Recruiting News 2017

[WuShock16]

This seems somewhat like a blanket indictment which may or may not apply to individual posters on this thread. Since I am the primary poster of this information today I assume this is directed at me. Quite frankly I don't recall criticizing Coach Turgeon for the Denzel Bowles situation but maybe I did. However, if you feel HCKA should be criticized for this feel free to do so.

My feeling is if a player decides to back out on a commitment to a school because the Coach that recruited them has left, voluntarily or otherwise, it really makes no difference to me if they follow that coach or go somewhere else. The result to the school they have left behind is the same. Now if the Coach they follow actively recruited them to make that change I assume that is a violation of the rules if the player has signed an LOI which my understanding precludes coaches from recruiting them.

Asia Henderson had signed an LOI so if Keitha Adams proactively encouraged her to request her release from UTEP that would be a problem. Once Asia had her release then I have no problem with Keitha recruiting her to Wichita State.

Same is true for MaQhi Berry although I have no idea whether Keitha is pursuing her or if the player has any interest in coming to Wichita State. However, once she has her release (again assuming no influence from Keitha in gaining that release) she is fair game.

Typically, if a school believes a coach has been tampering with players that are under an LOI they will not grant a release to that coach's school and I believe that is a legitimate reason for such a restriction.

Now should a Coach that is leaving a program encourage their recruits to stay with that program? I suppose that should be decided on a case-by-case basis and should be made based on what is in the best interest of the student athlete although that is probably not always going to happen. I would generally defer to the player and their families to make the call as to what is in their best interest although they don't always make the right call either.

I do apologize to you because you certainly did nothing wrong so I apologize about the implication.

Because this is women's basketball, this won't draw any attention, but I remember several people (maybe even 3G too) who thought it was awful that Turgeon allowed Bowles to follow him to A&M. I really don't have strong feelings...but I'm just pointing out a situation that will get ignored because it benefits WSU, but if the reverse happens to hurt WSU, it would get criticized.

Kinda like bad calls in sports. I remember being at a K-State basketball game in the Frank Martin era. K-State blocked a shot (borderline goaltend) and went down to the other end to have a shot blocked that was also a borderline goaltend. Fans went nuts, whining for the missed goaltend. I laughed at the hypocrisy. Your opinion of a call/ruling/whatever shouldn't be based on how it benefits (or doesn't benefit) your side.

Anyway, apologies again for any implications, '72. You're all good with me. 👍🏼

[1972Shocker]

Many UCONN fans think this year's team could potentially be the best that UCONN's ever had, and the conference will definitely be the best it's ever been. USF, Temple, and UCF should all be tournament teams. Also, look for Tulane and SMU to make some noise. Very possibly a 5 bid league. #AmericanPow6r

The Lady Shockers basketball probably has as big a challenge as any of Wichita State's athletic programs to become relevant in their new conference.

The good news is we have 7 seniors retruning from last year's team plus a Redshirt Senior, Jaleesa Chapel, who sat out last year with a knee injury plus a junior who played good minutes her 1st two years. The bad news is that this group was only 15-16 last year with an RPI of 178 in a relatively weak Missouri Valley Conference. That RPI was slightly worse than ECU's 172 and Houston's 175 and slightly better than Cincy's 182 at the bottom of the AAC RPI rankings. The previous year the Shock were 8-22 after winning 3 consecutive Valley titles and 3 consecutive Valley tournament titles and NCAA appearances behind Alex Harden generally thought to be the best women's player in school history. The only player on the roster that was part of that run was Jaleesa Chapel who was a reserve on those teams.

We think we probably have 3 or 4 incoming players to add to the mix next year but nothing is official yet and none of those players appear to be big difference makers although they could help.

However, the Shocks are face with a major rebuild after next year so the current recruiting efforts in filling out next year's roster and in securing the Class of 2018 are very important for new Head Coach Keitha Adams.

