Thanks HairyBear and Slimecap for the info/input.

Pale Rider said:

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Dang sis, that's great reporting.

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Correct as usual...both of you.

Pale Rider said:

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Seems to me that this young lady would be a truly valuable addition to our program. I loved reading the story. What a blessing.

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Ditto

RioRata said:

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Counterpoint: Cara Ursin {HGz#64 & PN-TBA} meets this same criteria, except at PG. We signed her...mistake?

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Not necessarily. My point was that it is MUCH harder to scout players who aren't playing in the tougher competition offered by AAU. For example, posters implied that we should be "after" a recruit that has played one year at the very lowest level of high school ball in Washington state. And did not dominate that competition. They cited the ranking of a website and one reporter's comments. Without AAU comparison, a coach has a FAR more difficult time determining whether a player has sufficient speed and quickness since the player's "tape" is against much lesser talent. Most coaches will agree that the best way to determine a player's talent in any sport is to see "good on good". That is why summer camps and 7 on 7 are huge in football and AAU is huge in basketball.

Not every player has to come from the AAU circuit, but judging players without AAU competition is MUCH harder. Coaches have "invite only" elite camps separated from "anyone" camps for a reason. One is to scout talent; the other is to build goodwill and get some easy paydays for people.

July 26, 2016

July 26, 2016

May 21, 2017

from the 2010 archives
Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil enjoying her time leading TeamXpress

June 29, 2010

The last time I interviewed Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil was in 2005 when she was the Chief Operating Officer of the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars. Saturday evening, for the first time in five years, I interviewed Clarissa once again; however, this time Davis-Wrightsil was preparing to coach one of her three basketball teams for her TeamXpress basketball program which was competing in the Houstonian's "Summer Jam" at Lutheran High North.

"I'm full-time doing something that I was doing while I was working with the Silver Stars," said Davis-Wrightsil. "This is a foundation that my husband and I started. Going on our 11th year. We had the mindset that we wanted to do something that was going to be a little bit different. Instead of just playing basketball, we wanted to actually teach the girls and get them ready for the next level. We do a lot of travelling throughout the United States. We take them abroad. We took them to Japan last year. We're more than just hoops. We're talking about education and making the right choices. This is very much passion. It's something that I really enjoy. Now, that I'm retired, I'm focusing on helping these girls do the things that I did."

For those that do not know what Davis-Wrightsil "did", she was a star at San Antonio Jay High School before earning All-America honors at the University of Texas. As a freshman at Texas, Davis helped lead the Longhorns to a national title and an undefeated 34-0 season as well as being named the Most Outstanding Player of the 1986 Final Four. As a senior, Davis earned National Player of the Year honors.

Since founding TeamXpress 11 years ago, Davis-Wrightsil has noticed a change in women's basketball.

"It's changed because of the exposure. Girls are starting to play younger. We started off with a good core group of girls; and, ironically, one of the young ladies who started with us is one of the youngest players on the USA Basketball 18 and under team -- Cassie Peoples (Cy-Fair High School). So, it's a testament of working with young girls of have a dream of being in the WNBA or playing for the National Team; and, you just help try and cultivate that dream.

"The girls are training a lot harder now. There's some good and bad comparing basketball back-in-the-day and now. I think with the Internet you get a lot of kids that read more about themselves than they work in the gym; so, they see themselves in an unrealistic way in my opinion because their work ethic and the things they do on the court do not necessarily measure up. We try to work with them and help close the gap between what's hype and what's real."

TeamXpress currently has 37 girls in the program split into three teams.

"Our youngest two are 7th graders. Ten are Class 2011; and, the remainder are Class 2012."

One player from the Class of 2011 is 6'4" post Krystal Forthan. Fortran is ranked in the top 5 according to ESPN.com's latest HoopGurlz ranking.

"We're really excited about what we're doing," Davis-Wrightsil added. "And, not necessarily because of the ranking. Our players are getting better. They're working hard; and, really, we're bringing together a bunch of stars and we're getting them to play together and play hard. We run sets. We just don't clear it out. We run defense and offense. We want them to respect each other. We hope that we're building more than just basketball players. We hope that we're building young women through basketball."

Though TeamXpress is based in Austin TX, the players are from various cities.

