2025 HG #1 Recruit: Aaliyah Chavez

[visitingcock]

She's down to six. Time for her own thread. Texas Tech still sitting at the big table!

 

[JellyBean]

Huge shoutout to Texas Tech for being in the running!! That is a positive sign for them. I always love seeing a nontraditional power program getting some love from top players of the game.

 

[visitingcock]

Huge shoutout to Texas Tech for being in the running!! That is a positive sign for them. I always love seeing a nontraditional power program getting some love from top players of the game.

Home town favorite and Number 1 . Probably her emotional favorite. I remember the joy of getting A’ja - and what that did for our program!

Folks, I’m asking that we post about her in this thread rather than the regular
“ Non-UConn Recruiting” thread. Same for other Top 25ish recruits that UConn is not involved with (they have their own thread/sub forum). Keeps us from cluttering up that thread with five or six top recruits and I think it is beneficial to the whole site.

@temery is this proper

 

[Baller29]

Looks like Chavez is visiting UCLA this weekend

 

[Bone Dog]

I doubt she’ll leave the state.

 

[Baller29]

I doubt she’ll leave the state.

The furthest I can see her going is OU/LSU type distance, I dont see her going beyond that region though.

Talia is saying its mostly a Texas/LSU battle with Tech being a dark horse pending some major NIL deal

 

[visitingcock]

The furthest I can see her going is OU/LSU type distance, I dont see her going beyond that region though.

Talia is saying its mostly a Texas/LSU battle with Tech being a dark horse pending some major NIL deal

Teach and SCar both paid 25k per year BASE pay to all players a couple of years ago. Of course, that doesn’t include their private deals. Fulwiley and Tessa both racked up endorsements after their freshman performances. I have no idea what the base is for TT now but SCar’s has purportedly jumped to 50k this year.

LSU purportedly doesn’t pay a “base pay” on from the collective money, but instead offers varying amounts to a recruit based on how bad Kim wants her. She can spend all of the collective money on one player if she wants - supposedly. Texas is supposedly the same as LSU

I would assume that there is a great opportunity for endorsements in the TexMex market for her with both Texas schools.

I have no sources in Cali concerning how UCLA’s collective money.

 

[Baller29]

Teach and SCar both paid 25k per year BASE pay to all players a couple of years ago. Of course, that doesn’t include their private deals. Fulwiley and Tessa both racked up endorsements after their freshman performances. I have no idea what the base is for TT now but SCar’s has purportedly jumped to 50k this year.

LSU purportedly doesn’t pay a “base pay” on from the collective money, but instead offers varying amounts to a recruit based on how bad Kim wants her. She can spend all of the collective money on one player if she wants - supposedly. Texas is supposedly the same as LSU

I would assume that there is a great opportunity for endorsements in the TexMex market for her with both Texas schools.

I have no sources in Cali concerning how UCLA’s collective money.

I personally dont think Money is going to be the deciding factor with Chavez, most the schools in her finalist list can sling out NIL money as much as they want tbh and for a #1 recruit everyone will throw the kitchen sink at her

I just brought up the NIL deal with tech because the deal with the softball player Candy from Stanford is pretty insane tbh lol but it'll be fun to see how her recruitment plays out.

 

[Coler]

All I know is that Kim and LSU better give her any thing she wants.... we need her badly.

 

[Baller29]

All I know is that Kim and LSU better give her any thing she wants.... we need her badly.

Kim has historically been a elite recruiter but something has been off within the last year since the start of her health scare (granted it was just ONE recruiting class and she signed plenty of talent her first two years at LSU) and Vic has been out recruiting Mulkey lately.

On paper the betting odds are Vic will probably beat out Kim again for this one as of now. Who knows.

 

[Coler]

Kim has historically been a elite recruiter but something has been off within the last year since the start of her health scare (granted it was just ONE recruiting class and she signed plenty of talent her first two years at LSU) and Vic has been out recruiting Mulkey lately.

On paper the betting odds are Vic will probably beat out Kim again for this one as of now. Who knows.

Kim wasn't very involved last recruiting cycle for the 24' class. But she has been for this class. We already have one 5 star commit, and it sounds very likely we'll be ending September with another.

I wouldn't count Kim out just yet. Even if we don't land Chavez, we could end up having one of the top classes.

However, I still like our chances..

 

[Baller29]

Kim wasn't very involved last recruiting cycle for the 24' class. But she has been for this class. We already have one 5 star commit, and it sounds very likely we'll be ending September with another.

