WBB: Some News from the Recruiting Trail

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Ignatius L Hoops

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http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sp...ews-all-area-girls-basketball-teams/82443624/

The Detroit news list a couple of Detroit area Juniors with Gopher offers:


Destiny Pitts, 5-10, Jr., G, Detroit Country Day

Pitts averaged 17 points, 6.5 rebounds and four assists to help Country Day reach the Breslin Center for the Class B state semifinals after winning the championship last year. She showed her ability in the season opener, scoring 35 in a win over Midland Dow, 12 in the third quarter to rally her team back from a 16-point deficit.

“Destiny has a complete game where she can be effective inside or out and she does whatever she can to make us successful,” coach Frank Orlando said.

Pitts, who shot 50 percent from the field, has offers from Michigan State, Michigan, Marquette, Minnesota and Kansas State



Kierra Fletcher, 5-9, Jr., G, Warren Cousino

Fletcher averaged 23 points, 9.1 rebounds, 5.3 assists and four steals to lead Cousino to its first Class A state championship. She consistently attacked the basket, getting to the line 230 times and converting on 71 percent of her free throws.

“Kierra is an amazing young lady who has a knack for splitting a double or triple team and still getting to the hoop,” coach Mike Lee said. “If she didn’t make the layup, she was going to get fouled.”

Fletcher has multiple Big Ten offers, including Minnesota and Illinois.
 

http://statechampsnetwork.com/index...estiny-pitts-and-greg-elliott-as-top-juniors/

More on Destiny Pitts (emphasis added):

Destiny Pitts of Detroit Country Day and Greg Elliott of Detroit East English Village Prep won the State Champs! online vote for the top basketball players in the class of 2017.

Pitts, 16, edged out Deja Church of Southfield-Lathrup, who placed second, in the female category and Elliott, 17, easily won the voting for the top male basketball player.

Pitts, a 5-10, guard-forward, averaged 15 points a game this past season and led Country Day to the Class B semifinals.

Both are uncommitted and both have received numerous scholarship offers from Division I schools.

Among the schools that have offered Pitts a scholarship include Clemson, Illinois, Kansas State, Marquette, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Seton Hall.

“I want to go out of state,” Pitts said. “If you get the opportunity to experience a school outside of Michigan, I’m going to do it. You’ve already experienced Michigan.

“I’m looking for a school that has a family atmosphere and I have to be around coaches who will take care of me because I will be away from my family.”
 

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-comme...y-sidney-cooks-home-was-place-college-coaches

The Badger Coaching change thread mentioned a visit by Jonathan Tsipis to Sidney Cooks. Yes, the Gophers are among the hundreds of teams recruiting Cooks as was noted in this ESPN article from December.


When University of Minnesota coaches came to her home in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Sidney Cooks scooched up to the family piano and played "My Heart Will Go On" from "Titanic." The Golden Gophers coaches jumped right in and sang along.

When Penn State visited, Cooks channeled her inner Beyonce and played "Halo." The Nittany Lions coaches gave her a standing ovation.

During a 13-day span in September, coaches from 11 different colleges visited Cooks, a 6-foot-4 junior forward at St. Joseph Catholic Academy and the No. 9 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Super 60 for the 2017 class.

"I was excited," said the 17-year-old Cooks, who plans to narrow her college list this spring and make a decision by the start of her senior year. "It was the first time we got to do home visits. I have been talking on the phone to these coaches since the seventh grade. Now it was time to get personal."

The busy schedule was rough on Cooks and her parents, Sonya and Jimmie, who had to rush home from school and work every day to make sure their home was just right for their guests.

"For two weeks, our house was probably the most immaculate it has ever been," Sonya said.

Besides Minnesota and Penn State, coaches from UCLA, Florida, Marquette, Maryland, Michign, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Purdue and Wisconsin also visited. (Only Minnesota and Penn State got the impromptu piano concerts.)
 


http://www.nyghoopsreport.com/index.cfm?load=news&newsarticle=129

Olivia Owens offered by Minnesota. As an aside, according to multiple twitter reports, Louisville pg transfer Taja Cole will decide Sunday between Minnesota, Georgia and Mississippi.