While Shocker Nation has always supported men's basketball in a big way the same is not true for women's basketball. Even during the recent run of Alex Harden-led Championships interest in the program did not grow much and, in fact, recent year's has been hurt by controversy surrounding former head coach Jody Adams-Birch's treatment of players. However, it is not clear to me that Women's Basketball at Wichita State will ever become a big thing with the fan base. Maybe if we could come up with a Lynette Woodard or Jackie Stiles kind of player which seems like a real long shot and even that might prove to be fleeting. Alex Harden was a very entertaining player to watch who came to Wichita State as a bit of project and blossomed into a very fine player who led the Shockers to an 83-22 record over her final 3 seasons as a 6' do-it-all point guard and probably the best defensive player in the Valley during that time. Still it did not move the needle much and we have fallen back quite significantly the bast two years in terms of fan support.

Hopefully, joining the AAC and the recent coaching change will give the WSU WBB program a breath of life but ultimately the Shocks will need to find some sustatined success on the court in order to build a more substantial following among Shocker fans.

No doubt many Shocker fans will show up just for the novelty of seeing the best team in the land (the UConn Huskies) at Koch Arena every other year but that, in and of itself won't do much. However, if the Shocks can be competitive and perhaps even pull a huge upset who knows what might happen. However, if the Shocks lose by 50, which is possible, it won't help anything.

[1972Shocker]

Anyway, apologies again for any implications, '72. You're all good with me. 

No problem. I think each case is probably somewhat different. Often what seemingly seems like very similar circumstances on the surface may or may not be so in actuality. The problem we have is fans is we rarely know much more than what we get at the surface level. Whether Coach Turgeon deserved any criticism or not over the Denzel Bowles recruitment I really couldn't say.

I have no problem criticizing Keitha Adams if I think she is doing anything inappropriate. But as far as I know she has not and that certainly is not her reputation. I kind of hope Keitha Adams proves to be a composite of the best traits of our last two women's coaches, Jane Albright and Jody Adams (not counting Linda Hargrove with all due respect) and can take this program to a new level. To bad Keitha's first name isn't Jane. We could have had some fun with that.

[shockmonster]

I don't know anything about these girls. How do you know of their interest and who are they?

[mumdaddy316]

Would definitely like to add Berry, she could be a steal in the draft class

[WstateU]

I don't know anything about these girls. How do you know of their interest and who are they?

Not sure about anyone else, but 'mum' has connections...

[xazshox]

Kemba Adam's 2017-18 Recruiting Class

The Class of 2017-18 includes 5 girls, 3 of which were on National Teams in Europe. I'm impressed with their bio's as shown on GoShockes.com now.

[WstateU]

The Class of 2017-18 includes 5 girls, 3 of which were on National Teams in Europe. I'm impressed with their bio's as shown on GoShockes.com now.

Adams Finalizes First Signing Class

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2017/7/13/womens-basketball-adams-finalizes-first-signing-class.aspx

[1972Shocker]

I see that @xazshox and @WstateU have found and posted some real, official recruiting news.

I guess this answers the question of whether HCKA's recruiting at Wichita State will still have an international flavor.

Welcome to Shocker Nation ladies.

[1972Shocker]

The Class of 2017-18 includes 5 girls, 3 of which were on National Teams in Europe. I'm impressed with their bio's as shown on GoShockes.com now.

Kemba Adams? You must have UConn on your mind.

I agree it looks like a pretty solid group especially for a transition year.

I like the 3 Freshman + 2 Juco mix of this class as it is a good step towards getting the Shocks class distribution more balanced.

I also like that we added a little bit of height at the guard position.

I see that Asia Henderson is now listed at 6-3. However, Raven Prince is listed at 6-1. She was listed at 6-2 on the Butler County roster.

HCKA has 1 more scholarship to use if she wishes but my guess is she is probably done for the 2017-18 incoming class. Perhaps MaQhi Berry is still a possibility but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

This gives HCKA a roster of 14 players to work with next year which is actuallly larger than what was typical during the Jody Adams regime.

