Recruiting News 2017

[mumdaddy316]

Saw that, a little disappointed we didn't go after but hopefully things work out

[1972Shocker]

Hard to know for sure if Coach Keitha Adams will approach building and carrying roster the same we she did at UTEP. Looking at her last 9 years at UTEP she looks to have taken somewhat of a different approach that Jody Adams did in her 10 years at WSU.

Jody typically had a relatively small roster averaging 11.6 players per year in her 10 years at WSU. She only had two rosters with 13 players or more. One in 2011-12 and last year when she carried a full roster of 15 players (although 2 players, Jyar Francis and Ellie Lehne) departed during the season. Something that perhaps was a bit too common during Jody's tenure. I believe Jody only had 1 foreign born player on her teams. Marija Pacar was from Croatia who was on the roster in 2015-16 and 2016-17 although she played very little last year partially due to injury I believe.

Keitha had an average roster of 13.8 players over the past 9 years with rosters of 14 players twice and rosters of 15 players 4 times during those 9 years. The big difference is that Keitha had an average of 5.2 foreign players on her rosters during those 9 years. So roughly a 60-40 split between US natives and foreign players. Keitha also seems to have used redshirting somewhat more than Jody.

It will be interesting to see if Keitha continues this approach at WSU. No reason to think she won't I guess. Maybe we won't see this reflected next year but perhaps we will start seeing this in 2018-19.

[mumdaddy316]

We need recruits to come in pretty quickly, ready to add so young ladies who want to come in and compete IMO.

[1972Shocker]

We need recruits to come in pretty quickly

Not sure I understand the urgency. Asssuming Fanny Hakanson and Raven Prince show up in August we will have a roster of 11 next year. Pretty much in line with what Jody average during her 10 years. Maybe will make one or two more late additions but they won't be official until the semester starts in August.

As far as the Class of 2018 is concerned you can't officialy sign anyone until November so you may as well take your time and do as thorogh a job as possble to hopefully attract quality players.

May, June and the 1st 5 days of July have been a quiet period. A quiet period doesn't mean no contact but there are some restrictions. During a quiet period coaches can't have off-campus meetings or evaluations of players. They can have on-campus visits (either official or unofficial), they can make calls and they can write letters/e-mails.

July 6th thru July 12th and July 23rd thru July 29th are evaluation periods. Evaluation periods are when coaches spend most of their time watching players either during high school competition or club competition or at NCAA certified evaluation events plus everything you can do in a quiet period. There are numerous NCAA certified evaluation events around the country during these two July evlauation periods and I am quite confident our coaches will be quite busy looking for, watching and evaluating players during that time.

The rest of July is a dead period. During a dead period a Coach can't meet with a player in any setting. Letters/E-mails and Calls are allowed. The player can visit a college campus but can't meet with the coaches on that visit.

Last year all of August and the 1st week of September were quiet periods. I assume the same will be the case this year. That was followed by the month of September being a contact period. A contact period is when pretty much all activities are allowed including home visits or other in person off-campus visits plus everything else previously mentioned.

That is followed by October, November, December, January and February (which encompasses most of the high school season) being almost entirely an evlauation period with March being almost entirely a contact period.

So here is they way I would anticipate things playing out:

I expect the coaches to hit this month's evaluation events pretty hard and will probably be extending some offers. During the quiet period in August and September the coaches probably will be staying in contact with the players they have targeted and perhaps schedule and host on-campus visits. I presume the staff will also be working their intermational contacts pretty hard during this time. They may receive non-binding verbal commitments during this time from some players which may or may not be made public.

During the contact period during the last 3 weeks of September they will probaby put the full court press on their top prospects including in-home visits if necessary. October is probably a combination of evaluating players for the following year's recruiting class and continuing to work any undecided targets in the Class of 2018.

Hopefully, it will all come together successfully with a bunch of LOI's in November. The early signing period for the Class of 2018 is this coming November 8th thru November 15th so mark those dates on your calendars. Once the coaches get by that date they can assess where they are and what holes they still need to fill and, hopefully sign, in the regular signing period next April and May.

I'm hoping our early signings this November will include Ericka Mattingly although a lot of times Juco players will defer their commitments to the Spring.

So while the Shocks will need a big recruiting class for the 2018-19 season there is time to plan the work and work the plan. In the meantime maybe you can scratch your itch by attending the Reign the Plains Girls Exposure at the Wichita Sports Forum on July 23 and 24th, the Premiere Nationsl Showcase at Wichita Hoops on July 23rd, 24th and 25th and/or the 2017 End of the Road Showcase at Wichita Hoops on July 28th and July 29th.

Not sure what the admission policies and costs are for non-coaches but I'm sure you can call and find out. I would think there is a good chance you could run into a Shocker coach or two or three at these events. But don't take too much of their time they should be working.

Before you know it the November LOI signing week will be here and it should be very interesting to see what this Coaching staff can get done between now and then and see what work the will have left to do for 2018-19.

[ShockTalk]

Holy Crap. When does your next novel come out @1972Shocker:?

