Women's Basketball Recruiting

[Hog fan]

Now that we have McKenzie Adams on board for 2013, is there any word on her teammates?  I thought Jessica Jackson was supposed to announce on August 1st but I haven't seen anything released yet. 

What about any other potential recruits for 2013? :razorback:

[LadybackBBFan]

Now that we have McKenzie Adams on board for 2013, is there any word on her teammates?  I thought Jessica Jackson was supposed to announce on August 1st but I haven't seen anything released yet. 

What about any other potential recruits for 2013? :razorback:

She did not announce.  She is waiting to do it with her High School Team later this month.  No other news that I am aware of.

[dc4hogs]

Were there any standouts at the elite camp back in June?  Also, not too early to look to 2014s. Any potentials the coaching staff are looking at?

[hog63]

Any updates on the Jackson announcement?

[LadybackBBFan]

Any updates on the Jackson announcement?

According to Richard Davenport, it will be August 20th, but no time has been announced yet!! :razorback: :razorback:

[hog63]

I'm thinking that is good news for the hometeam

[Hogtied85]

I wonder if Tyler Scaife is interested

[Hogtied85]

Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome Jessica Jackson. She will be a hog

[LadybackBBFan]

Great news about Jackson!  Now we just need about four more in this class!  Tyler Scaife will not be one of them.  I hear that two more top recruits will be visiting in September.  Ana Faussurier who coach signed off of the Spain national team is on campus but must redshirt this year.  Maybe that will open up some other possibilities from that National team in the future.  It would be great to finally build a competitive program for the SEC.  With Pat Summit retired, I think that opens up a lot of opportunities that did not exist prior to her retiring. :razorback: :razorback:

[wbbfan32]

Imani Wright is top 30 and would make this class top ten. She is interested but there are about 4 other schools left in the mix

[Hogtied85]

Who are the other two top recruits? Has Roshunda Johnson visited Arkansas yet?

[hog63]

Johnson is visiting Sept 20-22 along with a 6'5" nigerian from a prep school

[Hogtied85]

Who is the 6'5 girl??

[hawgwatcher]

Congratulations and Welcome to Jessica!!! So glad to have you as a Ladyback! Looking forward to you helping continue the growth of our program...WPS!   :razorback: :razorback: :razorback:

[hog63]

Not sure of the name.

[LadybackBBFan]

Congratulations and Welcome to Jessica!!! So glad to have you as a Ladyback! Looking forward to you helping continue the growth of our program...WPS!   :razorback: :razorback: :razorback:

Richard Davenport had a nice article on Jessica in today's Democrat Gazette.  Besides being a great basketball player she sounds like a great young lady and daughter of a proud Dad!

[litmachog]

I'm trying to find a web site that has the rankings for women's basketball and Rivals and Scout doesn't seem to have it.  I've looked through those sites and unless they are just buried somewhere, I'm not finding it.

[LadybackBBFan]

I'm trying to find a web site that has the rankings for women's basketball and Rivals and Scout doesn't seem to have it.  I've looked through those sites and unless they are just buried somewhere, I'm not finding it.

ESPN web site gives you information.  This year's class will not be ranked until after the signing period.  You can get the top 100 recruits and where they are committed or not committed.  You can also get last year's team rankings.  Google: Women's College Basketball Recruiting Rankings.  There are also other sites. :razorback:

[dc4hogs]

How many scholarships are available for class of 2013 and 2014?  How many verbal commits for 2013?  If class isn't filled, who are they looking at to fill out rest of class?  Who are they looking at for 2014?

[LadybackBBFan]

How many scholarships are available for class of 2013 and 2014?  How many verbal commits for 2013?  If class isn't filled, who are they looking at to fill out rest of class?  Who are they looking at for 2014?

Women's basketball has 15 scholarships that they can give - most never fill all 15.  Arkansas presently have 12 on scholarship - 4 being seniors, 2 Juniors, 3 sophomores, and 3 freshmen (one who has to redshirt).  I believe that they want to sign 6 - at least 5.  They today have two verbal commitments that I am aware of with at least three visiting in the next 3 weeks.  They will have 7 scholarships for 2013 and 3 for 2014 if they sign six in the 2013 class.  I am not aware of who they are recruiting in 2014, but it is suppose to be a good class - probably not as good as 2013.