Still a lot of recruiting going on but now the focus is on the Class of 2017-18. Erica Mattingly could be among that group.

Now we get to see what kind of motivator and X's & O's mind we have in Coach Keitha.

[mumdaddy316]

This is a good start, ready to see how it relates on and off the court

[1972Shocker]

Not sure this holds true across the board but one thing the Shocks are getting with their 3 international recruits are players that are a little bit older than the typical U.S. recruit.

Jr. Cesaria Ambrosia (DOB 10/1/95) will be 22 on October 1st (so she would have been a 20 year old freshman).

Fr. Fanny Hakanson (DOB 11/3/97) will be 20 on November 3rd and Fr. Alyssia Faye (DOB 12-2-98) will be 19 on December 2nd.

[1972Shocker]

Paul Suellentrop reports on Coach Keitha's first Shocker recruiting class.

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article161809718.html

Too bad that HCKA has to use the fan support for the men's team as a selling point in recruiting. Maybe some day she will be able to add fan support for the women's team to her sales ptich. We'll see. The move to the AAC was no doubt a big help to her recruiting efforts.

HCKA needed to balance depth concerns with preparing for the future. I think she did that pretty well.

The concerns of @WuShock16 were also briefly touched on. HCKA said that out or respect for UTEP she wanted her UTEP recruits to stay with UTEP.

[WuShock16]

Paul Suellentrop reports on Coach Keitha's first Shocker recruiting class.

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article161809718.html

Too bad that HCKA has to use the fan support for the men's team as a selling point in recruiting. Maybe some day she will be able to add fan support for the women's team to her sales ptich. We'll see.

The concerns of @WuShock16 were also briefly touched on. HCKA said that out or respect for UTEP she wanted her UTEP recruits to stay with UTEP.

I am glad to know that issue was considered by the staff, and all in all, I don't have a problem with it. In most cases, kids sign because of coaches, not because of schools. I absolutely understand that.

What bothers me (not by you, 72...just in general) is that Mark might have done the exact same thing that HCKA did, encouraging recruits to stay with Gregg but allowing Bowles to follow him when Bowles made final decision to not come to WSU. But because his situation was ultimately not advantageous to WSU, people might still be mad at Mark for that. However, because this case with the girls coming here after signing with UTEP is advantageous to WSU (and maybe because it is not as prominent being women's basketball), people won't have an issue with this.

[1972Shocker]

It looks to me like Asia Henderson despite good size (6-3) and pretty good high school numbers is a bit of a project. She averaged a double-double in points and rebounds in both her junior and senior years including 16 and 14 in her senior season.

Not sure how much stock to put into this but MaxPreps ranks her 4,858th nationally and #155 in North Carolina. There are probably no more than about 1,500 kids recruited into the D-1 level every year. It is a little hard to believe that a player with her numbers could be ranked so low. OTOH I have no idea what level of competition she faced. Not sure if Asia played any club or AAU basketball. If not that might partially explain the low rankings.

HCKA says Asia needs to get stronger and work on the speed of the game. My guess is that the speed issue is the big thing. Perhaps a big girl who was able to use her size to overpower her high school competition but possibly on the slow side. She's not a very good free throw shooter. She only hit 3 of 16 as a HS Freshman but improved to 58% and 59% as a junior and senior. My guess is she did most of her work inside the block-charge arc in the lane.

Whether or not she can overcome whatever deficiencies she might have remains to be seen. Not sure if HCKA will redshirt anyone but Asia might be the best candidate for that if she does. What I like about Asia is she sounds like a high-character kid (senior class president), a good student (will major in biochemistry), a hard worker (according to HCKA) and one who steadily improved in all facets of the game as she progressed through high school. Hopefully, the same will prove true in college. Obviously, HCKA believes she has a player she can develop.