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WBB recruiting

I'm guessing that finishes '15. Wow what a class and two more tall front court players with size and skills. I bet '16 doesn't take long to fill, we have 3 already.
 
WOW! Four verbals in less than three weeks. (Alexis Sevillian - 9/13, Tania Davis - 9/19, Amanda Ollinger - 10/01, and Hannah Stewart - 10/02) That is amazing! I had a good [gut] feeling about Hannah but I thought she might not commit until the signing day. I think these young ladies must be well acquainted and really wanted to play together. Now I'm wondering if M'caella Sellers might just give her verbal commitment soon? Does Iowa have a good chance with her?

As for the 10,000 views OakHawk, thanks for the compliment but the credit goes to the devoted Iowa WBB fans on this board (as well as the fortuitous string of verbal commitments).

Here is another link to information on three future lady Hawks.

Summer Jam 2014One North Tartan standout already primed for the physical nature of the Division I game is 6-2 Hannah Stewart[/B]. The size, strength and frame she brings to the floor is going to make some BCS coach very happy and keep some opponents up at night. Stewart can call on the baby hook inside but is just as comfortable laying a shoulder into an opponent and clearing space as well. Her vertical is deceiving and allows her to be a factor on the boards at both ends of the floor. If effort counts for something Stewart is your girl as well. Hardly a sleeper by any means, she may well be just scratching the surface of a very promising future.

If you don't like 2016 forward Amanda Ollinger[/B] then we're going to have to have those eyes checked. Standing a legitimate 6-2, she's strong, active, skilled and willing to break a sweat. Likely a "true" #4 at the next level, she is a workhorse on the interior but equally proficient on the perimeter. Add to that some serious range and a quick release and you've got an asset against virtually any defensive scheme. It's obvious with Ollinger, as well as other AIA players, that she's been well coached and has a good grasp on the value of spacing. There are still some rough edges and some consistency to be refined but the potential is already becoming a reality.

Easily the standout for All Iowa in Sunday's final was 2016 backcourt threat Mackenzie Meyer. The depth to her game is the kind of thing that helps coaches sleep at night. Oh, she's still going to cause some gray hair but you want the ball in her hands. Her long range attack in the championship loss was an early advantage and also afforded her attack some opportunities as the game progressed. Exploiting tight close outs, she can create off the dribble and has the eyes up reading not only her teammates but defenders as well. Not quite her listed 5-10, she's still got good size and deceivingly faster feet than you might think with first impressions. Meyer appears steady emotionally with the ebb and flow of the game leading to good decisions with and without the ball.
 
Bishop Ryan, Stewart honored by NDAPSSA

Today, the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association honor the Lions basketball team and junior three-sport standout Hannah Stewart. Ryan is the NDAPSSA's high school girls team of the year while Stewart has been named high school girls athlete of the year. Basketball and softball coach Julie Stewart, Hannah's mother, was one of three finalists for high school girls coach of the year. Hannah Stewart garnered all-state distinctions in basketball and softball.

"She really works hard at being an athlete and stays committed to being an athlete," Julie Stewart said. "That can transfer into a lot of different sports and a lot of different directions. I think the fact that she does play three sports stretches a person; it also keeps you fresh and excited when you're involved in each particular sport - just sort of a rejuvenation so to speak."

Hannah Stewart averaged 23 points and 11.3 rebounds per game as the Lions tied the 2002-04 Larimore teams' record for consecutive wins. In the spring, she starred as a pitcher and shortstop. Stewart went 13-3 with a 0.87 ERA in the circle. At the plate, she led the team in batting (.539), on-base percentage (.574), doubles (13) and home runs (9). Julie Stewart took pleasure in coaching her daughter in both sports.

"I think the relationship and the trust we've had has been extraordinary," Stewart said. "Sometimes it's not an easy situation, but it's worked out well for Hannah and I. I believe she plays humbly and is very thankful and grateful to her teammates. She understands that they make her look better; her catcher makes her look better as a pitcher and her teammates make her look better on the basketball floor. She gets that."

Conversely, Hannah Stewart makes her teammates look better, too. On the hardwood, the 6-foot-2 forward is a low-volume player. She pads her stats without needing to dominate the ball. She requires plenty of attention from opponents at both ends of the court, which opens up opportunities for her teammates. As a result, the Lions ran the table for a second straight season.

[...]

The Lions' high-energy approach developed into a high-executing style, one that posted 78.8 points per game while allowing just 33.3. Ryan trailed after halftime in just two games all year: its season opener against No. 2 Thompson and in the state championship against No. 3 Shiloh Christian. The veteran squad calmly rallied both times to keep its winning streak alive. It earned the Lions the NDAPSSA's honor of North Dakota's top high school girls team.
 