"These girls are from all over. We have three young ladies that actually drive in on the weekends from New Orleans. We practice on Saturdays and Sundays. We have kids from New Orleans; Brownsville; from Pflugerville; from Round Rock; from Georgetown; from San Antonio; from Austin; and one young lady from Norway. We're kind of a melting pot. They come together because they know they're going to get trained. They're going to work hard. We're going to demand that they work hard; and, we're going to push them to be better."

Though Davis-Wrightsil is a University of Texas alum, she does not steer her players to attend UT.

"I really don't care where they go; and, I'm not leading them anywhere. I just want to see them go to a place where they'll get their degree and where they're going to be with good people and that they're going to do the thing that God gave them to do with a passion."

- Kris Gardner, The Houston Roundball Review, 27 June 2010

BFWorldwide said:

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RioRata said:

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Counterpoint: Cara Ursin {HGz#64 & PN-TBA} meets this same criteria, except at PG. We signed her...mistake?

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Not necessarily. My point was that it is MUCH harder to scout players who aren't playing in the tougher competition offered by AAU. For example, posters implied that we should be "after" a recruit that has played one year at the very lowest level of high school ball in Washington state. And did not dominate that competition. They cited the ranking of a website and one reporter's comments. Without AAU comparison, a coach has a FAR more difficult time determining whether a player has sufficient speed and quickness since the player's "tape" is against much lesser talent. Most coaches will agree that the best way to determine a player's talent in any sport is to see "good on good". That is why summer camps and 7 on 7 are huge in football and AAU is huge in basketball.

Not every player has to come from the AAU circuit, but judging players witheition is MUCH harder. Coaches have "invite only" elite camps separated from "anyone" camps for a reason. One is to scout talent; the other is to build goodwill and get some easy paydays for people.

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I agree that AAU ball makes evaluation of prospects easier and yet the NCAA allows WBB 15 total scholarships of which Kim usually doesn't use them all. At this point in Stephanie's development I would rank her between Melanie Hamerly and Griner.

Given time to develop she could become Kim's version of Josh Lomars (Top 100 & #10 ranked C). It took Josh 2+ seasons for the light to switch on. If Soares' light never comes on her heigth alone would be valuable in practice (see Hamerly) .

RioRata said:

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Pale Rider said:

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Seems to me that this young lady would be a truly valuable addition to our program. I loved reading the story. What a blessing.

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Ditto

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Ditto me in also, lets go get her.

RioRata said:

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I agree that AAU ball makes evaluation of prospects easier and yet the NCAA allows WBB 15 total scholarships of which Kim usually doesn't use them all. At this point in Stephanie's development I would rank her between Melanie Hamerly and Griner.

Given time to develop she could become Kim's version of Josh Lomars (Top 100 & #10 ranked C). It took Josh 2+ seasons for the light to switch on. If Soares' light never comes on her heigth alone would be valuable in practice (see Hamerly) .

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With the growing number of high value standard transfers and immediately eligible grad student transfers, most teams keep 2 scholarships open. With 13 scholarships, a Top Tier team using a fifth scholarship [heck, any scholarship any year] on a project player is a thing of the past. The use of male practice players renders the value of scholarship "practice players" to almost nothing. Baylor should be well past the time of making reaches on scholarship offers. Take 3-4 elite talents each year. Players that don't pan out go on medical or encouraged to go elsewhere for playing time. Using a scholarship on a "maybe" should no longer be in the zone of where we are as a program. TCU can make reaches. We are an Elite program.....and we should recruit like one.

Pale Rider said:

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BuinmyBlood said:

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KK 2.0?

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But 5" taller.

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Actually, I'm pretty sure Khadijah Kave was much closer to 6-4 than her listed height of 6-2 in the Baylor program. So she was pretty much the same height as Ms Soares. The point I was making was that the "long, athletic, quick up and down the court" comments about Soares are very comparable - as well as the possible "project" tag. Though I definitely feel Ms Soares has more polish to her game at this stage of her development than KK did coming out of high school. KK was one helluvan athlete, and ran track as well...

BuinmyBlood said:

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Pale Rider said:

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BuinmyBlood said:

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KK 2.0?

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But 5" taller.

