Class of 2019: Ten Under-The-Radar Prospects
Every year, for various reasons, there are a number of senior girls who are still rather unknown and ‘fly under the radar’ in terms of both their statewide notoriety and their recruiting interest. I wanted to take a look at…
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Continue ReadingEvery year, for various reasons, there are a number of senior girls who are still rather unknown and ‘fly under the radar’ in terms of both their statewide notoriety and their recruiting interest. I wanted to take a look at a few such uncommitted 2019 prospects who, in my opinion, are unknown throughout the Hoosier state, and who are consequently underrecruited at this point in their playing careers.
Hya Haywood – Evansville Central H.S.
Photo courtesy of CourierPress.com.
Hya Haywood, 2019, 5-6 G, Evansville Central H.S.
Hya is a kid who was even an obscurity to me until this May when I finally saw her for the first time. She’s buried down in the ‘Pocket City’ of Evansville, and she has been playing with an Illinois grassroots team that rarely came through Indiana to play in events. Hya is a wiry strong kid, she’s very athletic and has some bounce to her, and she has very good speed & quickness. She is great making plays off the dribble for herself and others, and she can really score it attacking the basket and in the mid-range game. Her freshman and sophomore seasons she averaged 7.3 and 11.5 points, respectively, on teams with a deep and strong 2017 class that included Zion Sanders (Indiana All-Star, Junior All-Star, Iowa), Errin Hodges (Northern Illinois), and Alexis Thomas (Junior All-Star). This season, minus those players, she exploded for an impressive 18.6 points per game. I think she’s a really nice Division I or Division II prospect, but her interest is minimal at best.
Naomi McDaniel, 2019, 6-0 F, Attica H.S.
Naomi was one of the nicer surprises of the 2018 grassroots season. She attends a small high school with just over 200 students, and to my recollection, she had never played grassroots basketball until this year. Naomi has long arms, long legs, and she’s a nice, fluid athlete in all directions. She is still a little slender and needs to continue gaining strength, but she looks like she might still be growing. She can handle the ball a little and bring it up the floor in transition, plus she has a solid face-up game to about 18-feet. She is more of a mid-post to perimeter forward, and she’s definitely not a back-to-the-basket post. Because of her great mobility, her skill facing the basket, and the potential to really develop into a better collegian than high school player, she has a very high ceiling. Her interest is mostly that of NAIA and Division III schools, but I honestly think Low-Major Division I and Division II schools should check her out as well.
Makinzi Meurer, 2019, 5-4 G, North Knox H.S.
Makinzi is a really nice all-around basketball player. She has broad shoulders, good muscle-tone, and for someone only 5-4, she has really good length (long arms and long legs). She averaged 17.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 5.5 steals for a real good North Knox team, earning herself a spot on the Indiana Junior All-Star Team this past June. She isn’t a great shooter percentage-wise, but she can hit enough open shots to keep defenses honest. She doesn’t get a lot of attention on a statewide level because she’s at a small high school down in the Vincennes area of the state, and she doesn’t get a lot of recruiting attention because she’s never heavily participated in grassroots basketball. I think she could end up being an absolute steal for some small college, because she’s a talented and skilled kid who just really knows how to play the game.
Darlisha Reed, 2019, 5-10 F, Hammond George Rogers Clark H.S.
Darlisha Reed (13) – Hammond Clark H.S.Photo courtesy of ChicagoTribune.com.
Darlisha is about as unknown as any player in the state, and I honestly haven’t had the opportunity to see her play myself yet. I’ve never seen her on any grassroots roster, and Hammond Clark doesn’t typically leave the Northwest corner of Indiana to play anyone. I have, however, gotten a handful of reports on her from credible sources in her region. From what I understand, she is a strongly built forward who has some length, very good athleticism, and a motor that just goes. Her high school team isn’t very strong (4-19), but she still managed to average 17.2 points and 12.9 rebounds in 11 games. She did miss some time due to an injury, but for as little as people throughout the state know her, she did draw a handful of Division I coaches to her Fall 2017 open gyms and her early-season games this past season.
Kira Robinson, 2019, 6-3 C, Winchester Community H.S.
I would guess Kira is probably better-known in Indiana than most of the girls on this list, because she helped lead Winchester to a Class 2A State Runner-Up finish this past season. Her recruiting, however, has been somewhat limited because she chose not to play grassroots basketball in 2018, and she missed the 2017 grassroots season with an injury. Kira is definitely tall, she’s extremely long…she’s all arms and legs, but she’s very, very slender. She runs the floor well North & South, but she’s a little rigid laterally at this point, and she needs to learn how to play lower and manufacture strength with a lower and wider base. She can do some things skillfully facing the basket to about 15-feet, and she can score around the block as well, but she is subject to getting displaced from time to time. Defensively she doesn’t like to leave the lane much, but she’s a really nice shot-blocker (3.6 blocks per game in 2017-2018).