Goodrich teammates Tania Davis and Alexis Sevillian commit to Iowa for personal reasons; friendship is bonus
GOODRICH, MI - Goodrich teammates Sevillian, a junior , committed on Thursday, Sept. 11, but there wasn't any pressure from Sevillian to convince Davis to join her -- it seriously just happened.
"Her decision really didn't affect mine because she committed for her reasons and I committed for mine," said Davis, who is ranked No. 37 in the nation by ESPN. "Obviously, her being there is an added bonus, but she never gave input on what school she wanted me to go to. She wanted me to make my decision based off my own reasons and that's why I came up with Iowa."
Davis and Sevillian are best friends who built their bond earlier in high school, so naturally they're attracted to the same types of things. Iowa's campus, coaching staff and fan base are what reeled the Goodrich girls in. Heading into this season, both girls were set on getting the recruiting process out of the way. Sevillian may only be a junior but she already knew exactly what she wanted from a school so she jumped on the Iowa offer immediately.
"It's great knowing that I'm going to school with my best friend but I don't think it was a factor," said Sevillian, the younger sister of Penn State guard Keke Sevillian. "Once she figured out I was going to Iowa it was like another plus so that was another good thing about her choosing her decision."

Davis wanted to focus strictly on basketball in her senior year without any distractions from other colleges.

"It took a lot off my shoulders once I did it," said Davis, who picked Iowa over major programs such as Michigan State, Kansas and DePaul. "I didn't have to make any more phone calls, I wasn't receiving any more phone calls like I used to and it was really a stress reliever."
Iowa has communicated with Davis and Sevillian since the start of their high school careers. Davis confirmed that in-state giants Michigan State and Michigan both offered her at some point but didn't pursue her as aggressively as Iowa from the beginning. At 5-foot-4, Davis was often overlooked by schools because of her height despite being an early favorite for Michigan's Miss Basketball award this year, a two-time state champion, First-Team All-State, and The Associated Press' Class B Player of the Year -- as a junior. She was pretty set on leaving the state earlier this summer when MSU and UM didn't jump on board.
"The fact that Iowa plays in the Big Ten is another bonus because I'll be able to get back here and play against Michigan and Michigan State, then be able to travel to Ohio State, Indiana and other places where my family and friends can see me," Davis said. "Playing in the Big Ten, I will have to create a lot of shots but playing with those athletes and tremendous players will only make me better no matter how tall I am."
Although college is on their radar, Davis and Sevillian are still student-athletes at Goodrich who have goals. Sevillian wants to make All-State, Davis wants to reach All-American status and more importantly they want to lead Goodrich to its third Class B state title in four years. Goodrich reached the regional finals last season but with two future Division I players on the roster the Martians want to hoist another championship trophy.
"With us together good things together because (Tania) makes me a better and smarter player," Sevillian said. "Just playing with her is really good and she's one of the best teammates that I've ever had."
 
Oak or Cyber, I may have missed it but what other offers did Stewart have. And as I've said before, thank you for your efforts on the women's BB recruiting.
 
Bluder is on an unbelievable roll with recruiting! Now if her team can catch a few breaks in the injury dept (no pun intended) the ladies should be in the mix at the top of the B10 the next few years.

2015 recruit Tagyn Larson is having a pretty good year so far as a member of Sioux Falls Roosevelt's volleyball team..... I don't have her stats but she is prominently mentioned on local sports covering her matches. No doubt she could play Div1 volleyball if she opted to go that route.

I believe Tagyn will be consensus 1st team pre-season all-state BB and SF Roosevelt should be a title contender. Great shot blocker, looking forward to see if she can up her scoring average this year.
 
Stewart's final choices were - Iowa State, Oregon State, Gonzaga, Northwestern, & Iowa.
 
Iowa City City High's Courtney Jones is going to Illinois. Oak, what's the story? Thought she would be a lock for Iowa.

Posted from Rivals Mobile
This post was edited on 10/6 12:13 PM by hawkfan55
 
Originally posted by oakhawk:
She is a good player, they just ran out of room.
That seems possible, but there doesn't seem to have been any mutual interest even before Iowa "ran out of room."
 
Kid,

I would guess another true post or perhaps the other Cedar Rapids girl. After next year, so in 2016, they would only have one true post player in Gustafen?? (sorry for the typo). Coley, Stewart, and Larson are 6'2 and bring some physicality to their game but we'll need another true post this year or next for the 2016 roster.