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Actually, I'm pretty sure Khadijah Kave was much closer to 6-4 than her listed height of 6-2 in the Baylor program. So she was pretty much the same height as Ms Soares. The point I was making was that the "long, athletic, quick up and down the court" comments about Soares are very comparable - as well as the possible "project" tag. Though I definitely feel Ms Soares has more polish to her game at this stage of her development than KK did coming out of high school. KK was one helluvan athlete, and ran track as well...

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Good, I see the comparison. But I still would question KK being over 6'2".

BFWorldwide said:

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RioRata said:

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I agree that AAU ball makes evaluation of prospects easier and yet the NCAA allows WBB 15 total scholarships of which Kim usually doesn't use them all. At this point in Stephanie's development I would rank her between Melanie Hamerly and Griner.

Given time to develop she could become Kim's version of Josh Lomars (Top 100 & #10 ranked C). It took Josh 2+ seasons for the light to switch on. If Soares' light never comes on her heigth alone would be valuable in practice (see Hamerly) .

---

With the growing number of high value standard transfers and immediately eligible grad student transfers, most teams keep 2 scholarships open. With 13 scholarships, a Top Tier team using a fifth scholarship [heck, any scholarship any year] on a project player is a thing of the past. The use of male practice players renders the value of scholarship "practice players" to almost nothing. Baylor should be well past the time of making reaches on scholarship offers. Take 3-4 elite talents each year. Players that don't pan out go on medical or encouraged to go elsewhere for playing time. Using a scholarship on a "maybe" should no longer be in the zone of where we are as a program. TCU can make reaches. We are an Elite program.....and we should recruit like one.

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Bingo

Pale Rider said:

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BuinmyBlood said:

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Pale Rider said:

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BuinmyBlood said:

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KK 2.0?

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But 5" taller.

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Actually, I'm pretty sure Khadijah Kave was much closer to 6-4 than her listed height of 6-2 in the Baylor program. So she was pretty much the same height as Ms Soares. The point I was making was that the "long, athletic, quick up and down the court" comments about Soares are very comparable - as well as the possible "project" tag. Though I definitely feel Ms Soares has more polish to her game at this stage of her development than KK did coming out of high school. KK was one helluvan athlete, and ran track as well...

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Good, I see the comparison. But I still would question KK being over 6'2".

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It would be very difficult to find them now but I am certain there were team pictures of KK alongside Sune Agbuke (6-4) and some other Baylor players with known heights and it was obvious that she was at least as tall as Sune, and a good bit taller than some of the other girls like Alexis prince who were supposed to have been 6-2 or so. Prior to committing and signing with Baylor there were several articles about KK that actually had her listed at 6-4 or even 6-5.

Official roster listed her as 6'3"

55
cave khadijiah
Khadijiah Cave
P
75
6-3
7
SR
3L
Augusta, Ga./Lucy Laney HS

2018 Stephanie Soares
Archived article about her mother, Susan Anderson Soares
December 07, 2004

Player
Susan Anderson, Mount Baker, Class of 1986

High-school rewind
.. Talented center led Mount Baker High School of Deming WA to 4 straight state trophies.
... Scored 355 points in the Class 1A state girls basketball tournament, a career record that stood 17 years.
... As a senior, Anderson averaged 24 points and 13 rebounds, leading her team to a 22-5 record.
... Maintained a 3.9 grade-point average.
... Named 1986 Gatorade Player of Year.
... Later named to The Seattle Times All-Century team.
... Voted top player in history of Class 1A state tournament.



Susan Anderson
Univ of Texas
1986-1990

After high school
... 4-year starter at Texas, the 6-foot-4 Anderson led Longhorns to 4 consecutive NCAA Elite Eight appearances.
... As a freshman, led team to 34-0 regular-season record and No. 1 ranking.
... Ranks 20th in Texas career scoring. (article written in 2004)
... Played four years of pro basketball: 3 in Brazil and 1 in Japan.

Personal
... During her pro career, she met and married Ruiz Rogerieo Soares, a Brazilian-born pro basketball player.
... The 6-8 Soares and Anderson share a love of basketball and Christianity.
... Her father, Art, was an all-state star on the 1958 Mount Baker boys state-championship team.