At 6-foot-4 Olivia Owens, is no longer one of the best kept secret in the northeast recruiting 2018 class. The solid, fluid and athletic interior force currently holds offers from Syracuse, Minnesota, Purdue, Miami and Delaware. She is also starting to hear from Uconn, Maryland, North Carolina, Stanford, Notre Dame, South Carolina Buffalo & Brown. NYGHoops Report got a chance to speak to both Olivia and her Albany City Rocks coach Keith Danzy, about her recruitment
 



Sidney Cooks the highly recruited 6'-4 forward from Kenosha reduced her list of schools to ten: Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, UCLA, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue, South Carolina and Pittsburgh.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Sidney Cooks the highly recruited 6'-4 forward from Kenosha reduced her list of schools to ten: Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, UCLA, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue, South Carolina and Pittsburgh.
Click to expand...

Finally made a final 10. Things are looking up! < /Sarcasm>
 





https://stanford.rivals.com/news/2017-introduction-deja-church

Minnesota is in the mix for Deja Church, former Bello teammate at South Lathrup. Stanford got interested in February (this is a Stanford Rivals write-up).

Many programs are recruiting Church, but she singled out Minnesota, Oklahoma State, DePaul, Michigan, Iowa, Kentucky, Penn State and Northwestern along with the Cardinal among the schools she is considering.

Church is currently working through Stanford's admissions process, which is a key component to every Cardinal recruitment.

"My timeline pretty much resolves around Stanford," Church said. "Yes, I have officials set up, but I'm in no rush to make a decision. It's a very big decision in my life and I'm in no rush for things. I want to make a decision before school starts."

"I would describe my style as up tempo," Church said. "I like to run the floor, love to play defense. I bring energy to the floor along with getting my teammates involved."
 





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Ignatius L Hoops said:
http://statechampsnetwork.com/index...estiny-pitts-and-greg-elliott-as-top-juniors/

More on Destiny Pitts (emphasis added):

Destiny Pitts of Detroit Country Day and Greg Elliott of Detroit East English Village Prep won the State Champs! online vote for the top basketball players in the class of 2017.

Pitts, 16, edged out Deja Church of Southfield-Lathrup, who placed second, in the female category and Elliott, 17, easily won the voting for the top male basketball player.

Pitts, a 5-10, guard-forward, averaged 15 points a game this past season and led Country Day to the Class B semifinals.

Both are uncommitted and both have received numerous scholarship offers from Division I schools.

Among the schools that have offered Pitts a scholarship include Clemson, Illinois, Kansas State, Marquette, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Seton Hall.

“I want to go out of state,” Pitts said. “If you get the opportunity to experience a school outside of Michigan, I’m going to do it. You’ve already experienced Michigan.

“I’m looking for a school that has a family atmosphere and I have to be around coaches who will take care of me because I will be away from my family.”
Click to expand...
 



Ignatius L Hoops said:
Damn, that's interesting on so many different levels.

And Micaella Riche, who was a K state graduate assistant the last two seasons, was promoted to Coordinator of Recruiting Operations.
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By "interesting" you must mean it really sucks. That's how Ohio St scored Kelsey Mitchell.
 

My opinion on the Chrissy Carr thing with Kansas St is that its a very cheap way to get a kid to come to your school. Obviously their program isn't something worthy of getting a kid like that if that is the trick they need to play to get her to come there. While I feel it basically eliminates the gophers as contenders for getting her, if she ends up at Kansas St then I feel she will be going to lower WBB program in national sense and drop considerably from national radar. Plus bonus is least she wont be in the big ten like so many other kids who left MN.

In positive recruiting news, It seemed that both Deja Church and Destiny Pitts enjoyed their official visits to the gophers this weekend. first of all I think getting either of those kids would be a good get. Especially with getting them out of Michigan/Michigan St territory. Maybe a little payback for Michigan St swooping in and getting Nia Hollie! But in my view, I feel at least between Church and Pitts, that Pitts is the more likely one to come to the gophers. Frankly her list of schools to beat out seems more manageable to beat that Church's does. Although Church did come from same high school as the current freshman Bello Twins so maybe that could play in gophers favor.

Pitts has schools Michigan St, Michigan, Illinois, Marquette, Kansas St and then gophers as schools going after her. Plus she mentioned she is probably looking to leave the state of Michigan for college which takes out the two biggest competitors I would think to get her.