[Hogtied85]

Why can't we be consistent with recruiting. Why stop at 5 star Jessica Jackson. Tom Collen and staff need to go for broke. Every since Gary Blair got over the hump in Texas A&M he has been cranking out top 10 classes every since. Arkansas is at that point now that they need to go after the top dogs.

[LadybackBBFan]

Why can't we be consistent with recruiting. Why stop at 5 star Jessica Jackson. Tom Collen and staff need to go for broke. Every since Gary Blair got over the hump in Texas A&M he has been cranking out top 10 classes every since. Arkansas is at that point now that they need to go after the top dogs.

I was startled by your comment.  Then i looked at my last post which may have triggered your thoughts.  My reference to 2014 not being as good of a class as 2013 has only to do with instate prospects - both the quality and quantity.  The 2013 class of recruits in Arkansas is probably the best class that this state has ever produced.  Regarding Gary Blair he never had the same success in recruiting at Arkansas as he is having at Texas A&M even though he did reach the final four in 1998.  The reason is simple - the state of Texas has so much more talent to offer, and Gary was a successful high school coach in Texas before he became involved in the college game.  Top women players are so much harder to recruit - they want to go where there has been a winning tradition.  The three women's coaches who have done that job - that is build a program up from scratch that was not that good before them and get the top dogs are Geno at Connecticut, Gary at A&M (not Arkansas), and Kim at Baylor.  Three current up and coming coaches in the SEC that have a chance to do the same thing (excluding Arkansas) are at LSU, Kentucky, and South Carolina.  With Pat gone at Tennessee, other programs will have an opportunity to be much better. :razorback: :razorback:

[Hogtied85]

So my question again is What can't Arkansas be consistent in recruiting and get the top players. Kentucky was not relevant until Matt Mitchell got there and the same for South Carolina. So why not Arkansas. Can you please give me one reason why Arkansas will never be relevant in women's basketball? I would like to think that Arkansas would have same opportunity as the other SEC Schools.

[yraciv]

So my question again is What can't Arkansas be consistent in recruiting and get the top players. Kentucky was not relevant until Matt Mitchell got there and the same for South Carolina. So why not Arkansas. Can you please give me one reason why Arkansas will never be relevant in women's basketball? I would like to think that Arkansas would have same opportunity as the other SEC Schools.

It's not all that different from other sports. Other schools have recruiting advantages with in state talent most years and the support for women's basketball is nonexistent at the U of A.  I can almost guarantee that more students go to gymnastics meets. We had the best season in a long while last year and we still finished behind UALR in average attendance at 2,127. Wrap your head around that!  By my count we're 8th in the SEC last year, and that was in a tournament year.  Even in the Gary Blair heydays we may have been double that.  There is room to grow, but with women's basketball all the top recruits join up together at TN, Baylor, UConn, Duke, Stanford, a couple others. I don't see that stopping anything time soon, even without Pat Tennessee recruits itself.  Unfortunately the best players from our state have been prone to get big time offers in the last 5 years at schools where women's basketball actually has a following.  Women's basketball takes a back door to the men. And while women's basketball is slow in general just think what your average fan thinks when going to a lady game after witnessing 40 minutes of hell the night before.  We'll need to land a couple Jessica Jackson's to get relevant. That is a hard sell unless they just grew up a Hog fan!

[Hogtied85]

It's not all that different from other sports. Other schools have recruiting advantages with in state talent most years and the support for women's basketball is nonexistent at the U of A.  I can almost guarantee that more students go to gymnastics meets. We had the best season in a long while last year and we still finished behind UALR in average attendance at 2,127. Wrap your head around that!  By my count we're 8th in the SEC last year, and that was in a tournament year.  Even in the Gary Blair heydays we may have been double that.  There is room to grow, but with women's basketball all the top recruits join up together at TN, Baylor, UConn, Duke, Stanford, a couple others. I don't see that stopping anything time soon, even without Pat Tennessee recruits itself.  Unfortunately the best players from our state have been prone to get big time offers in the last 5 years at schools where women's basketball actually has a following.  Women's basketball takes a back door to the men. And while women's basketball is slow in general just think what your average fan thinks when going to a lady game after witnessing 40 minutes of hell the night before.  We'll need to land a couple Jessica Jackson's to get relevant. That is a hard sell unless they just grew up a Hog fan!

Maybe it will change. It has been hard for Arkansas to recruit. But the addition of Jessica Jackson is an improvement and is a great sign of growth. Even without the major stars last year Arkansas managed to make history by beating Tennessee, LSU and Kentucky the year before last. If Arkansas had a big name COACH recruiting would not be an issue because of reputation.