Seriously, thanks for all the info. A lot of planning work goes on for coaching staffs in just timing and preparing for what they can do when, not only who they want to see/contact.

[flyingMoose]

Hard to know for sure if Coach Keitha Adams will approach building and carrying roster the same we she did at UTEP. Looking at her last 9 years at UTEP she looks to have taken somewhat of a different approach that Jody Adams did in her 10 years at WSU.
...

Keitha had an average roster of 13.8 players over the past 9 years with rosters of 14 players twice and rosters of 15 players 4 times during those 9 years. The big difference is that Keitha had an average of 5.2 foreign players on her rosters during those 9 years. So roughly a 60-40 split between US natives and foreign players. Keitha also seems to have used redshirting somewhat more than Jody.

It will be interesting to see if Keitha continues this approach at WSU. No reason to think she won't I guess. Maybe we won't see this reflected next year but perhaps we will start seeing this in 2018-19.

I have wondered if HCKA has a preference for foreign players for some reasons or another, if UTEP and its conference were hard(er) destinations to recruit to for domestic players, if some other factors exist or if some some combination of all three drove the relative abundance of foreign players on her rosters. Having AHCEL on the staff surely makes the recruitment of foreign players easier.

[1972Shocker]

Holy Crap. When does your next novel come out @1972Shocker?

Depends on how well this one sells. I'm not planning on quitting my day job.

[1972Shocker]

I have wondered if HCKA has a preference for foreign players for some reasons or another, if UTEP and its conference were hard(er) destinations to recruit to for domestic players, if some other factors exist or if some some combination of all three drove the relative abundance of foreign players on her rosters. Having AHCEL on the staff surely makes the recruitment of foreign players easier.

I guess we will find out soon enough. Having the networks in place and the experience to recruit foreign players plus a long track record of doing so that she can use as a selling point is perhaps an advantage in that niche that HCKA won't be to anxious to walk away from. If it wasn't working reasonably well I doubt if she would have continued to use this approach. I will be a bit surprised if it doesn't continue at WSU but perhaps recruiting to the AAC will be a different ballgame.

[mumdaddy316]

Mattingly I see us getting this go around,my prefence is a 6'3 and above center who loves to rebound and a couple guards that can drive, can shoot and are quick

[pogo]

How do foreign players stack up against US players. Is it similar to the talent on the mens side. Do they play from the outside in meaning all of them can shoot the long ball.

[1972Shocker]

How do foreign players stack up against US players. Is it similar to the talent on the mens side. Do they play from the outside in meaning all of them can shoot the long ball.

That is a good question @pogo:, one that I don't feel well equipped to answer. Perhaps that would be good question for Coach Keitha at one of her maiden coach's radio shows this year.

I will say that, while top USA players are still the best players in the world, the talent pool on women's basketball is no where near as deep as it is in the men's game. Perhaps some of that is the physical nature of the game just doesn't appeal to women as much as the guys and also I think the popularity of Volleyball draws a lot of talent away from basketball which is not really much of an issue on the men's side of thee equation.

I think it is pretty clear that the level of parity in women's basketball is nowhere close to that of the men's game. Just look at the history of the NCAA D-1 Champions. UConn and Tennessee have won 19 of 36 championships. The other 17 championships are spread among 13 schools. Pretty concentrated. So no only is the talent pool not as deep but the top talent tends to be concentrated among fewer programs. This is really not a good thing for Women's basketball IMHO.

My guess is that while the top talent among foreign players is not as good as the top America players it is still equal to or better than much of the American talent that falls below the relatively small pool of elite women players. With the same number of women's programs competing for players in a much shallower pool going overseas for players is a way to deepen that pool and getting foothold overseas and developing networks and expertise in recruiting those players is one way a program can perhaps gain a slight edge.

Here is a relatively long but interesting article about the University of Maine's foray overseas to recruit players.

[UCONN_Husky]

How do foreign players stack up against US players. Is it similar to the talent on the mens side. Do they play from the outside in meaning all of them can shoot the long ball.

I'm also not an expert on the subject...We don't get many foreign players anymore. But from what I've heard from commentators and seen in games:

Positives - excellent distance shooters (you nailed that one), very coach-able, hard-working mentality.

Negative - Inexperience with the physical/aggressive play of Americans - specifically European post players.

[wusphlash]

I'm also not an expert on the subject...We don't get many foreign players anymore. But from what I've heard from commentators and seen in games:

Positives - excellent distance shooters (you nailed that one), very coach-able, hard-working mentality.

Negative - Inexperience with the physical/aggressive play of Americans - specifically European post players.

Maybe, since we're new to the conference and all, you could loan us a couple of yours. Kinda like a welcome basket.

[flyingMoose]

We don't get many foreign players anymore.

But Svetlana Abrosimova was a very nice player for the Huskies back in the day.

[1972Shocker]

Keitha Adams @wsuKeithaAdams 19 hours ago



Day 2 recruiting in the booksNext stop Run 4



Not sure what the rose signifies. Perhaps that recruiting is a horse face. Run For the Roses = Kentucky Derby.