Early signing period overview
Stanford and Notre Dame are again sweating out a major recruit
The lighted snowmen, electric choo-choos and other decorations were up at the local, mall-sized hardware store the other day, and a couple of neighbors already have put up their lights. We've barely inched past Halloween, but it's already beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Just about everywhere we go.
So we'll stick with the metaphor and remind everyone that there are just 10 "shopping" days left until the early signing period begins on Nov. 11.
That means that Stanford, for sure, and Notre Dame are in a familiar spot -- sweating out a major recruit at a time when most of the rest of the country is completely focused on the spate of exhibition games that hit this week. Last year, it was Irish coach Muffet McGraw who received word in mid-game from Skylar Diggins of her commitment to Notre Dame. Diggins' other finalist? Stanford, of course.
The year before, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer received word, midway through the early signing period, that Nneka Ogwumike was coming her way. This year, of course, Notre Dame and Stanford, as well as Connecticut, are holding their breaths as Ogwumike's younger sister, Chiney, contemplates her future. She is coming off an official visit to Notre Dame this past weekend.
Connecticut is the only program that dramatically can be impacted by an Ogwumike commitment. Adding 2010's consensus No. 1 recruit would be a lot bigger boon to Notre Dame and Stanford. Here's how:
• Connecticut's post-Maya Moore reloading class would be upgraded to nuclear status and edge the Huskies past Duke, which for now is the likely No. 1 recruiting class after adding No. 6 Richa Jackson on Sunday.
• Notre Dame's eventual starting five could contend for a national title after adding Chiney Ogwumike, No. 20 Kayla McBride and two heralded commitments in Natalie Achonwa and Ariel Braker to last year's prize, Diggins.
• Stanford gets the huge infusion of athleticism it lacked during its national championship showdown last spring with UConn by mixing Ogwumike and No. 62 Chloe Wells, if she also commits to VanDerveer, to already committed No. 18 Sara James.
Meanwhile, the weekend's other two ranked commitments elevate a couple programs into rarefied recruiting air.
ESPN HoopGurlz takes a closer look at the weekend's top commitments.
No. 6 Jackson to Duke
The Skinny: In addition to being ultra-flexible, the 2010 recruiting class is a nice-and-cozy group for Duke. Newly committed Richa Jackson participated in Nike's National Skills Academy with Chelsea Gray and Haley Peters. She took her official visit to Durham, N.C., two weeks ago with Peters and Tricia Liston. Coming from all over the country as they do, the foursome will have to rely on each other -- and basketball -- OK, and the books, to carry them through that initial wave of homesickness. A bonding opportunity if we've ever seen one.
The Whole Story: Glenn Nelson
No. 64 Jefferson to Kentucky
The Skinny: If you don't quite know the name Laquinta Jefferson, just wait. She could be a monstrously underrated get for Kentucky, as her widely expected rise in everyone's rankings was derailed by a knee injury last summer. Even so, adding her to a recruiting class that already included No. 30 Jennifer O'Neill, No. 74 Samantha Drake, Maegan Conwright and Sara Beth Barnette probably catapults coach Matthew Mitchell's 2010 take among the country's top 10.
The Whole Story: On The Trail
No. 83 Holmes to Xavier
The Skinny: Lynette Holmes of Chicago should be XXX rated. She played for a club team, the X-citement, coached by Xavier Walton and she committed to Xavier. The bigger "hmmm" is that the little university in Cincinnati keeps quietly reeling in enough top-level talent to be ranked No. 11 in AP's preseason poll, and coach Kevin McGuff's 2010 class will more than keep the program on this heightened perch. McGuff and staff already had No. 25 Lakeisha Crouch in a four-player class before Holmes brought her x-factor to it.
The Whole Story: On The Trail
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Glenn Nelson is a senior writer at ESPN.com and the founder of HoopGurlz.com. A member of the Parade All-American Selection Committee, he formerly coached girl's club basketball, was the editor-in-chief of an online sports network, authored a basketball book for kids, and was a longtime, national-award-winning newspaper columnist and writer. He can be reached at glenn@hoopgurlz.com.
