News, Verbal Commitments & Signings, Class of 2001 Verbals
If there is a link to a school, you can click on it to get more information.
March 12, 2000 Penn State, Purdue, Illinois and Michigan received bids to the NCAA tournament.
March 6, 2000 Indiana finally noticed it had a women's basketball team. When they did look, they didn't like what they saw and fired coach Jim Izard.
March 5, 2000 Purdue defended its title in the Big 10 post-season tournament.
March 1, 2000 The annual post-season awards voted by the coaches and media were announced. For a complete list, along with my awards, see my awards page.
Feb 28, 2000 Iowa coach Angie Lee resigned her position effective May 1. The classy Lee acknowledged that she wasn't getting the job done.
Feb 28, 2000 Penn State senior Andrea Garner and Purdue junior Katie Douglas were named co-Players of the week.
The GTE Academic all-district teams have been named. To be named a player must be a starter or key reserve and have a cumulative grade point average on 3.2 or better. Big 10 players named were junior Becky Cummings of MSU (3.43 in audiology and speech sciences), sophomore Lauren Shenk, OSU (3.9 Molecular Genetics), sophomore Lindsey Meder, Iowa (4.013 on a scale of 4 in psychology), senior Andrea Garner, Penn State (3.36 marketing), junior Camille Cooper, Purdue (3.79 political science) and junior Katie Douglas, Purdue (3.47 communications)
Feb 24, 2000. Penn State won the regular season championship with their win over Minnesota.
Feb 21, 2000 Michigan freshman LeeAnn Bies was named Player of the Week.
Feb 14, 2000 Iowa junior Cara Consuegra and Penn State junior were named co-Players of the Week.
Feb 7, 2000 Michigan junior Anne Thorius was named Player of the Week
Feb 3, 2000 Iowa junior Cara Consuegra became the second player in league history to accomplish a triple double when she scored 17 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out 10 assists against Indiana.
Jan 31, 2000 Penn State junior Maren Walseth was named Player of the Week.
Jan 24, 2000 Purdue junior Katie Douglas and Michigan State junior Becky Cummings were named co-Players of the Week
Jan 19, 2000 Michigan State coach Karen Langeland announced that she will step down at the end of the season. Langeland, the league's most veteran coach, is one of the good people in coaching and will be missed.
Jan 17, 2000 Wisconsin sophomore Tamara Moore was named Player of the Week.
Jan 10, 2000 Penn State senior Andrea Garner and Illinois senior Tauja Catchings were named co-Players of the Week
Jan 3, 2000 Penn State senior Andrea Garner was named Player of the Week
Dec 27, 1999 Illinois senior Tauja Catchings was named Player of the Week
Dec 20, 1999 Illinois freshman Kristi Faulkner has been named Big 10 Player of the Week
Dec 13, 1999 Minnesota senior Erin Olson was named Big 10 Player of the Week.
Dec 8, 1999 Highly touted freshman Natea Motley has left the Minnesota team.
Dec 6, 1999 Sophomore Jill Chapman of Indiana and Junior Camille Cooper of Purdue were named co-Big 10 Players of the Week.
Dec 3, 1999 Junior forward Connie Murdock has left the Purdue team.
Nov 29, 1999 Illinois sophomore Allison Curtain was named the Big 10 Player of the Week
Indiana senior Kameelah Morgan became the latest player to quit Jim Izard's team. She is the fourth player to leave in the past year. Too bad no one at IU cares.
Illinois soph Cindy Dallas continues to struggle with her injured knee and is out indefinitely.
Nov 22, 1999 The first Big 10 Player of the Week is Wisconsin sophomore power forward Jessie Stomski. Stomski was named the MVP of the Nebraska tournament after averaging 19.5 points and 10 rebounds in the two games.
Michigan post player Raina Goodlow suffered a knee injury in the Wolverines first exhibition game. She is expected to return for the Wolverines first game of the season.
Wisconsin freshman Candas Smith has been completely cleared to play. She has not decided if she will redshirt.
Incoming Wisconsin freshman Candas Smith has undergone additional surgery and her availability for the upcoming season is in doubt.
Ohio State freshman LaToya turner underwent a second knee operation on Oct 22.
Minnesota soph Erin Schaffer has left the Gopher team. Cheryl Littlejohn has added freshmen guards Kathryn Higgens and Trish McGhee to her team.
Jelena Lazic is no longer with the Indiana Hoosiers.
Lisa Guarneri, who has started and been the first guard off the bench at Illinois has left the Illini. The Illini have also added a walk-on guard. 5'8 freshman Suzanne Curtain, little sister of Allison, will play for Grentz.