Lindsey Simpson, 2019, 5-10 W, Knox H.S.
Lindsey is actually someone I learned about in February when I was searching MaxPreps for high stat producers from the 2017-2018 high school season. She finished the season averaging 16.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 5.6 steals. She had never really participated in major grassroots basketball until the Spring and Summer of 2018, and Knox is a small town in Northwest Indiana that doesn’t really venture into any major cities for games. She is an extremely long, somewhat slender, but very fluid and natural athlete. She plays sort of a point forward position for her teams, and she has a really quick and solid handle. She has good shooting mechanics, but she avoids taking a lot of jumpers to either drive it or distribute to others. She definitely makes her teammates better. She has drawn the eye of some of the better Division II and NAIA programs in the Midwest, but nothing concrete has come from that just yet.
Caressa Sloss, 2019, 5-11 F/C, Cannelton H.S.
Caressa is another prospect that it’s going to be hard for me to speak on her behalf because I have never seen her. She’s also a kid who I found searching MaxPreps for big stat producers from this past season. She attends a school of approximately 85 total students that is halfway between Louisville and Evansville, just three blocks away from the Ohio River. She also has never played any grassroots basketball that I am aware of. From what I’ve been able to gather, though, she is a solidly built kid with a strong and athletic frame, plus she has some length. This past season she averaged 17.1 points, 14.6 rebounds, 4.0 steals, and 2.2 blocked shots per game. I have a feeling she’s going to be that kid who ends up at a Division III school, puts together a really nice collegiate career, and everyone wonders where she came from.
Marley Smith – Connersville H.S.
Photo courtesy of Hendrix Media.
Marley Smith, 2019, 5-8 G, Connersville H.S.
I saw Marley for the first time in December of 2017, and I am extremely intrigued with her game. Physically, she’s somewhat thin, but she’s extremely long, fluid, and she has a nice all-around skillset. She can handle the ball a little, and she actually has to play point for her high school team to succeed, but she’s likely more of a ‘2’ at the next level. What is most impressive is her ability to shoot the basketball. She has very pure shooting mechanics, she has a quick release, and she’s a consistent shooter who needs very little space to get her shot away. This past season she averaged 15.4 points and knocked down 39% of her 3-point attempts, making 2.7 of them per game. She doesn’t play any grassroots basketball, and never has, so that’s a big reason why she doesn’t have more of a reputation throughout the state or in recruiting circles. She could make for a very nice small college shooter.
Malea “Mea” Toon, 2019, 5-10 F, Bloomfield H.S.
Mea hasn’t played much grassroots basketball since her freshman year, but she is certainly one of the toughest, most physical, yet very active frontline prospects you’ll see in this 2019 class. She plays with a tremendous motor, and she loves contact. She can play facing the basket and is actually quite comfortable around the perimeter, but she prefers to play in the mid-post or around the block. She could stand to be a bit more explosive in all directions, but for what she lacks in talent, she more than makes up for with energy and effort. She plays the right way, and she has a chance to be a really productive small college power forward. This past season she averaged 18.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.2 blocked shots per game, and she was even a solid 30-80 from 3-point range.
Ambrea Wensey, 2019, 5-5 W, Ben Davis H.S.
It’s odd to consider a prospect from such a big high school in Indianapolis as “under-the-radar”, but I often feel like Ambrea is, primarily because not a lot of college coaches know about her, nor does she get invited to many of the local showcases / events. Ambrea is a strong, physical, and tough-nosed wing. She has a real grit and feistiness to her game, and she always seems to bring energy to the team. She plays much bigger than she is, and she often outrebounds girls in the 5-10 to 6-0 range. She has solid ball skills, she can handle it in transition and initiate offense, but she’s best attacking the basket straight-line for scores. She’s also deceptively quick and bouncy for how strong she looks, and she is willing and capable of sitting down and defending multiple types of perimeter players 84-feet. I think she’s a no-nonsense competitor who provides a lot of the intangible things a team needs to win ballgames.
Ten additional under-the-radar players of note:
Jenna Cowart, 2019, 5-9 W, Danville Community H.S.
Ariel Dale, 2019, 5-6 G, Northfield H.S.
Da’Leshia Davis, 2019, 5-6 PG, Fort Wayne Snider H.S.
Megan Jolly, 2019, 5-6 G, New Palestine H.S.
Olivia Knarr, 2019, 5-10 F, Shelbyville H.S.
Shelby Miller, 2019, 5-11 F, Winchester Community H.S.
Mady Neukam, 2019, 5-5 PG, Southridge H.S.
Alexa Porter, 2019, 5-10 F, Concord H.S.
Morgan Rinkema, 2019, 5-8 G, Highland H.S.
Leah Seib, 2019, 5-11 F, New Palestine H.S.
Header photo of Kira Robinson (14) – Winchester Community H.S.; courtesy of tmnews.com.