Topic: 2006 Recruiting (Read 26924 times)

adamspt2 · « **on:** Sep 23, 2004, 10:31:35 AM »

Here's what I've gathered for possible recruits who would start playing at UK in 2006.

Verbal Commits

(Lydia in red - photo from Courier Journal Online)	Lydia Watkins, 6'1 F, Hopkinsville KY, Christian County HS Rick Bolus Ratings Averaged 22 ppg as a freshman (played her freshman year in Florida). Verbal to Kentucky.
Brittany is in the blue.	Brittany Edelen, 5'9" S, Washington County Averages 21.7 points and 10.9 rebounds a game. High school coach says "Her athleticism is what stands out," he continued. "That athleticism alone will make her a potential All-American down the road." Verbal to Kentucky. Mention in Herald Leader
	Arnika Brown, 6'2 F, Hopkinsville KY, Christian County HS Rick Bolus Ratings Student Sports National Freshman of the Year, Student Sports Freshman All-America, Street & Smith All-America HM (2003), Orlando Sentinel All-South HM (2004), Louisville Courier-Journal All-State First Team (2003, 2004), AP All-State Second Team (2003), HM (2002); All-State Tournament Team (2003). 18.5 ppg, 8 rpg, 3 apg. Kentucky, Tennessee, and UConn lead Cincinnati, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Purdue, and Western Kentucky.
	Amani Franklin, 6'1 F, Stone Mountain GA, Redan HS

No longer considering UK
Jasmine Stone, 6'3 C, Detroit MI, King HS, verbal to Temple
Amber Norton, 6'1 F, Louisville KY, Assumption HS, Verbal to Vandy
Amy Johns, 5'9 G/F, McKeesport PA, McKeesport HS, verbal to Xavier
Brooke Faulkner, G, Harrison County, verbal to Western
Janae Stokes, 5-9 guard out of Georgia, signed with Georgia Tech

adamspt2 · « **Reply #1 on:** Sep 29, 2004, 04:31:51 PM »

Amy Johns, 5'9 G/F, McKeesport PA, McKeesport HS

Nike All-America Camp (2004), Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fab 5 South (2003, 2004), All-Section First Team (2004). 22 ppg, 10 rpg. Auburn, Connecticut, Kentucky, Marquette, Miami (Fl.), St. Joseph, Temple, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Xavier, others.

Nike Camp comments

TheLegacy · « **Reply #2 on:** Sep 29, 2004, 04:56:45 PM »

How good is Norton ?

She is teammates with Carly so that may way a factor.

adamspt2 · « **Reply #3 on:** Sep 29, 2004, 04:57:49 PM »

Isn't Carly from Sacred Heart?

TheLegacy · « **Reply #4 on:** Sep 29, 2004, 05:06:39 PM »

Quote from: adamspt2

Isn't Carly from Sacred Heart?

Ohh your right Will, I just had a brain cramp ! Not enough space up there.

DerbyCityPress · « **Reply #5 on:** Sep 30, 2004, 03:54:39 PM »

How good is Norton?

Considered a Top 20 junior in the Nation by various recruiting publications. Very athletic, quick, great leaper and plays very hard. Most likely will end up with over 2000 points and 1000 boards in 4 years at Assumption.

Averaged 14 ppg, 6 reb as a Freshman. 18 ppg, 9 reb as a Sophmore. Sweet jumper from 15-18 ft, excellent post moves, runs the floor better than any girl over 6'0 in the state. Goes to the hole fast, furious and finishes. She has two AAU state championship gold medals, one in Kentucky (2000) and one from Indiana (2004). Selected to Kentucky Junior All-Stars as a Freshman and as a Sophmore averaging nearly 20 ppg in three games against the Senior All-Stars. She is being heavily recruited by Illinois, Louisville, Xavier, Purdue, Vandy and of course Kentucky. Has been contacted by over 100 different D1 colleges from across the country including UCONN, Duke, and Tennessee.