As Oak has mentioned before, we have room to give 1 more ride to give this year and/or 1-2 rides to hand out next year (counting Ollinger and Sellivan).

Next fall's roster:

SR

Till 6'0 F
Peschel 6'1 F
Smith 6'4" C

JR

Schnedan (non scholarship player) 6'2" F
Kastanek 5'10 G
Disterhoft 6'0 G

SO

Coley 6'3 F
Jennings 5'5 G
Buttenham 6'0 F
Mohns 6'1 F

FR

Davis 5'3 G
Stewart 6'2 F
Larson 6'2 F
Gustafen 6'3 C

This post was edited on 10/13 9:50 PM by 91hawki
 
Originally posted by oakhawk:
A good article on Hannah from ESPN.
Dietel sees Stewart as a stretch power forward. "Hannah has a baby hook, but she is not going to wow you with a plethora of post moves," Dietel said. "She is a face-up kid who will not be outworked. She has to continue to work on her perimeter shot, but she's a threat there right now."

...she has led Bishop Ryan to 57 consecutive wins [including two ND state titles], which ties a state record. [And] She was the MVP of both [her sophomore & junior year] state finals.
 
Weekend Visitors

Courtney Fredrickson, 6-2, forward, Minnetonka High School/MN North Tartan 15 (Shorewood, Minnesota)
Fredrickson is a more power than small forward but has some of each
in her. A lefty with medium-solid build, she likes to drive (likes spin
moves) the key and baseline. She is a good passer on the perimeter but
also a physical player who can block shots when she is in the paint.Rated as the #2 olayer in the 2016 class in Minnesota. The rating blurb is from Nike Nationals.
Lyndsey Robson, 5-10 guard , from Apple Valley Mn. She is rated the #3 player in the 2017 class in Minnesota
 
Originally posted by BGHAWK:

Oak or Cyber, I may have missed it but what other offers did Stewart have. And as I've said before, thank you for your efforts on the women's BB recruiting.
BGHAWK, the article about Hannah in ESPN (link provided by OakHawk), suggests that she is a rising star due to underexposure in the AAU circuit.

Her first AAU event was in Virginia at Boo Williams, which is one of the most prestigious and challenging tournaments in the nation. It didn't take long for all those college coaches in attendance to take notice of the mystery girl from North Dakota.

"She blew up out there," said Greg Dietel, who coached North Tartan to a 5-0 record at Boo Williams. "We had multiple schools from all the major conferences approach us about her."

Before Boo Williams, Stewart had offers from just three schools: North Dakota, Gonzaga and North Dakota State. Shortly after Boo Williams, she had 20 offers.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by UpstreamHawkeye:
Read on Gazette that we got a new commit, junior guard Bre Cera from Wisconsin.

Wisconsin junior guard chooses the Hawkeyes
Amazing! Breanna just recently came onto my 'radar'. Here is an excerpt from this linked article about her offers...

Cera reportedly had offers from Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, Marquette, DePaul, Wisconsin, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Iowa State, in addition to Iowa and Green Bay.


This post was edited on 10/25 11:36 AM by cyberhawk
 
Thanks Cyber and I see she's #1 in Wisconsin. She had several good offers and it sounds like Stewart did also.
 
And the recruiting wins keep on coming. One question though since I know much about women's basketball. Are there a lot of late bloomers like the men? We're locking up all the schollys in 2016 a year ahead.
 
Re: We're Locking Up All Schollies A Year Early

Not qujite all. There is still one open, that can be used in 2015 or 2016...or offered to a transfer.

Normally Bluder does not like to have more than about 12 or 13 members of her squad; but (a) there is always the potential chance of attrition---serious injuries (plagued Blude's teams freqently), transfers out from playing time concern, homesickness & academic issues; (b) things are falling into place for her to elevate her program to national reputation, and she may be only one player away from being a factor in the women's NCAA tournament & a power in the BT as it is developing into a rival of the ACC & SEC--the additions of Nebraska, Rutgers & Maryland are forcing Penn State, Iowa, Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio State to improve...and Michigan is a rising program, Wisky has the talent base & fine facilities, Minnesota & Indiana have the potential o be consistent contenders.

But these next four, five years could be the breakthrough that puts the Hawkeyes back to the dominance of the Vivian Stringer years. There may be one last piece that she is looking for--which is another high quality post (so much of her offense goes through the center. She will have Gustafson as a fine passer, but it would be reassuring to have another post to share the position. My guess is that the Iowa coaches are searching the high school ranks--and looking for a big time potential transfer.
 
