Wednesday CARDINAL COUPLE -- Kentucky Junior All-Stars

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Jenny reports on Junior All-Star Game


-Jenny's "take" on Walz Elite Skills clinic


( Jenny O'Bryan brings us the Wednesday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. She's developing a strong following amongst our readers and WE know you'll enjoy her offerings today!) 

I attended the Junior All-Star Game between Kentucky and Indiana on Saturday night at North Oldham High School.  This is the first time that All-Star juniors from each of the states have suited up to play each other.  Indiana won both games between the girls.  On Friday night, Indiana won 101-98.  Saturday evening the final was 78-68...with Indiana on top again. 

The leading scorer each night was the same for each team.  Becca Greenwell, of Owensboro Catholic, led Kentucky with scores of 44 and 16, respectively.  For Indiana, it was Taya (tie-a) Reimer out of Hamilton Southeastern, who led the Indiana girls with 28 and 24, respectively. 

I decided to go to the game to watch several key players.  On the court for Kentucky, and of key interest for Louisville fans, was Becca Greenwell and Makayla Epps (of Marion County).  Recent Louisville de-commit Kyvin Gooden-Rogers, China Dow, from Christian Academy of Louisville who was mentioned here last week, were also junior all-stars.  My primary interest was to watch Greenwell and Epps. 

On the Indiana side, I was particularly interested in seeing the game of two of their All-Stars Taya Reimer and Stephanie Mavunga.  Reimer is a recent commit to Notre Dame and a future UofL opponent in the Big East.  Reimer is currently ranked #4 in the country by ESPN Hoopgurlz.  Stephanie Mavunga

out of Brownsburg, IN, is currently ranked 17^th in the country and was a recruiting target of Louisville’s, until her recent commitment to North Carolina.   If Mavunga’s name sounds familiar, it could be because it is often tied to the name of Mercedes Russell.  The two are said to be very good friends and long thought of as a package deal to whatever school they chose.  As we all now know, Mavunga has committed to UNC and Russell has yet to make her college choice.   Louisville, UNC and Tennessee are thought to be the frontrunners for Russell.

On the Kentucky side, Greenwell did not disappoint.  While she led all KY scorers on Saturday night, it was an off-night offensively for her.  She went 3-18 from the field.  While I do not have final stats of the game, she was at the free throw line on multiple occasions.  If my memory serves me correctly, she was perfect from the stripe.  With an off night offensively, you may be wondering what impressed me.  The kid never gave up, on a single play and she played with no hesitation.  That is what impressed me the most.  With the bulky knee brace on supporting her right knee from an ACL tear last summer she is not going to be the fastest kid on the court.  But, she made up for it with tenacious defense, fighting for loose balls, getting hands in the way of shooting lanes, blocking out, and rebounding her own misses and going up for second and third chance shots.  She was seemingly beat down court by her opponent only to swipe the ball from behind and deflect a shot.   She was well defended behind the arc, would hesitate a second, and shoot over the outstretched arms of her opponent.  The kid never gave up.  She played hard the entire time.  Even though it was an off night for her offensively, she found ways to score and found many ways to impact the game. Hands down, she was the best player on the KY side by this untrained eye.  Should Louisville wind up keeping this valued in-state talent home and playing at the YUM, rest assured scoring records will be broken. 

Epps was in and out of the game a lot.  She seemed off of her game compared to when I have seen her at previous outings.  There was some speculation perhaps she tweaked her knee in the Friday night game.  She was a non-factor in this outing.  What I can say, is that she looked both taller and trimmer than I remember. 

Gooden-Rogers impressed me in the first half, coming out with some quick buckets to get KY on the scoreboard.  She also made a couple of nice defensive efforts against Reimer on the Indiana side in the first half.   While her second half of play was nowhere near as strong as the first half, she is going to be a great ball player.  I am saddened by her de-commit from Louisville.  I wish her the best as she reopens her recruiting.  I look forward to watching her game, wherever it is she may end up. 