Fast forward
... Susan Anderson Soares, 36, lives in Nova Odessa, Brazil, with her husband, "Ro."
... She home-schools their 4 children: Timothy, 7; Jessica, 6; Stephanie, 4; and Tiago, 3.
... "They are a blessing to us and they are all very tall," Susan said of her basketball-loving brood, which enjoys playing 3-on-3 as a family.
... Though motherhood dominates her time now, Ro and Susan are full-time staff members for Athletes Acao Brasil, a Christian organization affiliated with Athletes in Action that promotes faith through athletics.
... The two supervise and host nearly 90 underprivileged children a week at a basketball camp in Americana, a city about half the size of Seattle.

"For 15 years, basketball was a very important thing in my life," she said. "I love the game and am thankful for the opportunity to travel the world. Americans have a good presence in Brazil. I still love the game and love seeing kids learning to play."

- Gregg Glass, Seattle Times


from the archives
November 22, 1986

"The Lady Longhorns are the overwhelming favorite to repeat as NCAA champions and could well turn in their second straight undefeated campaign -- a season that will wind up with the women's Final Four being played on their home court.

The Lady Longhorns dominated every step of the way, rolled through the tourney field and finally won the championship game over Southern California and its superstar, Cheryl Miller.

"The game is improving year by year," Texas Coach Jody Conradt said. 'And there will be excellent teams throughout the country this year. On paper we should be a dominating team. But we have 7 new players and all freshmen take time to adjust. All the parts to the puzzle are there for us. We just need to put them together and it will take some time before we have a finished product.'

Texas will return Clarissa Davis, who as a freshman last year was voted Most Valuable Player at the women's Final Four...

Added to that core of talent will be one of the best group of recruits in the history of the women's game. Among them are 6-3 Susan Anderson of Everson, Washington, considered by many to be the best high school player in the country last year."

- excerpts from a 1986 article by Mike Rabun, UPI

OP NOTES
Link for Susan Anderson @ Texas 4 year statistics
http://www.texassports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4166

I am holding out for "The Queen" to turn the Fab Four into the "Fab Five".

I just want to add a detail in respect to Decosta's experience at the World 3x3's. Even with two guards also on her team it was Decosta who represented her team in the Skills competition in which she finished third. That's why Williams stated she didn't really know what she was guard or post.

Omg. Twhaley is horrible

Thats bad when you get called out by a high schooler lol

Twhaley isn't even a Baylor fan right?

I think this is a UT fan who comes over to our site to talk trash

Ha! Our recruits are already reading the boards! I know we sometimes post things like, "welcome to Baylor, Queen," and while I appreciate the sentiment, I often find myself wondering if we are actually talking to anyone other than ourselves. I mean, do we really think they come over and read our well-intentioned messages? Certainly it's possible, and we do a good job of not bad-mouthing the kids partly for that reason, but I've never seen any actual hard evidence of a recruit (or current player, for that matter) reading our boards.

But, now, seeing as how at least one of these young ladies really is here, I say:

Welcome to Baylor, Aquira! Best wishes as you complete your senior year, and we very much look forward to watching you "march forever down the years" as part of our good ole Baylor Line.

Somebody who has a Twitter account needs to go over to dacosta's page and warn her that this guy is a UT hack who does nothing but bad mouth Baylor and will only try to dissuade her from going to BU. He is the perfect "Ignore" candidate...

Speaking of who visits these boards (and at the risk of a derail - please forgive me!), where the heck is JWAL?

BaylorBears_254 said:

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Twhaley isn't even a Baylor fan right?

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Right. Should be banned. If he he hasn't already been.

Bone Squad said:

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Speaking of who visits these boards (and at the risk of a derail - please forgive me!), where the heck is JWAL?

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JWAL hasn't been around much at all, maybe none since the E 8 loss. That was devastating. I visited with him quite a bit during the ncaa tourney. We had lunch a time or two etc. He'll probably come back when the season gets going.

ladybears4eva said:

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Omg. Twhaley is horrible

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Your play will be doing the talking when you take on Texas and I expect you to answer this Twhaley loud and clear. lol

I am really glad that TWHaleys post was removed before I could see it because my response might have gotten me thrown off this board.

I would have defended you! Ha.

lookin4awin said:

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I would have defended you! Ha.

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Ditto!

RioRata said:

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lookin4awin said:

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I would have defended you! Ha.

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Ditto!

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Double.