I wouldn't count Kim out just yet. Even if we don't land Chavez, we could end up having one of the top classes.

However, I still like our chances..

If they land Divine that covers them for sure at least PG wise but yes LSU already light years in a better spot than 24 having a five star guard committed and having 5 other top recruits on the way to campus this fall. Sign 1-2 more its a very good class

 

[southie]

I resigned myself a few weeks ago to believing strongly that Aaliyah Chavez will end up choosing Texas Tech.

I had for a quite a while believed Texas stood a very strong chance at landing her based on the many unofficial visits she and her family have made to Austin, always attending football and basketball games when Texas plays at Texas Tech, all the reels/stories on Instagram that our assistant coaches post about her (they still do), being relatively close to home, having a few of her club teammates on our roster, and meeting her criteria about wanting to win and playing for a head coach who will be there all 4 years she's in college.

But, then Texas Tech softball went out and spent $1 million on Stanford transfer pitcher NiJaree Canady who is from Kansas and doesn't even hail from the state of Texas. That just opened my eyes as to what one of their donors is willing to do to win. I expect the minimum price for landing Chavez will be at least $1 million per year, and most likely more. She is from Lubbock and I now believe that Texas Tech will just refuse to allow her to leave their back yard IF money/NIL is a huge priority (which I believe it is). Her father seems to be running the show; he has talked a lot about all the hours over the years that he has spent coaching her. I get it; he has put in a lot of work to help his daughter's future; I'm sure she wants to "repay" him somehow for his dedication, sacrifices, and hard work.

When she narrowed her list to UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, LSU, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech, it wasn't difficult to see which school stood out like a sore thumb when it came to having a winning program. In her interview with On3, she mentioned that she likes/wants to and play for a head coach who will be there all 4 years to coach her in college; Krista Gerlich at Tech is in the final year of her 5-year contract and there has been no news of any kind of contract extension; she's never come close to sniffing an NCAA tournament bid, and the talent level to turn things around this year isn't there, IMO. If Chavez plans to sign in November, she will have no clue about Tech's season progression and the plans for Gerlich's future. Yet, she placed Texas Tech in her final six finalists.

Something happened in 2023-24 that might even surpass NIL as a huge factor, although it has an effect on NIL. Look how many class of 2023 players became the face of their college programs as true freshmen -- Juju Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo, Madison Booker (probably wouldn't have been had Rori Harmon not been injured). Chavez seemed to "like" so much of Watkins news out on social media all of last season; so, she was paying attention. Based on returning talent come 2025-26, the only program where Chavez would instantly become the face of the program as a true freshman would be Texas Tech. Being the face of a program brings a lot more NIL opportunities than simply being a teammate on a star-studded roster.

 

[Baller29]

She’s going to Texas. I believe there is a sizable gap between Texas and the rest of her finalists. With the talent SC and Texas (with the addition of Chavez) are assembling, everyone else in the SEC about to be fighting for third place for the foreseeable future

 

[southie]

She’s going to Texas. I believe there is a sizable gap between Texas and the rest of her finalists. With the talent SC and Texas (with the addition of Chavez) are assembling, everyone else in the SEC about to be fighting for third place for the foreseeable future

My thoughts were pretty positive about her signing with Texas for quite a while. But, as I stated above, that changed a few weeks ago. Even a Texas On3 reporter who has a lot of (men's/boys') recruiting connections in the state believe she is Texas Tech bound. Listen at the 40-minute mark.

 

[southie]

Looks like Chavez is visiting UCLA this weekend

Was it confirmed she visited UCLA? She was definitely in the LA area . . .

 

[southie]

Texas Tech recently switched from Under Armour to adidas. I could see that helping with hoop recruits like Chavez, as well as Mahomes taking an interest in women's hoops.

adidas, Mahomes sign inaugural "Team Mahomes" class - Texas Tech Red Raiders

adidas and Patrick Mahomes today announced the signing of six student-athletes at Texas Tech University to NIL deals, making them the inaugural cohort of Tea...

texastech.com

 

[Coler]

We shall see... I believe it will come down to LSU and Texas, and at the moment I'd give Texas the edge. If she goes to Tech, then she isn't serious about winning because Tech is going nowhere fast, especially with their current coach.

I'm hoping Kim can pull a rabbit out of a hat and make this happen...

 

[From France]

*k the BS, you started 3 threads on 3 days instead of going to the non UCONN recruiting thread