Make Room at the Top

By Glenn Nelson
HoopGurlz Publisher
Posted Sat, 10/27/2007 - 23:17 If you thought LSU had a hot recruiting streak, check out Rutgers, which added verbals from two more highly ranked players.

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STORY & PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

If you'd predicted during the summer which two programs would finish the recruiting season with the biggest bang, chances are you wouldn't have picked the two that really have. Chances are, the traditional powers, Connecticut and Tennessee, with their multiple, top-10 commits, would have topped your list.

First Van Chancellor barnstormed through the South to collect a fabulous five-plus-one for LSU, and now C. Vivian Stringer has gone coast-to-coast for an even more amazing run of verbals for Rutgers.

How else to explain landing April Sykes, the No. 2 prospect in the land, and Chelsey Lee, No. 36 in the HoopGurlz Hundred, in the same day, as a source close to both has confirmed? Or those two, along with Brooklyn Pope, No. 9 overall, and Jasmine Dixon, No. 26, in the same, scintillating week? Those four, plus point guard Nikki Speed, No. 27, arguably give the Scarlet Knights an even more fabulous five than LSU's.

Even Bill Gates or the Google guys haven't accumulated that many assets that quickly.

Sykes, from Crawford, Miss., is the obvious prize of Saturday's package deal. She is the most complete offensive player in the 2008 class, a quadruple-threat (deep jumper, penetration, pull-up, postup) scorer, who is explosive with a WNBA-ready body. She also could be the most dynamic leader, a social butterfly and alpha personality almost without parallel in this and other recent classes.

The 5-foot-11 Sykes also is an excellent playmaker who knows how to use the opposing defense's focus on her to create scoring opportunities for teammates. Though Rutgers has appeared as a long shot for her, Sykes has made it clear that she would like to play for a no-nonsense coach who will push her, and they don't get much more no-nonsense than Stringer.

Lee, a club teammate of Sykes with Florida-based Essence, is a highly skilled, highly athletic, 6-2 forward who can, like Sykes, can score effectively in three ways - on the boxes, off the dribble and from mid-range with the jumper. The Miami, Fla., star is a strong package defensively as well - a rebounder, shot-blocker and very good help defender.

For the first time in a long time, the race for the mythical, national recruiting championship is a close-knit, four-program affair. Just look at the following, with their HoopGurlz Hundred-ranked commitments:

Connecticut: 1. Elena Delle Donne, 10. Caroline Doty, 11. Tiffany Hayes, 31. Heather Buck.

LSU: 12. LaSondra Barrett, 17. Destini Hughes, 55. Taylor Turnbow, 59. Crystal Riley, 69. Courtney Jones.

Rutgers: 2. April Sykes, 9. Brooklyn Pope, 26. Jasmine Dixon, 27. Nikki Speed, 36. Chelsey Lee.

Tennessee: 4. Amber Gray, 8. Shekinna Stricklen, 15. Alicia Manning, 20. Alyssia Brewer.

The Scarlet Knights' class makes a strong case for supremacy because of its cohesiveness as a unit in which all five players are ultra-athletic and all can create their own shots, which is a devastating weapon to yield because of the way advanced defenses can stall set offenses. Combine this group with freshman Khadijah Rushdan, the No. 10 player in the HoopGurlz Hundred for 2007, plus super sophs Rashidat Junaid, Myia McCurdy, Epiphanny Prince and Brittany Ray, and the '08 fab five brings Rutgers a dynastic element previously reserved for the likes of UConn and the Lady Vols.

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Glenn Nelson is the founder and publisher of HoopGurlz.com. He is a member of the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee and SportsShooter.com (Click for Porfolio), Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, National Press Photographers Association and Online News Association. Glenn also founded and coached the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girl's basketball teams and previously was the editor-in-chief at Scout.com and a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle Times. His work has appeared in several books and national magazines. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). For more on Glenn's World, click here. Glenn can be reached at glenn@hoopgurlz.com.

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