With Kastine Evans, the only Connecticut player currently on UConn's recruiting radar, playing in the 17th annual Masuk Girls Basketball Tournament, I figured it would be a good time to check out the Norwich Free Academy junior guard since it is the closest she will come to the New Haven area during the regular season.

The first thing I noticed is she is not quite as quick to jack up jumpers as she was when I saw her play in a tournament in Springfield, Mass. last season and plays with more of a sense of purpose and maturity than she did when I saw her play as a sophomore.

Matched up defensively with Masuk's talented junior Kanika Cummings for most of the game, Evans had 17 points, six rebounds and six steals in NFA's 51-39 win over Cummings and the host Panthers. Cummings finished with a game-high 24 points showing off a sweet jumper that figures to get her plenty of Division I looks. I figured there were at least six college coaches in the stands with good reason as Evans, Cummings and Pomperaug's Katie Cizynski are three of the state's top juniors. My eyes aren't quite as sharp as they were in my younger days but I did pick out assistant coaches from Siena and Holy Cross in the building.

As for Evans, she is in no hurry to commit. Besides UConn, I asked Evans who else she has heard from and here is her response:
"Delaware, Maryland, Richmond, Tennessee, Holy Cross offered me over the summer."

Evans said schedule conflicts kept her from making one planned unofficial visit to UConn but when her schedule allows, she plans to making it to either Gampel and the XL Center.

"I'll probably make a couple visits during the season but my schedule is really hard so I will probably wait until AAU season and over the summer to get all my official visits in.
"I am not going to make my decision until before the season next year, probably around signing day. I am going to see what happens."

NFA coach Bill Scarlata has done this drill before. Two of his former players committed to Big East schools as Marci Glenney began her career at UConn and Saona Chapman started out at Rutgers and Krista Rappahan played at Stanford.

"The two biggest ones I had were Rappahahn and Chapman and it is about the same interest as they were getting at this point in their careers," Scarlata said.

"Really there have been a lot of different schools and she is really wide open. UConn has shown some interest, BU, Holy Cross, they can't contact her yet so it is mostly them just calling up. There is a rumor that Tennessee might come looking at her, I am not quite sure of that one."

Evans, who had 22 points in Friday's first-round win over Pomperaug, was named the tournament MVP and joined on the all-tournament team by teammates and classmates Stephanie Long and Jen Escobido (who had 12 and 10 points against Masuk), Cummings and Brooke Butkovsky both from Masuk, Pomperaug's Cizynski and Rose Bajda of Notre Dame-Fairfield.