Class of 2025 Recruiting

[steelsd]

Hadley Thul has commited to SDSU.

[kiyoat]

congrats. Looks like a well-ranked recruit. I don't see that we ever offered her, just coaches followed on Twitter. New staff had two follows.   Looks like you beat out Wisconsin, Northwestern, Marquette and Colorado State!


I'm honestly surprised AJ held onto a scholarship this long!  His recent classes were locked up early.  Looking back at this class, I had assumed McKenna Johnson from Mandan was maybe a silent commit to the Jacks. Guess not.

[steelsd]

Jul 26, 2024 14:34:37 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

congrats. Looks like a well-ranked recruit. I don't see that we ever offered her, just coaches followed on Twitter. New staff had two follows.   Looks like you beat out Wisconsin, Northwestern, Marquette and Colorado State!


I'm honestly surprised AJ held onto a scholarship this long!  His recent classes were locked up early.  Looking back at this class, I had assumed McKenna Johnson from Mandan was maybe a silent commit to the Jacks. Guess not.

Oh, I wasn’t trying to brag or anything like that. Just saw that you were marking off people as they signed with you or elsewhere so was just updating you.

But yes, she is a player we are very excited about. But like they say, no one ever signs a bad player.

This year is very unusual as AJ usually keeps a spot open. For us to have the full 15 is not normal. I assume he landed a player in the class he wasn’t expecting. For 2025 we currently have 14 players. We thought that Kenna Johnson would be a possibility but haven’t heard anything yet. He may have pulled the offer due to having 14 already to bank that spot or decided he liked Felchle better? But maybe last year made him decide more bodies is better. Idk, we will see. But AJ has always liked to offer girls early. We made an offer on a ‘28 already, but see that you offered Sheppard as well. Now maybe I’m wrong but I don’t recall USD offering players as early. But with the portal it’s a new world, so everyone is likely adjusting.

[kiyoat]

Jul 26, 2024 21:12:43 GMT -6 steelsd said:

Jul 26, 2024 14:34:37 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

congrats. Looks like a well-ranked recruit. I don't see that we ever offered her, just coaches followed on Twitter. New staff had two follows.   Looks like you beat out Wisconsin, Northwestern, Marquette and Colorado State!


I'm honestly surprised AJ held onto a scholarship this long!  His recent classes were locked up early.  Looking back at this class, I had assumed McKenna Johnson from Mandan was maybe a silent commit to the Jacks. Guess not.

Oh, I wasn’t trying to brag or anything like that. Just saw that you were marking off people as they signed with you or elsewhere so was just updating you.

But yes, she is a player we are very excited about. But like they say, no one ever signs a bad player.

This year is very unusual as AJ usually keeps a spot open. For us to have the full 15 is not normal. I assume he landed a player in the class he wasn’t expecting. For 2025 we currently have 14 players. We thought that Kenna Johnson would be a possibility but haven’t heard anything yet. He may have pulled the offer due to having 14 already to bank that spot or decided he liked Felchle better? But maybe last year made him decide more bodies is better. Idk, we will see. But AJ has always liked to offer girls early. We made an offer on a ‘28 already, but see that you offered Sheppard as well. Now maybe I’m wrong but I don’t recall USD offering players as early. But with the portal it’s a new world, so everyone is likely adjusting.

Yeah, I don't mind the update, no worries!  Hard to generalize about past vs current recruiting for the Yotes, as each new staff will have their own practices, of course.  At least our current (new) staff has quite a bit of experience recruiting this exact region (albeit at the D-II level).  I wasn't paying attention to USD WBB recruiting as closely prior to Dawn's tenure here, so I don't remember what Ryun and Amy were doing.

AJ, OTOH, has been in the same place (with success) for a very long time, so changes to his strategy is notable.  I agree that holding on to a "spare" scholly probably isn't as helpful in this new era of transfers.  Especially in a sport with as many knee injuries as women's basketball.

I do feel like the SDSU 2024 recruiting class represents a change in AJ's recruiting strategy, possibly in response to competition from USD.  He seemed to be trying to lock up all the top players from SD very early.  Pure speculation on my part, of course.  The Jacks' smaller roster in the 23/24 season was probably (at least partially) to accommodate that big 2024 class.  Interesting stuff, and will make for some fun storylines in the rivalry.

[90yote]

Offered a month ago, just took a visit.

[90yote]

Here is a scouting summary on commit Alyssa Bartlett.

[captaincoyote]

Jun 25, 2024 16:12:12 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

this recent post and reply from our class of 2025 recruits is a big relief for me.  Bartlett and Schlagel visiting Vermillion for elite camps...

We will need some guards to step up in 2025 to fill the Grace-sized hole in the roster, and I really think Schlagel looks like a stud.  Time will tell, but I'm glad she is still in.

[kiyoat]

Well, I feel like this is actually a top-3.  No shame in losing a recruiting battle with Dayton.  That's a good WBB program.  They were in the Elite 8 just a couple of years ago.  I feel like Wyoming is on-par with us, program-wise.  the main advantage they have is the conference.  Or if the recruit likes skiing or rock-climbing.  Laramie is a nice town, and they DO care about women's sports there, similar to at USD.

If she actually picks ORU... maybe she is big into a Pentecostal/Charismatic church?  Or wants to be closer to home? IDK

FWIW:

driving distance from Smithville, MO:
ORU = 4 hours 20 min
USD = 4 hours 22 min
Dayton = 9 hours 13 min
Wyoming = 9 hours 30 minutes

Summit league locations within 5 hours:
USD
Omaha
KC
Oral Roberts
Summit League Tournament

A-10 locations within 5 hours:
St Louis

Mountain West locations within 5 hours:
- N/A
Jus sayin'

[hoopsmom]

I saw a social media post, saying “Glad to add another coyote to the family.” And it featured Brooke Jensen wearing a USD sweatshirt.

[captaincoyote]

Sept 30, 2024 6:36:28 GMT -6 hoopsmom said:

I saw a social media post, saying “Glad to add another coyote to the family.” And it featured Brooke Jensen wearing a USD sweatshirt.

That would be cool!

[hoopsmom]

Also on her Instagram, she has a reel today, called “September dump”. There is a picture of her, wearing a visitor badge, standing on the field at the Coyote football game.

[90yote]

Yes, this is the '25 commit is referenced in the other thread. Always nice to add local kids!

[90yote]

Wohlford commits to Wyoming.

[kiyoat]

Well, shoot. I'll guess we grab a portal post this Spring, maybe? As to Brooke Jensen, I can only find her twitter, which doesn't have any recruiting updates. 


We DO have room for both Brooke (wing) and a post in the 2025 class, according to my calculations. the following class (2026) might be tight for numbers unless we see some players transfer out.  Right now I only see two roster spots for 2026, but we have one verbal commitment (Rowan) and 7 other offers out.

We have a very large freshman class right now (7), so we might see some movement from that group for playing time.  Who knows.

[kiyoat]

Thanks to hoopsmom for finding Brooke's Instagram announcement!  It won't show the image in the thread, but click the link, and you will be able to see her post (it is because of account settings about sharing images).

https://www.instagram.com/p/DA1Crm9RBvi