[LadybackBBFan]

It's not all that different from other sports. Other schools have recruiting advantages with in state talent most years and the support for women's basketball is nonexistent at the U of A.  I can almost guarantee that more students go to gymnastics meets. We had the best season in a long while last year and we still finished behind UALR in average attendance at 2,127. Wrap your head around that!  By my count we're 8th in the SEC last year, and that was in a tournament year.  Even in the Gary Blair heydays we may have been double that.  There is room to grow, but with women's basketball all the top recruits join up together at TN, Baylor, UConn, Duke, Stanford, a couple others. I don't see that stopping anything time soon, even without Pat Tennessee recruits itself.  Unfortunately the best players from our state have been prone to get big time offers in the last 5 years at schools where women's basketball actually has a following.  Women's basketball takes a back door to the men. And while women's basketball is slow in general just think what your average fan thinks when going to a lady game after witnessing 40 minutes of hell the night before.  We'll need to land a couple Jessica Jackson's to get relevant. That is a hard sell unless they just grew up a Hog fan!

I could not agree more with your comments - they are right on.  I would add that ever since the Women's Athletic Department was eliminated and put under the men's department, women's sports including basketball have taken a back seat to the two heavy revenue sports - football and men's basketball. Jeff Long has no interest in building a national power in those sports and provides no support.  My position is based upon the following facts.  The fall dinner for women's sports where all coaches talk about their teams for the coming season and introduce their new players has been eliminated for the second time.  Strong support personnel with years of experience have been removed from supporting women's teams to men's programs and replaced by 20+ graduates with no experience.  Coach Collen has a monthly luncheon for their fans.  I have never seen Jeff Long at any of those luncheons.  This past March he did attend Arkansas's first NCAA game, but not the important one against Texas A&M - I was there.  I have never seen him at any women's SEC basketball tournaments since he has been here - I have been at all of them.  In 2011, I attended all of the women's NIT tournament away games - Jeff Long was absent from all of them.  When Gary Blair was here and we had a women's Athletic Department - Bev Lewis was always at the out of town tournaments as was Chancellor White in many of those cases.  Bev has been present at all of the events that Jeff has not, but it is not the same when he is the head of the program.  "Hogtired 10" states that we would not have a problem recruiting if we had a so called big name COACH.  Coach Collen was a big name when we hired him. Gary Blair when he was hired was no more a big name than Collen when he was hired.  Do you really think Jeff Long would pay what it would require to hire a big name women's coach - $1million+.  I doubt it when Bev would not even match Gary's A&M offer of $400,000+ ten years ago.
       So let's stop complaining and get on the bandwagon and support Coach Collen.  He is doing his best to work with the talent in this state and with his limited budget and support from the administration as I see it.  He is no Gary Blair when it comes to getting fans excited about supporting the team, but that is not what we hired him to do. We are off to a great start with commitments from Jessica Jackson and McKenzie Adams.  In today's Democrat Gazette Richard Davenport explains that we will have Imani Wright from Liberty-Eylau, Texas on an official visit this weekend.  She is the # 31prospect in the country according to hoopgurlz.com.  Imani states that McKenzie is her best friend and it would be great to play with her and Jessica.  However, she does not sound ready to commit as she still has visits planned for Baylor and Kentucky.  Also remember that they have Johnson and a 6'5" Nigerian prep school girl coming for official visits next weekend.  So good luck Tom!  Keep up the great work and maybe we will finally get that top ten class that we have been waiting for too long of a time. :razorback: :razorback:

[Hogtied85]

