I can dunk on an 8 foot rim.

Kim recently began following KK Bransford, Grace Vanslooten, and Ayanna Patterson on twitter.

BUatbirth said:

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I got nothing. Adriacus Peratuun seemed to have some insight into Ashlon's recruitment.
Ashlon seems to be in full control of her recruitment, a very thoughtful and mature young lady.

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No firsthand knowledge. Someone who should know stuff thinks that:
1) the longer the process takes the better for Baylor,
2) the more detailed the research by Jackson, the better for Baylor.
UConn was her childhood "crush" team. But some of the realities of recruiting help Baylor: geography, education, roster situation, friendships, etc. The two items that UConn sell hard are the # and success of their players in the WNBA & their style of play [positionless ball movement]. The first was a hard argue for other teams but becomes less poignant every day as players retire and the current stars of the WNBA are mostly from other programs. Style of play is interesting......almost every team runs similar sets. It is simply how they run them and what options they focus on.

While Jackson's list likely includes several teams, the person who should have some insight thinks that it will come down to 2-3 teams including Baylor & UConn. They think Baylor's roster situation & geographic location may win the day.

FYI, Sammie Wagner [and family] continue to be Big Burning Lights about the future of Baylor Women's BB in the recruiting world. Lynchpin recruits that draw others are invaluable.

Dcheetah said:

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Would you mind sharing relative strengths of Ashlon and K.K. Bransford? I would be thrilled with either.

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Bransford: more athletic. Less developed skill set. Some shot mechanic issues [the currently trendy "super arc" on jump shot]. Very similar to Baylor wings of the 2009-2013 time period.......superior athlete working on skills. Better defender [relative evaluation.......few high schoolers are good defenders].

Jackson: understands game. Great understanding of angles and play development. Needs to work on athleticism and conditioning. Good skill development. Plays smooth which works on O but lacks the urgency on D.

Historically, Bransford is more the Mulkey type recruit. But Jackson is more the modern style of player. Shooter, creator, understands "what" and "why" on O. Really solid at understanding passing angles.

Personally, I think it is easier to find finishers rather than creators and always value creators slightly higher as players.

Offer out to Grace Vanslooten:

BaylorBearWBBFan said:

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Adracius (and others who have seen a lot of the Texas recruits), what do you think of PBR's 2022 rankings?

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Well....

1) almost all scouting is highly flawed. Even the best coaches [Mulkey, Auriemma, etc.] would be happy [ecstatic] with a 60% success rate. Think of Baylor's 2018 recruiting class: #1 in the country. 2 rotation players, 2 transfers, 1 player on bench [not in regular 8 player rotation]. Most coaches would live with that result.

2) scouting/recruiting services are FAR worse at analysis than top coaches. Some fixate on one aspect [athleticism or skills or measurables] of players to the neglect of other aspects. Some are always looking for the "next Jordan" and ignoring a court full of Pippens. Most fixate on the occasional spectacular plays rather than the continued making of mundane plays. Few are good at seeing players' upside, they focus on current status [even when a player is already close to maxing out].

Realities....

3) you have to rely on Summer ball. Some high school competition is bad, some really bad, some atrocious. Need to see "good on good" and "great on great". Even Summer ball is heavily lopsided. Does a recruit's team play the top events? Does that team have sufficient overall talent to allow the player the opportunity to showcase their talents deep into the tournament or are they always bounced early?

4) never believe the measurables. Heights.......false more often than true. In 2021 recruiting, Texas has commitments from Harmon [listed at 5'6] and Hunter [listed at 5'8]. They are more likely 5'4 and 5'6. That difference matters.

COVID......

5) Summer 2020 was messed up. Some events towards the end. Many players were kept home by their parents.

6) When the normal process is to see top players over 6-7 tournaments and instead you see them at 1 tournament, that 1 tournament tends to have an oversized impact on rating. Imagine players on a team where the point guard misses that 1 tourney. Offensive flow for the team non-existent. Other players get over-valued because they had one great tournament.

Other...

7) Injury situations. Sa'Myah Smith was dinged due to her knee injury. Based on her season until that point, she is clearly a top [1 or 2] Texas recruit [IMHO]. Now she is ranked behind Carleigh Wenzel. Smith is EASILY a Top 20 player. Her videos of her rehab are solid. Her situation is one where some extra work would have fixed the ranking.

ESPN....

8) they want national interest and HIGHLY encourage geographical diversity in rankings. That hurts high talent areas like Texas. As the new ranking service [and based in Texas], they went out of their way to show that they were not regionally biased......and as a result underranked some Texas kids in 2022 and 2023.

The players that Baylor has offered in 2022 & 2023 are all CLEARLY top 20 players. Most are clearly top 10.

The new rankings did fix some errors: Betts, Barker & Patterson have always been the top 3 players in 2022......old rankings having them lower were laughable.

Expect the rankings to "rearrange" heavily [far more than normal] during the season and next Summer. This "missed Summer" will correct over time.

Adriacus [note spelling].

One Other Important Thought re Recruiting:

Fit.

Baylor and South Carolina recruit similar players.
UConn and Notre Dame recruit similar players.

Not every player is a great fit for every team. Not every recruit is a great fit for every school.

How can any national recruiting service appropriately rank players that are great fits for some programs but terrible fits for other programs?

Inherently, recruiting is situation specific.