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A blog on UConn women's basketball.

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

Pretty quiet on UConn recruiting front - for now

This has been a rather interesting recruiting year at UConn.

With a commitment from a player many consider as the top post player in the Class of 2018 as well as in strong position to land the best player in the class, the Huskies weren't involved with many top prospects.

They did look at Aquira DeCosta and NaLyssa Smith, who have both committed to Baylor but things never got too serious. Very, very early in the process the Huskies looked at Maryland commit Olivia Owens.

However, with the early signing period underway, UConn doesn't have a commitment after Charli Collier decommitted from UConn and is set to be a headliner in the Texas recruiting class. I don't anticipate it being that way for much longer.

Christyn Williams, the No. 1 ranked player by ESPN and No. 4 by Prospects Nation, will announce whether she will commit to UConn or South Carolina on Friday.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa, the No. 5 player in the ESPN rankings and No. 7 by Prospects Nation, is planning to make her announcement at her high school as is Williams. I reached out to Nelson-Ododa's high school coach and Kimberly Garren said, "there has not been a date set yet, but we will be doing something at school when she does."

This time of the year is always an interesting one. College coaches are prohibited from commenting due to NCAA regulations, players have answered the same old recruiting questions enough so while I do have Williams' contact information from an interview I did with her over the summer, she's got enough to deal with right now than a call from me. So who would be a good person to talk to about this process? Well, Friday will mark the one-year anniversary of Megan Walker, the top-ranked player in her class, announcing her commitment to play at UConn. After UConn's preseason win over Ashland, I asked Walker what advice she would give to players preparing to make their college decision known over the next several days.

"Make sure it is the right decision for you, I wouldn't listen to any outside advice," Walker said. "You are going to be the one so you should be happy in your decision, just prepare as hard as you can for college and it is a whole different level

"It relieves a weight off of your chest and you can just play, have fun but then it is opening a new chapter."



Something tells me that regardless of what happens in the next eight days, the next recruiting cycle will be significantly more hectic for the UConn coaches. The Huskies have already done quite a bit of work in the recruitment of Aliyah Boston, the top scorer and rebounder on the U.S. U-16 national team, and Samantha Brunelle, who was tied for second in scoring on the U-16 squad. I always view the recruiting process in two-year cycles as a small recruiting class in one year is almost always followed by a monster class so stay tuned.

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