There were two surprises on the KY side worth a quick mention.  Larryn Brooks out of Richmond Madison Central managed the point most of the game.  She was effective, fast, and played tight defense, causing multiple disruptions and steals.   On Friday night, she scored 22 to back up Greenwell’s 44.  She was fun to watch.  Also worth a mention as having caught my eye was Whitney Hartlage.  Hartlage plays for Mercy.  On this particular night, she had a hot hand.  A quick release from behind the arc had this young lady as the second leading scorer for the night at 14. 

On the Indiana side, Taya Reimer did not disappoint either.  I look forward to watching her game continue to grow and having her as an opponent in the Big East.   A Notre Dame commit, Reimer was powerful, aggressive with the ball, and around the rim.  She had several blocks, played tight defense and had no trouble getting through traffic to the bucket.   When she was not scoring buckets she was drawing fouls and making it to the free throw line.   Reimer was by far the best player on the floor on the Indiana side. 

Stephanie Mavunga was the other Indiana player that drew my attention.  Mavunga is tall, and powerful around the rim.  She never gave up on a rebound and immediately would go back to the rim with rebounds secured.  As stated before... I did not get a final stat sheet, but I am sure her stat line was stuffed with rebounds and hard fought points in the paint.


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As Paul mentioned in his Friday article, I was able to attend the latter half of the skills clinic last Thursday.  While the clinic was attended by at least 50 kids, I am speaking of just a few that caught my eye.  All of the kids played hard, and seemed to be getting the most of their time and money from the Louisville staff and players.  Mine is an untrained eye, so, take my thoughts for what they are worth.

Ayanna Edwards- As Paul mentioned, this post player from Sacremento, CA already has an offer by Louisville.  I saw some 5 on 5 half-court scrimmaging with her.  What stood out the most to me was her presence in the paint.  With a big body Ayanna was able to clog up the lane and had several blocked shots in a quick 7-8 minute span.  

JaVonna Layfield is a local player from Ballard High School.  JaVonna has an athletic build and was cat-quick up and down the court.  She saw the court well and passed the ball well.  If my information is correct this young player has Cardinal ties in that she is the niece of former Louisville stand out, Larry O’Bannon.

Sabrina Haines attended the camp from Arizona.  She probably stood out the most to me.  This sturdy framed guard scored, defended, rebounded, blocked out and went after loose balls.  She was all over the court. 

The roster of attendees was helpful so that Paul and I could identify kids as they were playing.  Unfortunately, the jerseys the kids wore had very small numbers on them.  While my eyes are not that old, they felt terribly old that day as I had a difficult time identifying players on the court.  That being said other kids caught my eye, but I could not identify them.  I do not know if anyone involved with the clinic reads these articles, but if they do, bigger numbers on the jerseys would be very helpful!

All of that being said, observers at the clinic on Thursday, June 28 from 1-5:00 at Cardinal Arena should have absolutely no problem identifying Mercedes Russell.  The tall, lean 6-5 post player from Oregon no doubt will stand out not only with her size but with her skills on the court.  Grab a friend and please join Cardinal Couple writers on the 28^th as we get a sneak peek at what the #1 kid in the country looks like on the court!!  We’ll see you there!


( Another couple of great reports from Jenny ! We can't stress it enough...please join us the 28th. at CARDINAL ARENA to watch the camp. You won't regret it...and we'll try to remember to bring binoculars for Jenny...)
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Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Recruiting in the Bluegrass State

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Jenny looks at recruiting


-Mercedes Russell confirms Louisville camp attendance.

(Jenny O'Bryan flies the airplane for us today and files this
report on recruiting. She's our ace here at CARDINAL COUPLE 
in this area and we know you'll enjoy her writings
today and increase your knowledge as well.) 

Last week in the comment section of my article someone asked about Coach Walz recruiting and had he “abandoned in–state recruiting”?  I cannot speak to the recruiting of the class of 2010 or 2011, really.  We all know 2011 brought us Sarah Hammond from Rockcastle H.S. (KY).  Kentucky Miss Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year 2012 is Sydney Moss, from Boone County, KY.  She was pursued and offered a scholarship by Louisville, but chose Florida as the place she will spend her college career.

As has been stated before, following recruiting in women’s basketball is difficult, at best.  NCAA rules prevent University and college coaches from discussing recruits until they have signed their Letter of Intent (also called National Letter of Intent).  So, information that is out there comes from the recruit herself.  If not directly from her, then from her coach (either high school coach or AAU coach). Information can also be gathered from scouting services that get their information from the recruit herself or from coaches involved with the recruit. 