In certain aspects of the game, she is a lot better player than Arnika Brown. She doesn't have the flash or the outside touch of Brown but her all around knowledge of the game, determination and athletic ability are second to none. Twice these two have faced each other once when they were 8th graders and then last year. Norton held her own both times and got the better of Brown when matched-up. With Norton out of the game, Brown dominated. Arnika has all the accolades because of being Blue Chip's Recruiting Service poster girl plus the long term success of her team while Norton and her teammates have been overshadowed because of the success of Sacred Heart.

adamspt2 · « **Reply #6 on:** Sep 30, 2004, 04:26:30 PM »

Hey DerbyCityPress! Thanks for the info and welcome to UKHoopsFans. Hope to see you around.

I'm assuming you're from Louisville and maybe have seen her play?

DerbyCityPress · « **Reply #7 on:** Oct 01, 2004, 12:56:32 AM »

How did you guess I'm from Louisville? I've been following the talent around this area for quite some time now and have seen some great players from across the river also.

Norton, Ormerod (SHA), Kopple (SHA), Denbow (SHA), McKemmie (CAL), Marsh (CAL) were on the 2000 AAU Louisville Fillies that finished 4th in the Nationals. Since that run in 2000, Norton has been keeping very busy playing AAU ball across the river with some elite teams (Spiece Diamonds, Southern Indiana Shooters and The Family). Playing with good teams comes the benefits of playing with and practicing against very talented players; 6'3 Stephanie Lynch (New Albany) who signed with Purdue Volleyball, 6'5 Samantha Johnson (Jeffersonville) who verbaled to Xavier, 6'6 Junior Amber Harris and 6'6 Sophmore Tashia Phillips who both happen to be rated #1 in the nation in their classes who both coincidently verbaled to Purdue. There is a "Family" connection with Purdue which Norton is high on that recruiting list. Needless to say, Norton has already blossomed into one of the best players in the state and by the way she's progressing will most likely be a top 10 player in the Nation by the end of 2006.

adamspt2 · « **Reply #8 on:** Oct 01, 2004, 08:26:48 AM »

So would you say Kentucky is a long shot for Norton? I think the 'family' connection was how we got Ormerod...

DerbyCityPress · « **Reply #9 on:** Oct 02, 2004, 08:46:41 AM »

Kentucky would be a long shot, probably 10-1 but Demoss made a good impression on her. I would say Purdue, Vandy, Xavier and Illinois are the front runners. Louisville is also in the mix.

General33 · « **Reply #10 on:** Oct 03, 2004, 08:55:20 AM »

Amber Norton has closer ties to UK. Her father was Richard Madison (Master Blaster) who played for UK.

DerbyCityPress · « **Reply #11 on:** Oct 05, 2004, 10:24:36 AM »

Well that's the reason why Norton is a longshot to attend UK. He's been a deadbeat dad that has never seen her. Not a good image to portray for UK's basketball program. Maybe Demoss can change her mind.

General33 · « **Reply #12 on:** Oct 05, 2004, 11:14:27 AM »

I didn't mean to opened a can of worms. I met her mother last year and thought she was a very nice person, class all the way. I hope she doesn't hold that against UK.

adamspt2 · « **Reply #13 on:** Nov 15, 2004, 10:52:40 AM »

If I'm doing my math right, Kentucky will have four scholarships to offer to this class - one has been taken by Lydia Watkins which should leave us with three spots to fill. Anyone agree or disagree with that number? I am assuming we have no more recruits for 2005.

adamspt2 · « **Reply #14 on:** Nov 17, 2004, 11:43:25 AM »

I've updated the first post in this board with a little more information, a couple of pictures. If anyone comes across pictures of those I couldn't find any for, let me know. If we landed any four of these five, I do think that would be an excellent class.

TheLegacy · « **Reply #15 on:** Nov 17, 2004, 05:45:02 PM »

Quote from: adamspt2

I've updated the first post in this board with a little more information, a couple of pictures. If anyone comes across pictures of those I couldn't find any for, let me know. If we landed any four of these five, I do think that would be an excellent class.

Very nice work ...Kudos---

Brown is the key to the class and the key to getting this program on the national championship level --

adamspt2 · « **Reply #16 on:** Nov 22, 2004, 08:54:41 AM »

From the Courier Journal, it looks like we'll be hearing what Arnika will be doing any day now...