I could not agree more with your comments - they are right on.  I would add that ever since the Women's Athletic Department was eliminated and put under the men's department, women's sports including basketball have taken a back seat to the two heavy revenue sports - football and men's basketball. Jeff Long has no interest in building a national power in those sports and provides no support.  My position is based upon the following facts.  The fall dinner for women's sports where all coaches talk about their teams for the coming season and introduce their new players has been eliminated for the second time.  Strong support personnel with years of experience have been removed from supporting women's teams to men's programs and replaced by 20+ graduates with no experience.  Coach Collen has a monthly luncheon for their fans.  I have never seen Jeff Long at any of those luncheons.  This past March he did attend Arkansas's first NCAA game, but not the important one against Texas A&M - I was there.  I have never seen him at any women's SEC basketball tournaments since he has been here - I have been at all of them.  In 2011, I attended all of the women's NIT tournament away games - Jeff Long was absent from all of them.  When Gary Blair was here and we had a women's Athletic Department - Bev Lewis was always at the out of town tournaments as was Chancellor White in many of those cases.  Bev has been present at all of the events that Jeff has not, but it is not the same when he is the head of the program.  "Hogtired 10" states that we would not have a problem recruiting if we had a so called big name COACH.  Coach Collen was a big name when we hired him. Gary Blair when he was hired was no more a big name than Collen when he was hired.  Do you really think Jeff Long would pay what it would require to hire a big name women's coach - $1million+.  I doubt it when Bev would not even match Gary's A&M offer of $400,000+ ten years ago.
       So let's stop complaining and get on the bandwagon and support Coach Collen.  He is doing his best to work with the talent in this state and with his limited budget and support from the administration as I see it.  He is no Gary Blair when it comes to getting fans excited about supporting the team, but that is not what we hired him to do. We are off to a great start with commitments from Jessica Jackson and McKenzie Adams.  In today's Democrat Gazette Richard Davenport explains that we will have Imani Wright from Liberty-Eylau, Texas on an official visit this weekend.  She is the # 31prospect in the country according to hoopgurlz.com.  Imani states that McKenzie is her best friend and it would be great to play with her and Jessica.  However, she does not sound ready to commit as she still has visits planned for Baylor and Kentucky.  Also remember that they have Johnson and a 6'5" Nigerian prep school girl coming for official visits next weekend.  So good luck Tom!  Keep up the great work and maybe we will finally get that top ten class that we have been waiting for too long of a time. :razorback: :razorback:

In response to LadybackBBFan,

Bev. Lewis and Chancellor White were ones that gave Gary Blair the axe in the first place. So much for their loyal support. If we are all true fans of hog ball then we should want to see hire do well in recruiting and everything else. When I speak about recruiting  the only excuse I get from people is "WHO WANTS TO COME TO ARKANSAS" well no one wanted to come to Connecticut, Tennessee and Baylor before Geno, Pat and Kim got there. All I am saying is once Arkansas starts winning the games against the big time opponents then the reputation and culture of hogs will change. Peace and love

[LadybackBBFan]

In response to LadybackBBFan,

Bev. Lewis and Chancellor White were ones that gave Gary Blair the axe in the first place. So much for their loyal support. If we are all true fans of hog ball then we should want to see hire do well in recruiting and everything else. When I speak about recruiting  the only excuse I get from people is "WHO WANTS TO COME TO ARKANSAS" well no one wanted to come to Connecticut, Tennessee and Baylor before Geno, Pat and Kim got there. All I am saying is once Arkansas starts winning the games against the big time opponents then the reputation and culture of hogs will change. Peace and love

I agree with Connecticut and Baylor.  Pat started Tennessee's program when she was just out of college and did a great job of building it.  I also agree that if we ever started winning big, more fans would come and bring more better players in the future.  Hopefully, next year's class will be the trigger to bring what we all want which is a successful program.  Thanks for the discussion!

[Hogtied85]

Thank You. Do you think you'll land Imani Wright?

[psycHOGlogist]

This is a great back and forth - thanks for your thoughts, LadybackBBFan and Hogtired10. I agree with much of what both of you said. Collen was a very good hire, with a reputation for being a strong recruiter, but it's been disappointing to see the slow progression of the program since he got here -- though I do believe there has been progress. I wasn't aware of how little Long supports the women's programs. That's really unfortunate. However, although Chancellor White may have traveled to away games/tourneys, he was absolutely toxic in other respects. (I've been told that it was primarily White who forced Bev to show Blair the door.)

Getting Jackson and Adams is great news, and if we can get Wright and/or Johnson we will really be on a roll. It is hard for us to compete, recruiting-wise, against other programs with more in-state talent. Take Gary Blair at TAMU, for example. He was not a lights-out recruiter at Ark; he wasn't much better than average, actually. But he got to TAMU and did well enough, coached well, and made splash (coincidentally at a time when the TX program was waning and suffering under the over-hyped coaching reputations of Jody Conradt and Gail Goestenkors, and now they've gone and hired some former Conradt assistant I've never heard of). So he's been a bit lucky, and more than a bit good, and he's got some serious momentum now. Here's to hoping that last year's strong season and this year's recruiting class make the same kind of difference for the Hogs (though, to be honest, I am worried about the upcoming season and lack of quality depth).

