Beebe
Stafford

2013
Cooper
Gomez
Samuelson
Solomon

2014
Canada

Hopefully Nikki can keep them here.

Sue Favor said...

As a major Caldwell fan, I am hoping she and her staff get out to every possible tournament in July and bring in as much of the rich talent of the class of 2011 as possible. This really is an amazing class.

Anonymous said...

UCLA never offered Ariya. Right now, they have no plans for a point guard in 2011, although there's an offer out to Ariel Massengale.

They have also not offered Reshanda Gray.

Sue Favor said...

I've heard they're not even looking at Reshanda Gray, and that's crazy to me.

Anonymous said...

Sue, could you do an article or commentary on this situation? I met Nikki Caldwell in Tennessee and was ecstatic when she was named coach of UCLA. Despite her great skills, she hasn't shown the ability to recruit and quite frankly, neither has her staff.

It's not like they're not signing local players because they are. But the ones they're signing are hardly the best of the best. I know they signed Swain, which is great, but they also signed the little point guard from Santa Monica and the sister of one of their current players, who has been injured for most of her high school career.

Sue Favor said...

Let me see what I can do.

Anonymous said...

The little PG from Santa Monica played for the top club team in the nation last year and went up against the best all summer long and they won the biggest tournament so I wouldn't worry about her.

I agree that Gardner is a little puzzling!!!

Anonymous said...

UCLA also signed Corinne Costa from Northern California. She is ranked as the #32 center by Hoopgurlz, #212 overall by Blue Star and #386 by ASGR.

Anonymous said...

Alexyz Vaioletama has committed to USC. This is Coach Cooper's second top 15 player this week. Two more places left in this year's class--I wonder who will be next?