Quote

Christian County All-America junior Arnika Brown commits to a college soon

She's narrowed her choices to Western Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, Connecticut, Tennessee, Louisiana State, Michigan State, Duke, North Carolina and Florida.

adamspt2 · « **Reply #17 on:** Nov 24, 2004, 10:20:27 PM »

So apparently Arnika Brown will announce in February. She has narrowed down her list to offers from Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Kentucky, Florida and Louisville. Come on Arnika! We'd love to have you at UK!!!!!!

TheLegacy · « **Reply #18 on:** Nov 25, 2004, 11:35:25 AM »

Quote from: adamspt2

So apparently Arnika Brown will announce in February. She has narrowed down her list to offers from Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Kentucky, Florida and Louisville. Come on Arnika! We'd love to have you at UK!!!!!!

Florida scare me alot

They snagged a couple recruits already from Demoss, but just looking at that list I would say Kentucky leads with UT a close 2nd and Florida right next to them--

TheLegacy · « **Reply #19 on:** Nov 26, 2004, 11:30:18 AM »

Quote from: adamspt2

So apparently Arnika Brown will announce in February. She has narrowed down her list to offers from Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Kentucky, Florida and Louisville. Come on Arnika! We'd love to have you at UK!!!!!!

Hey Will where did you get that information from that she has narrowed it down to those five team ?

No Uconn ?

adamspt2 · « **Reply #20 on:** Nov 26, 2004, 07:04:27 PM »

It was in the Courier. Course now, this is what they say:

Quote

A birthday present

Christian County junior All-America basketball player Arnika Brown is going to give herself a nice birthday present Feb. 8.

The 6-footer plans to announce her college choice that day. Brown will pick from Western Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, Connecticut, Tennessee, Louisiana State, Michigan State, Duke, North Carolina and Florida.

So who knows if she trimmed her list or not. Perhaps the shorter list is the "currently leading" group.

adamspt2 · « **Reply #21 on:** Nov 26, 2004, 07:07:07 PM »

Here's a nice little write up on the top players in Kentucky. Talks a lot about Carly (and her deceptive play) being the leader for Miss Basketball.

Quote

Mickie DeMoss had to look down at the Sacred Heart roster twice.

The University of Kentucky coach saw the player wearing No. 00 and thought for sure that it couldn't be the same Carly Ormerod who took home the Sweet Sixteen Most Valuable Player trophy as a freshman.

DeMoss thought for sure that the skinny, 5-foot-8 player couldn't be the one she had heard so much about.

"If you just watch her warm up, you think, 'That's her?' " DeMoss said. " 'Surely that can't be her.' "

Even after the warm-ups and a few possessions, DeMoss struggled to see what was so special about this guard.

Then something happened -- as it always seems to for Ormerod -- and DeMoss started to understand.

"She's a little deceptive," DeMoss said. "If you only watched her for 10 minutes, you might not see a whole lot. Then, all of the sudden, it's like, 'Wow!' because she took somebody off the dribble or she stepped in the passing lane and got a steal, and you're like, 'Where'd that come from?' "

Click here for the full story.

adamspt2 · « **Reply #22 on:** Dec 01, 2004, 05:04:42 PM »

Arnika Brown scored 33 points, had 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and a few steals in Christian County's opening game. Lydia Watkins chipped in an additional eight points. I can't seem to find a full box score for the game though.

For the article, click here.

TheLegacy · « **Reply #23 on:** Dec 01, 2004, 09:27:18 PM »

Quote from: adamspt2

Arnika Brown scored 33 points, had 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and a few steals in Christian County's opening game. Lydia Watkins chipped in an additional eight points. I can't seem to find a full box score for the game though.

For the article, click here.

We have to get Brown :prayer: :prayer: :prayer:

adamspt2 · « **Reply #24 on:** Dec 09, 2004, 06:26:46 AM »

Lydia Watkins helps team win. I like that. =D>

Quote

Christian County broke a 25-25 tie at halftime, by exploding on an 11-0 run to start the third period, turning a tight contest into a 61-36 rout over the Lady Rebels Monday.

"When you start generating the turnovers, that translates into offense," Dillard said. "We just wore them down at the end. In the third and fourth quarters, Todd really didn't have the legs."

Brown and Lydia Watkins scored all 11 of the points during that outburst and the Lady Colonels' defense held Todd to just five points in the period, while forcing seven turnovers.

Click here for the full article.

Author Topic: 2006 Recruiting (Read 26924 times)