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Decision Time… With each Friday that passes we get one step closer to signing day. Until then, top prospects from around the country will be making visits, and ultimately decisions, on where they will play there college basketball. This week’s Visitation Nation focuses on several top 100 kids who are on the road.
By: Keil Moore Follow @KeilMoore
No. 6 Rebecca Greenwell (23) is one of the premier shooters in the entire country. *Photo by Chris Hansen
No. 6 Rebecca Greenwell to Notre Dame: As far as the class of 2013 is concerned, Greenwell of Owensboro, Ky., is one of the best shooters in the country. Greenwell’s prowess as a sharpshooter made her a sought after prospect on the open market. Greenwell garnered interest from a number of elite programs, such as in state programs like Louisville and Kentucky, in addition to other top 25 programs Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and North Carolina. With signing day on the horizon, Greenwell has cut her list to two. Duke and Notre Dame will be the only places the two-time USA basketball participant visits officially. This weekend Greenwell will make a trip to South Bend, Ind., to see Notre Dame. The current Irish 2013 verbal commitments, Taya Reimer of Fishers, Ind., Lindsay Allen of Mitchellville, Md., Kristina Nelson of Buford, Ga., and Diamond Thompson of Lombard, Ill., will join Greenwell on campus this weekend as well. Greenwell, who plays with the Tennessee Flight during the club season, will visit Duke officially in October. She is one of six top 10 recruits who remain undecided at this stage of the recruiting process.
No. 12 Kendall Cooper to Tennessee: Cooper of Los Angeles, Calif., is arguably the best defensive post player in the class of 2013. We talked in detail about her ability to impact a game two weeks ago when she visited Duke. This weekend Cooper is taking her talents to Knoxville, at least for a couple of days. Scoring Cooper will give Tennessee a much-needed interior presence and a true double-double type of post threat. Pairing a kid like Cooper with current freshman Bashaara Graves would give Tennessee a formidable post duo moving forward.
Top 50 Oregon duo headed to Southern Cal: Portland natives Kailee Johnson and Jordan Reynolds, teammates at Central Catholic High School (Portland, Ore.), will both be on official visits to USC this weekend. Johnson, the 6-3 forward ranked 20th in the class by ESPN HoopGurlz, is coming off a visit to Stanford last weekend. Reynolds, the 5-11 combo guard who is ranked 42nd in the class, will also join Johnson on Oct. 4, at the University of Washington. Johnson will be making an official visit to the Seattle campus that weekend while Reynolds will be there unofficially.
No. 27 Adrienne Motley to Virginia Tech: For the next couple of months any mention of Motley, of Newport News, Va., has to include her performance on the circuit this July. This summer, with her Boo Williams summer team, Motley proved to be one of the best one-on-one players in the country as she scored the ball at an efficient rate while showing an advanced mastery of the pick-and-roll. This weekend Motley is headed to Virginia Tech for an official visit. Landing Motley, a local kid for the ACC school, would give Virginia Tech the versatile scoring combo-guard you can build around moving forward. Motley’s ability to play on or off the ball would give Tech a ton of flexibility with the rest of their 2013 class in addition to future recruiting classes.
No. 9 Tyler Scaife is one of the best scorers off the dribble in the 2013 class. *Photo by Chris Hansen
No. 9 Tyler Scaife and No. 19 Ieshia Small to Rutgers: With two top-20 prospects on campus for coach C. Vivian Stringer and Rutgers, this weekend is obviously a big recruiting opportunity for the Big East program. Last year Rutgers pulled in a top five recruiting class that was predominantly comprised of posts and forwards. The size Rutgers added in 2012 should mesh well with the guard play that they were able to score with their 2011 recruits. As they look to continue to build a national championship contender, adding two impact players the caliber of Scaife of Little Rock, Ark., and Small of Tallahassee, Fla., will give Rutgers two talented guards that will also balance their roster moving forward. Having quality depth is always key for teams looking to make deep runs in March. Players like Scaife and Small are more than capable of helping a team get to a Final Four.
No. 16 Rebekah Dahlman to Vandy: Last week Dahlman, from Braham, Minn., took an official visit to in-state school Minnesota. This weekend Dahlman makes the second of five scheduled visits, heading to Vanderbilt for an official visit. Dahlman will be joined by Kylee Smith of Alpharetta, Ga., a Commodores verbal commit, who also will be taking her official visit to the SEC school.
3-star 2014 PG Natalie Romeo takes unofficial: Romeo, a 5-7 point guard from Martinez, Calif., will be at the University of Arizona this weekend on an unofficial visit, according to her Cal Stars-adidas coach, Kelly Sopak. The Carondelet High School junior sharpshooter had a solid summer showing her ability to run her team’s sets and keep defenses honest with her range.
Chris Hansen also contributed to this report
Keil Moore is the Director of Scouting for the JumpOffPlus.com National Scouting Report – a division of Peach State Basketball, Inc. He also is a contributor and national recruiting analyst for ESPN HoopGurlz. Moore has been involved in the community since 2007 as a recruiting analyst and trainer. He can be reached at [email protected].
Chris Hansen is the managing editor for Peach State Media. In addition to serving as a contributor to the JumpOffPlus.com National Scouting Report, Hansen also covered girls’ basketball and women’s college basketball prospects nationally for ESPN.com. A graduate of the University of Washington with a communications degree, he has been involved in the women’s basketball community since 1998 as a high school and club coach, trainer, evaluator and reporter. He is a member of the McDonald’s All-American team selection committee. He can be reached at [email protected].
