Comment on Newman: Young talent capable of tipping the scales in this winter’s big-school girls basketball state tournaments

Kyle Newman, Denver Post: Sports
Fri, 02/23/2018 - 10:10pm

Newman: Young talent capable of tipping the scales in this winter’s big-school girls basketball state tournaments

Usually, senior leaders are the catalysts behind a high school basketball team’s state tournament success. But amid this winter’s big-school girls basketball playoffs, there’s a number of standout freshmen and sophomores in Class 5A and 4A who are also capable of tipping the scales in the pursuit of a title. That youth movement is seen most obviously in the 5A frontrunners, Regis Jesuit and Grandview. The freshman combination of point guard Avery VanSickle and small forward Samantha Jones, in addition to sophomore guard Jada Moore, give the Raiders a depth rivaled only by the Wolves, which boasts freshman forward Addison O’Grady as well as impact sophomore guards Landri Hudson and Tomia Johnson. Those six aforementioned names are just the tip of the iceberg in a state where the proliferation of girls basketball talent surpasses the boys, not just in Division I recruiting numbers but in the eye test as well. According to NCAA Research data from 2013-16, 0.9 percent of Colorado boys basketball players were recruited by a Division I school in that time frame compared to 1.4 percent for the girls. And in the state’s Class of 2018 commits, there are a dozen Division I girls commits compared to eight for the boys, per CHSAANow’s list. The upswing in local girls hoops, cultivated in part by top clubs such as Colorado Basketball Club, Mile Hi Magic, B.C.

 

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