Whereas the list of schools for Church reads as Stanford, Oklahoma St, DePaul, Michigan, Iowa, Kentucky, Penn St and Northwestern along with the gophers. Im not 100% sure yet that the gophers are in a place where they could beat out teams like Stanford or DePaul for a recruit.

One positive on both is that they both did take an official visit to the gophers. seeing as each recruit only gets 5 official visits so one could think that the gophers are in the top 5 of each of those kids. However with each being in Michigan and within driving to Michigan St/Michigan campuses, they could be on the list and just not taking official visits there. But once again, seeing that of the 8 known offers gophers have out for class of 2017, 6 are listed on espn top 60 and the other two im sure will be listed once it expands to top 100. That's going after 7-8 top 100 kids and that's the kind of recruiting I like to see from the gophers coaches.
 

Shades said:
By "interesting" you must mean it really sucks. That's how Ohio St scored Kelsey Mitchell.
Click to expand...

Well, yes:

http://www.northstargirlshoops.com/news_article/show/676977?referrer_id=866040

Minnetonka star Chrissy Carr is transferring to Manhattan High in Kansas. She'll be following her father and former Timberwolves player, Chris Carr, who just got hired as director of skill development for the Kansas State women's basketball program, which is also in Manhattan.

Carr is the #2 2018 prospect in our rankings, but she was going to claim the top spot in my next update after a great summer. Now? Well, ESPN has her ranked as the #8 overall recruit in the entire country — and you've got to believe she's close to committing to K-State after her father was just added to the coaching staff. This will be her third high school in as many years (Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Manhattan) as she's followed her father's coaching career around the Midwest
 



Im guessing its Destiny Pitts. Besides her stating she wants to go to college out of Michigan, she liked the tweet on twitter. may be wrong but im thinking they got Pitts. would be a nice change of direction in Gopher recruiting after cooks took them off her list and the situation with Carr moving from the state of mn.


overpass said:

Maybe Church and/or Pitts committed!?
Click to expand...
 



http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...ichigan-s-top-senior-destiny-pitts/389646661/

It didn't take long for four-star Michigan guard Destiny Pitts to make her college decision after visiting the University of Minnesota campus last weekend.

The 5-foot-10 senior from Detroit Country Day verbally committed Tuesday to play for Gophers women's basketball coach Marlene Stollings. Pitts is rated as the 59th best player in the 2017 class and No. 1 prospect in Michigan, according to ESPN.com
 

Great get for the Gophers. We need some strong PF's and centers to go with these talented guards.
 

I agree! I feel Marlene has shown the ability to bring in great guards, but they need post players to compliment them. With Cooks taking gophers off her list and No real dominate post to my knowledge in class of 2018 in the state of MN, she may have to search the country for a Post. Positive is she has offered class of 2019 (soph in HS this year) post player Destiny Oberg from Holy Angels. Top 25 kid who also already has offers from the likes of Maryland, Iowa, Iowa St and TCU.


GringaGopher said:
Great get for the Gophers. We need some strong PF's and centers to go with these talented guards.
Click to expand...
 

bball_craz_26 said:
. Positive is she has offered class of 2019 (soph in HS this year) post player Destiny Oberg from Holy Angels. Top 25 kid who also already has offers from the likes of Maryland, Iowa, Iowa St and TCU.
Click to expand...

A team of Destinys would be a cool catch phrase.
 


Raoul
‏@Raoul_000
WBB: Gabby Connally, 5-7 PG, Brandeis HS (San Antonio, TX–2017), has trimmed her list to UGA, Minnesota, Northwestern, Vandy, West Virginia.


Raoul tweets that Gabby Connally included Minnesota in her final five.

Here's a brief note from Blue Star on Connally and one of last weekend's visitors, Deja Church.

http://www.bluestarmedia.org/8th-annual-blue-star-nationals/

Deja Church- 2017- 5’10- Guard- MI Crossover- Top level talent…Creates her own shot at ease…Very athletic and strong…Posts up smaller guards and finishes over them…Rebounds well…Nice looking stroke

Gabby Connally- 2017- 5’7- Guard- TX TeamXpress- Has shown tremendous improvement…Superb athlete who gets into the paint whenever she wants…Elevates on shot; really gets up off the floor…Very good handles
 

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