Four Big 10 players, Purdue's Katie Douglas and Camille Cooper and Illinois' Tauja Catchings and Susan Blauser, have been named pre-season Naismith candidates.
The Big 10 all star team finished its tour of Europe with a 4-0 record.
Here are the verbal commitments made to Big 10 schools. All are for the 2000 season, unless otherwise noted. Rankings marked with a # are from the All-Star Girls Report. Those marked with a * are from the Blue Star Index Top 100 and those marked with a @ are from Street and Smith. While these are certainly not gospel, they do have the virtue of being available. Player rankings, while they provide interesting conversational matter, are basically meaningless. Other honors and rankings will be added as they become available.
Players in blue have signed letters of intent. Those in gold have made verbal commitments.
2000 Freshmen
|
Illinois |
Aminata Yanni, 6'1 S/P F, Machesney Pk, Ill,
#33, *10, @ 3rdTeam AA
Brenda Blackburn, 6'6 C, Armore, Ok, #NR, *NR, @NR Ann O'Neil, 5'11 PG, Cedar Rapids, Ia, #7, *13, @ 2nd Team AA Yolanda Smith, 5'10 SG, Rantoul, Ill, jc transfer |
|
Indiana |
Nicki Motto, 5'5 PG, Oakwood, OH #174, *NR,
@ HM AA
Charliss Ridley, 5'11, Wheaton, Ill #NR, *NR, @NR Anna Waugh, 5'6 PG, Franklin, Ind, #88, *NR, @NR |
|
Iowa |
Jennie Lillis, 6'1 PF, Urbandale, Ia, #140,
*NR, @ HM AA
Becca McCann, 6' PF/C, Saginaw, Mi, #454, *NR, @NR |
|
Michigan |
Jennifer Smith, 6'4 C, Lansing Mi, #157,
*NR, @NR
Christine Schumacher, 6' 2G/SM, Milford Mi, #69, *92, @ HM AA Michaela Leary, 5'8 PG, Nashua NH, #121, *86, @ HM AA |
|
Michigan State |
Anne Peck, 6'2 PF, Madison Ct, #NR, *NR, @NR |
|
Minnesota |
Megan Kane, 6' S/P F, Bloomington, Mn #105,
*NR, @NR
Leslie Hill, Ill Tanasha Gilbert, 5'10 SF, Brooklyn Park, Mn #81, *NR, @ HM AA Lindsay Whalen, PG, Hutchinson, Mn, #NR, *NR, @NR Angel Leon, 6'3 C, Bethel, Mn, #647, *NR, @NR |
|
Northwestern |
Michelle Zylstra, 6'1 F, Huntington Beach Ca, #NR, *NR, @NR |
|
Ohio State |
Caity Matter, 5'9 2 G, Bluffton, Oh #40,*72,
@ HM AA Emily Haynam, 6'2 C, Westerville, Oh #79, *50, @ HM AA |
|
Penn State |
Kelly Mazzante, 5'11 2G, Montoursville, Pa
#213, *83, @ HM AA
Courtney Upshaw, 6'3 C, Fairfield, Ct #60, *78, @ HM AA Jackie Shook, 6'4 C, Aurora Ill # 100, *82, @ HM AA Jessica Brungo, 6' F, Pittsburgh, Pa #95, *69, @ HM AA Jenny Brenden, 5'11 F, Sauk Rapids-Rice, Mn, #NR, @ HM AA |
|
Purdue |
Lindsey Hicks, 6' SF, Lebanon, Oh #76,
@ HM AA
Beth Jones, 5'8 2G, Maineville, Oh #179, @ NR Erika Valek, 5'6 PG, Lubbock, Tx #4, *23, @ 5th Team AA Shereka Wright, 5'10 Swing, Copperas Gr, Tx #26, *9, @ 2nd Team AA Cherisse Graham, 5'8 PG, Conshohocken Pa #6, *4, @ 1st Team AA Shalicia Hurns, 6' 2G/SF, Indianapolis, #66, *47, @ HM AA |
|
Wisconsin |
Emily Ashbaugh, 6'5 C, Redmond Wash, #61, *61, @ HM AA |
|
Illinois |
Jere Issenmann, 5'10 guard, Mason Ohio |
|
Indiana |
|
|
Iowa |
|
|
Michigan |
|
|
Michigan State |
|
|
Minnesota |
|
|
Northwestern |
|
|
Ohio State |
|
|
Penn State |
Ashli Schwab |
|
Purdue |
|
|
Wisconsin |
There are several sites that provide excellent recruiting rumors. Try Sybil's Recruiting Page. I'd recommend checking it out.