And a random afterthought - I'm not so sure Tennessee will continue to be so dominant now that Summitt has retired, fwiw. It's a storied program, and the fanbase is rabid ... but I'm not sure that's going to be enough. Pat herself was such a powerful draw for many players. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[LadybackBBFan]

This is a great back and forth - thanks for your thoughts, LadybackBBFan and Hogtired10. I agree with much of what both of you said. Collen was a very good hire, with a reputation for being a strong recruiter, but it's been disappointing to see the slow progression of the program since he got here -- though I do believe there has been progress. I wasn't aware of how little Long supports the women's programs. That's really unfortunate. However, although Chancellor White may have traveled to away games/tourneys, he was absolutely toxic in other respects. (I've been told that it was primarily White who forced Bev to show Blair the door.)

Getting Jackson and Adams is great news, and if we can get Wright and/or Johnson we will really be on a roll. It is hard for us to compete, recruiting-wise, against other programs with more in-state talent. Take Gary Blair at TAMU, for example. He was not a lights-out recruiter at Ark; he wasn't much better than average, actually. But he got to TAMU and did well enough, coached well, and made splash (coincidentally at a time when the TX program was waning and suffering under the over-hyped coaching reputations of Jody Conradt and Gail Goestenkors, and now they've gone and hired some former Conradt assistant I've never heard of). So he's been a bit lucky, and more than a bit good, and he's got some serious momentum now. Here's to hoping that last year's strong season and this year's recruiting class make the same kind of difference for the Hogs (though, to be honest, I am worried about the upcoming season and lack of quality depth).

And a random afterthought - I'm not so sure Tennessee will continue to be so dominant now that Summitt has retired, fwiw. It's a storied program, and the fanbase is rabid ... but I'm not sure that's going to be enough. Pat herself was such a powerful draw for many players. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I am in complete agreement with everything that you said.  You were right on!  Coach Collen also did not know it would take so long.  I think the change of the Department to being under the men's program added to that struggle.  This year will be a struggle unless some freshmen and sophomores really come through. :razorback: :razorback:

[psycHOGlogist]

Has anyone heard anything about how Roshunda Johnson's visit went? Just wondering... Thanks!

[jackflash]

What does the Ladybacks roster look like this year?

[LadybackBBFan]

What does the Ladybacks roster look like this year?

We have five returning players who played significant roles last year.  They are Senior center Sarah Watkins, top senior post reserve Q. Williams, sophomore point guard and part time starter Calli Berna, and two junior small forwards who shared that position - Keira Peak and Domique Robinson who is coming off shoulder surgery which will probably limit her action this year.  All five must play big for us to have a reasonable year.  The roster also contains two Senior players who saw limited action last year at guard - Kelsey Hatcher and Erin Gatling - one of which needs to step up this year.  We have two returning power forward/post players in redshirt freshman Joey Bailey and sophomore Jhasmin Bowen - at least one of them has to step up.  The final three eligible players who are all freshmen are Dominque Wilson a 5'8" 4* guard from Georgia, Melissa Wolff a 6'0" guard/forward from Cabot who was the high school player of the year last year in Arkansas I believe, and Mia Melton a 5'8" walk on guard from Texas who is the daughter o f Valecia Fore-Moore who played basketball for the Razorbacks in 1984.  D. Wilson is the key, she is being counted on to replace Lyndsy Harris as a three point threat.  Berna must score!  Watkins can not get down on herself!  Peak needs to become an effective scorer. Q. Williams must play all year like she did last year in the NCAA where she was probably our best player.  I also think Bowen can step up this year - she is a great rebounder for her size 6'1".  Finally we can not afford injuries like the football team has this year.  :razorback: :razorback:

[psycHOGlogist]

Was anyone at the Primetime at the Palace event? If so, how did the team look in the scrimmage?

[hog63]

Hard to tell much in that format. I would say it looks like he's going to try and push the ball more this year. Berna had 10 and the freshman had 10. If I had to guess I would say to look for the freshman from Georgia to start.  She seems to shoot the ball well, just hope she understand the differnce in a good and bad shot. Not sure on her defense yet. Berna was pushing the ball well as was Erin. Didn't see much out of the bigs on either team but not sure I expected to in the format.

All in all not bad but just not sure until you seem them in a real game.

[psycHOGlogist]

Thanks - appreciate the info, hog63!