More going on in the Pac 10

The Oregon State story gets weirder and weirder. Here’s a link to the latest:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindbeaversbeat/2010/05/osu_coach_lavonda_wagner_built.html

By my count they are down to 4 players from last year’s team and there is talk in the comments section that another will leave. They are also down to one Assistant and yes the one in the story. However they have signed 3 for the next year. Two signed in November but another committed at the end of April. She is Alexis Bostick, an unrated player from Oakland’s very strong Bishop O’Dowd team. She is a 5-9 Point Guard. I don’t know if she actually signed or not, as Oregon State stopped doing Press Releases on Women’s Basketball.

Another interesting case is Kirsten Tilleman who will not play and not transfer. She is ending her Soph year but on schedule to graduate after 3 years. She now plans to go to Grad school elsewhere and play there.

So will the 3 recruits show up and play for Wagner? If not they have 4 players and one has to wonder what happens then. Or if Wagner “moves on” will those who night be waiting for something to happen, and maybe Tilleman is in that group, come back to play. Stay tuned.

Shoni Schimmel has not signed and no rumors of a commitment.

Cal signed an Israeli player who played on their 18U team, G 6-0 Guard Avigiel Cohen. Cohen was born in LA by the way. She is now the 10th player on Cal’s 2010-2011 roster. Cohen is recovering from an injury so it’s not known if she will be enrolling at Cal this summer and playing at Kezar. However those of us who are Kezar junkies will be watching for her.

KiKi Moore, late of Washington State, will transfer to Fresno State. She had activity with most of the WCC Conference, including hometown USF before deciding on Fresno.

Coming and Going in the Pac 10, Part 2

Well I thought I could go on and on about other teams, but very sad to learn that we have lost one of our finest. My very best to JJ and her family and to the coaches who had to make what could have been one of the hardest and saddest decisions of their lives.

Arizona lost only one player off this year’s team, Guard Ashley Frazier. Point Guard Shanita Arnold sat out last season after transferring from Arkansas and will have 2 years at Arizona. Plus the Wildcats signed 4 new players, making 13 on their roster, their highest number in years.

Newcomers include 6-2 forward Erica Barnes from Sacramento. She is HoopGurlz # 34 forward and the # 11 player in Northern California. Candice Warthen is 5-5 guard from Georgia who averaged 25 points per game as a Jr and also won the state High Jump title that year. Kianta Ageous is a 5-9 guard from Texas who averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds as a High School Jr and is a top 100 guard per HoopGurlz. Signing this spring was Taylor Dalrymple, a 6-0 forward who is a JC transfer. Taylor is the # 3 JC power forward and the # 17 overall JC players. Plus she was a High School teammate of Maya Moore.

Overall Arizona welcomes 5 new players to offset their loss of a single player. Depth comes to Tucson.

Arizona State loses 3 players, guards Danielle Orsillo and Gabby Fage and post Kayli Murphy. Murphy and Orsillo and big losses, on the other hand ASU plays with 10“starters” and return a total of 11 players. This includes Dymond Simon an impact player who sat out last season with an ACL she tore in February of 2009. Also sitting out was JC transfer, 5-9 guard Markisha Patterson who will have a role in 2010/2011.

ASU adds 3 newcomers for the next season. Adrianne Thomas is a 5-9 guard from Southern California who signed in November. Thomas could be a sleeper as she had an outstanding travel ball season after her soph year then missed most of her Jr year with an injury. This season she bounced back to be the Inland Empire Valley Player of the Year.

This signing period the Sun Devils will add Olivia Major, a local JC transfer, a 5-7 guard who averaged 20 points a game as a JC soph. Major was All Arizona in High School, scoring 2300 points in her career, and turned down Arizona and Oregon. Another Olivia, this one Olivia Simmons is a 6-0 wing from Australia. Simmons has played with the Cal Stars Elite, an East Bay Club Team, home to a number of college prospects. These two additions have yet to be announced by ASU, so maybe there will be another.

Cal signed 3 in November of offset the loss of 3 guards, Gray-Lawson, Vital and Greif. Also post Brianna Heater left school towards the end of the season. That leaves the Bears at 10 players, only 3 more as Oregon State. Cal will have back 6-5post Rama N’diaye who sat out the past season recovering from an ACL.

Cal signed the second best class, only behind Stanford, this year, in the Pac 10.
6-0 guard Afure Jemerigbe is a High School All American, the # 15 player in the country per HoopGurlz and the # 2 player in Northern California. 6-1 wing Lindsay Sherbert is also an All American and the # 21 player per HoopGurlz in the country. 5-8 guard Mikayla Lyles is the # 6 player in Northern California and named the 2nd best shooter in the country by Hoop Gurlz off her summer play.

Oregon lost their outstanding guards, Taylor Lilley and Micaela Cocks along with Lindsey Safford to graduation. The Ducks have added 5 for next season, bringing their roster to 15. I believe the 15 are on scholarship, although I guess we’ll find out for sure if Shoni Schimmel chooses Oregon.

Signing in November were 5-7 Ariel Thomas of Sacramento, the # 29 guard on HoopGurlz and the # 8 player in NorCal. Deanna Weaver from Santa Clara’s Wilcox High School is a 5-11 wing who played travel with Sara James, who signed with Stanford. Weaver is the # 7 player in NorCal. Also signing was Danielle Love from the state of Washington. Love is a 6-2 forward, the # 54 forward on HoopGurlz.

The Ducks signed two more players this past month. Ashley Buis, is a 5-1l guard and a JC transfer from Indiana. She scored 14 points per game and hit 69 threes this past season. Chynna Miley is a 6-2 post from a Georgia High School.