Originally posted by 91hawki:
Kid,
[...]
As Oak has mentioned before, we have room to give 1 more ride to give this year and/or 1-2 rides to hand out next year (counting Ollinger and Sellivan).

Next fall's roster:

SR
Till 6'0 F
Peschel 6'1 F
Smith 6'4" C

JR
Schnedan 6'2" F
Kastanek 5'10 G
Disterhoft 6'0 G

SO
Coley 6'3 F
Jennings 5'5 G
Buttenham 6'0 F
Mohns 6'1 F

FR
Davis 5'3 G
Stewart 6'2 F
Larson 6'2 F
Gustafen 6'3 C
Now with the latest verbal Iowa has four commitments for the HS class of 2016. That totals 15 scholarships (including Haily Schneden who was awarded a scholarship last year) for the 2016-2017 season. There are no more available until 2017.
 
Originally posted by cyberhawk:

Originally posted by 91hawki:
Kid,
[...]
As Oak has mentioned before, we have room to give 1 more ride to give this year and/or 1-2 rides to hand out next year (counting Ollinger and Sellivan).

Next fall's roster:

SR
Till 6'0 F
Peschel 6'1 F
Smith 6'4" C

JR
Schnedan 6'2" F
Kastanek 5'10 G
Disterhoft 6'0 G

SO
Coley 6'3 F
Jennings 5'5 G
Buttenham 6'0 F
Mohns 6'1 F

FR
Davis 5'3 G
Stewart 6'2 F
Larson 6'2 F
Gustafen 6'3 C
Now with the latest verbal Iowa has four commitments for the HS class of 2016. That totals 15 scholarships (including Haily Schneden who was awarded a scholarship last year) for the 2016-2017 season. There are no more available until 2017.
The Mason City girl? What class would she be in when she gets to Iowa?
 
Mackenzie Meyer is in the class of 2016, as is Alexis Sevillian, Amanda Ollinger, and now Bre Cera.
 
Mukwonago's Bre Cera added leadership to offensive skill set
b99229190z.1_20140320022653_000_gct5cgsm.1-1.jpg



"[last] year, she really stepped into that leadership role and [did] a great job with it. She's one of the hardest working players I've ever seen," Kolinske said. "She puts in the time, that's why she's as talented as she is. Since she was young, the amount of time she spent on her game is unmatched. [...also] She commands the attention of her peers. That's one of the reasons we made her a captain as a sophomore, which I don't think that's something you typically see."
[Last year] the sophomore guard's scoring average [was] 13.5 points per game She [shot] 32% (33-103) from three-point range. Cera says she's stronger, too, which helps her drive to the basket. As a result Cera is getting fouled, as her 89 free throws made are 43 more than any teammate.

This post was edited on 10/16 8:25 PM by cyberhawk
 
Not sure how they cranked up the recruiting like this but wow!! The Meyer gal from Mason City sounds like she should be ranked. Lisa probably doesn't have to worry about recruiting for a while and can concentrate strictly on coaching. Bravo to the coaches, this is really impressive and probably unprecedented.
 
I thought we had one more ride to give, thought was Schnedan is a non-scholly player.
This post was edited on 10/13 9:55 PM by 91hawki
 
I just posted in the lounge, but saw on Blue Star that Cera is their 29th best overall prospect in the class of 2016.
 
Re: WBB recruiting: Schnedan's status

My understanding is that 91hawki is correct, that there remains a schollie that could be offered---and likely will, if Bluder has a chance to get a commitment from a high quality post.

Schnaden came to Iowa as a walk on. She was then offered a schollie for the 2014-15 academic year, but schollies are only for a single year and must be renewed, as many as four times in the case of a recruited player who redshirts a year. IIRC the schollie for this year for Schnedan was not given with assurance that it would be renewed. It could be, of course, which depends upon what Bluder has told her. There are no hard-fast rules but the usual practice is that when a walk-on is rewarded with a schollie it is for a single year. My assumption is that such is the case in this instance: the staff is looking at potential inside players, with the Fredrickson girl from Minnetonka, outside Minneapolis here this past weekend, and M'cala Sellers in Cedar Rapids is another highly rated 2016 player Iowa has been recruiting.
 
Re: WBB recruiting: Schnedan's status


I agree with what you wrote Tigger, but knowing how Lisa usually doesn't want a full 15 player roster anyway, I would be surprised if she takes the scholarship away from Schneden. now, if the right player or two comes along, then that could very well change I suppose.
 
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Re: WBB recruiting: Schnedan's status

Will this practice of awarding one-year scholarships to walk-ons be abolished once BigTen starts enforcing its new four-year scholarship rule?
 
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