This is where the Internet, and more specifically social media, has transformed the recruiting world.  A recruit can tweet, facebook (insert any social media here), which coaches are pursuing them or expressing interest in their game.  It also provides an outlet for scouting services to talk about recruits as they are watching them in real time, as well as reporting information that recruits are giving them.  All of this is to say that information is readily available, as long as the recruits and/or coaches are talking. 

In the most recent past few weeks I have seen a lot of scouting services “tweeting” about the big AAU tournaments going on.  This past April coaches and scouts alike were spread out all over the country for an NCAA certified viewing period taking in big tournaments across the country.  Virginia, the DC /Maryland areas, and North Carolina tournaments specifically had scouts talking about kids from a “local” AAU program, Kentucky Premier.  Fast-forward a couple weeks later to Memorial Day weekend, and again, many tournaments, specifically one in Mason, Ohio, I found myself reading tweets and follow up articles about tournaments featuring kids from Kentucky Premier.  Finally, this past weekend, there was a big Skills Camp in Atlanta.  Bingo, you guessed it.  I again saw tweets about some Kentucky Premier players.  Not only was I hearing about “local” kids talents, but also about schools showing interest or offering scholarships.  


I decided to try and cull together some information about what I have been reading about upcoming talent in the state of Kentucky, and see if Louisville is involved in the recruiting of that talent. 

I also decided to go a step further and contact the Director of Kentucky Premier, Coach David Tapley, to confirm and verify information I was seeing tweeted by recruits, scouts and AAU coaches.  I spent some time talking to Coach Tapley. Not only did he confirm information I was seeing and reading myself, he also shared additional information about in-state kids that have some level of interest from Coach Walz and the University that I had not yet heard or read about. 

I want to caution readers that there are many levels of interest that a coach can show a recruit. Expressing interest does not guarantee the recruit will be extended a scholarship.  Perhaps the Coach is intrigued and wants to watch and see how the recruit develops. Please keep this in mind as I outline the in-state talent Louisville is said to have some level of involvement with. 

Coaches can start to show interest in a recruit by contacting high school or AAU Coaches.  NCAA rules prohibit a coach from initiating contact with a recruit until late in her junior year.  A recruit can initiate the contact, but not the Coach.  University Coaches have to go through high school coaches and AAU coaches when expressing interest in younger recruits. Hence my conversation with Coach Tapley to verify what I was reading, and I was fortunate enough to find out about some names that I had not heard yet heard about. 

2013

Makayla Epps- 5-11 PG from Marion County High School. Makayla has made a verbal commitment to U of L and is eligible to sign her LOI in the early signing period in November. 

China Dow- Christian Academy of Louisville.  China is a guard and recently was written up on ESPN Hoopgurlz and given high praise.   Louisville has shown initial interest in her and is said to be watching her development. Schools said to have interest in her are Texas A&M, MTSU, Miama (FL), Kentucky and Xavier. 

Rebecca Greenwell- 6-1 Guard from Owensboro Catholic.  Becca’s name should be familiar to Cardinal faithful as she is being heavily recruited by Louisville.  Many other top tier programs are vying for her services include Notre Dame, Kentucky, Duke, Tennessee and North Carolina, just to name a few. 

 2014

Yacine Diop- 5-10 combo guard from Darfur, Senegal who has recently moved to Kentucky, and was most recently enrolled at Oak Hill Academy. This young woman is said to have incredible athleticism and speed and is already getting a lot of interest from school such as Kentucky, South Carolina, Dayton, Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia Tech.  Louisville is said to be heavily interested in this recruit.  (Any information on this recruit was new to me, as I had not seen her name mentioned before, though I am assured I will see it plenty more in the future). There is some speculation that she may be at the Elite Camp on June 28.  She is also said to have been one of several recent recruits who was on campus the weekend of the softball Regionals several weekends ago.

Ivy Brown-6-2 Forward at Larue County High School. Louisville is said to be watching her progress. She has interest from many schools including St. John’s, WKU, EKU, Miama (FL), Virginia Tech, among others.

