Her recruitment blew up last year at Nationals in Chicago.
Iowa WBB 2025 Recruiting Thread
- Thread starter BraydonRoberts5
- Start date
Great photos of our 2025 commits from over the weekend! Show them all some love and give them a follow and a like if you feel inclined.
Hint: If you scroll far enough, you will find a video of Layla surprising the staff with her commitment!
Hint: If you scroll far enough, you will find a video of Layla surprising the staff with her commitment!
Saw the video of Layla a bit ago, Jan’s reaction is priceless.
The pix with the Brazilian flag are especially cool.
That is one big beautiful girl. I think two years with the program she’s gonna be a force. Excited what the future brings for this program. Attendance is going to be crazy for years.
The picture of her with Aaliyah Guyton holding the Brazilian flag is interesting. Guyton's mother was a four time olympian playing for Brazil. Interesting link between the two young ladies. Also like the picture of Fernandez with members of the team.
She looks good on her tape, aggressive, mobile, hit some three’s too
From the Gazette:
6'5" post Layla Hays’ mind was made up well before she stepped on the plane for a 5-hour flight to the Midwest.
“I’ve known for a while now that I was going to commit” Hays said via phone call Monday afternoon.
“But since I was granted a 2nd visit (due to Iowa’s recent coaching change), I was going to use it to surprise them.”
“They have had a place in my heart since my first visit. The way the coaches develop posts ... I was looking for a family, and I found it at Iowa. I feel like I connected with (Coach) Jan (Jensen) so well.”
The Full Story:
6'5" post Layla Hays’ mind was made up well before she stepped on the plane for a 5-hour flight to the Midwest.
“I’ve known for a while now that I was going to commit” Hays said via phone call Monday afternoon.
“But since I was granted a 2nd visit (due to Iowa’s recent coaching change), I was going to use it to surprise them.”
“They have had a place in my heart since my first visit. The way the coaches develop posts ... I was looking for a family, and I found it at Iowa. I feel like I connected with (Coach) Jan (Jensen) so well.”
The Full Story:
This interview reveals just how mystifying the recruiting process can be. Back on Sept 20th I posted a query as to her standing with the Hawks: no recent articles or posts aside from one that said she was down to 8 teams, which was more teams than she had offers from when she visited us earlier. Also saw she had taken quite a few other visits. I thought she was probably heading anywhere but Iowa. And then she says she knew she was going to commit before she even came! Crazy! Just remember how this unfolded with prospects in the future.
Quick question regarding her being ranked #68 overall but the 2nd rated center (espn shows 3 centers total for the top 100). Is that a one year artifact/sample size kinda thing or the way it usually is?
If not- Is it related to the meta changes in basketball with wings/forwards (i.e. 3 point emphasis, 3 and d wings, stretch the floor, etc)? Are centers harder for scouts/writers to grade/evaluate or under-appreciated by those doing the rankings? Are some players classifying as forwards who would previously had been centers? I'm really curious if anyone has thoughts or explanations on it.