2015

Maci Morris- 5-11 guard out of Bell County.   Louisville recently offered Maci a scholarship.  She was among the group of recruits who was also on campus during the Softball regionals.  She is also said to likely be in attendance at the skills camp on 6/28. Maci is said to be getting interest from other big programs such as UCONN, Notre Dame, Stanford, to name a few.  She is absolutely a name to watch in the next few years. 

Morgan Turner- 6-2 guard/wing out of Meade County.  Louisville has some level of involvement with Morgan.  Morgan was invited to several games by Louisville last year and will also be at the skills camp on 6/28.   As an aside, I went to college with Morgan’s mom (a former basketball player herself.  It is certainly in her genes, to that I can attest.)  Morgan is being shown interest by some big time programs as well -- Stanford, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Dayton Iowa State, Kentucky and Virginia Tech. 

Morgan Rich-5-11 PG out of Allen County. Morgan was also said to be one of the recruits recently on campus.  She too is getting interest from big programs such as Notre Dame, Stanford, Virgina Tech, Xavier and  Louisville. 

Ashanti Thomas- 6-3 out of Lexington also is being shown some level of interest by Louisville. Other programs include Kentucky, Virginia Tech, MTSU, Indiana, WKU. 

Future Talent

Two very young players that are already making noise and yet to hit high school but are being noticed by high profile schools, Louisville included, is 2016 6-2 Forward out of Elizabethtown Erin Boley.  Erin is said to already be garnering interest from not only Louisville but also the likes of Notre Dame and Stanford.  2017 5-4 point guard Haeli Howard out of Marion County is also making noise.  While she is very young and still a year away from high school, she is said to ranked 9^th in the country in the class of 2017 by Bret McCormick at All Stars Girls Report. These two are very, very young talent and Cardinal fans should watch as this future talent develops over the next few years. 

Certainly not all of the recruits mentioned above will be offered scholarships by the University of Louisville.  Some may not fit into the Louisville system.  Others may offer a skill set that is not of the greatest need the year they graduate.  I am sure there are many scenarios about how and why Louisville may, or may not be, the right fit for some of the aforementioned talent.  I do think it is safe to say that Coach Walz most definitely has his pulse on the talent within the State though.  This is just talent from one Club Coach within the State who was kind enough to verify information I had on some of his kids, but also give me additional information on kids I had yet to hear about. 

In closing, regardless of where any of the aforementioned young players end up going to college, it looks like the State of Kentucky has a ripe crop of talent that basketball enthusiast should enjoy watching develop over the next few years.  And who knows, maybe a few of them will be suiting up as a Louisville Cardinal in the near future.  Keep your eyes peeled, Cardinal Fans.  Also, show up to the Elite Skills clinic on 6/28 and you may get to see some of this young talent.

(I want to thank Coach Tapley for his time and information.   I also hear it is his birthday today, so I want to give him a birthday shout out for his time this past week.) 

(It is also worth mentioning Andrijana “Andi” Cvitkovic a 2013 6-3 forward out of Culver, IN, by way of Croatia. While Andi lives in northern Indiana she plays AAU ball with Kentucky Premier and was very recently offered a scholarship by Louisville.  Andi is currently in Croatia training this summer for the Croatian national team.  Andi is also said to have been on campus several weekends ago with a few other recruits.  Stanford, Texas A&M, Michigan, Ohio State Indiana are just a few vying for her services. She is said to have over 64 offers to Division 1 programs. )


Recruiting is an area where the future of programs meshes with the needs, wants and desires of high school  students. An area where academics and athletics combine with fervent fans and coaches' cultivation. An art and a science. A fascinating feature in the overall structure of women's college basketball and an area that is continually changing and never boring. Thanks for reading my "take" on it today.


-Jenny


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Mercedes Russell has confirmed she'll be in Louisville for Jeff Walz's basketball camp on June 28th. Link below: 



Mercedes to roll into "Ville"

If there's ever been a reason to stand
up and yell "YES!"...this would be one...


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( Outstanding articles, Jenny! And, a big thank you to Coach Tapley for sharing his knowledge. You can catch Jenny's columns here at CARDINAL COUPLE on Wednesday and throughout the entire year. )
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