Retrospect: Dan Olson's 2018 Top WBB High School Prospects

[visitingcock]

Freshman tops list of high school prospects

UConn signee Christyn Williams is No. 1 in the senior class. Texas-bound Charli Collier and Baylor-bound Aquira DeCosta are among the elite, too. But rising to the top is a prospect who hasn't yet played 20 high school games.

www.espn.com

Well, he chose the following ten players from among four then-active high school classes. No POTY Boston: I can see it since she was "only" number 3 in her class. Hindsight is better than 20/20. No POTY Paige: WTF? She was a "generational" Number One coming out of high school.

See link above for evaluations.

#1 Azzi
#2 Christyn Williams
#3. Charli Collier
#4. Haley Jones
#5 Caitlyn Clark
#6. Aquira DeCosta
#7. Shakira Austin
#8. Samantha Brunelle
#9. Camernn Brink
#10. Nyah Green

Comments?

 

[HopJim]

Really interesting and nice to have a basketball related story in this off season.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I think he was pretty accurate with regard to Azzi, Haley, Caitlyn, Shakira, and Cameron. He really missed on Charli and Samantha.

But he totally missed on Paige Buckets. She belonged on that list.

 

[visitingcock]

I think he was pretty accurate with regard to Azzi, Haley, Caitlyn, Shakira, and Cameron. He really missed on Charli and Samantha.

But he totally missed on Paige Buckets. She belonged on that list.

There are a couple of hard luck stories in the misses due to injuries and other bad hands dealt by fate. . Azzi hasn’t (yet) proven that she belongs but still has the ability and two years to do so

 

[Kaizen]

From ESPNW HoopCuriz.

2026 SportsCenter NEXT 100 - ESPN

Get the inside scoop on the top ranked high school girls' basketball players. In-depth player briefings, film and more on ESPNHS.com.

www.espn.com

 

[visitingcock]

True, but we would need to add the 19, 20 and 21classes to compare to Dan’s ten of four classes.

From ESPNW HoopCuriz.

2026 SportsCenter NEXT 100 - ESPN

Get the inside scoop on the top ranked high school girls' basketball players. In-depth player briefings, film and more on ESPNHS.com.

www.espn.com

 

[MilfordHusky]

There are a couple of hard luck stories in the misses due to injuries and other bad hands dealt by fate. . Azzi hasn’t (yet) proven that she belongs but still has the ability and two years to do so

For sure. Green probably was one of them. Azzi showed glimpses in the first 6 games of last season, but she hasn't been healthy enough.

 

[visitingcock]

For sure. Green probably was one of them. Azzi showed glimpses in the first 6 games of last season, but she hasn't been healthy enough.

DeCosta was hit with a horrifying life experience off the court. I think she is playing in Europe now

 

[Alydar]

HS teams in Minn are not allowed to play out-of-state games except a few neighboring states. Hopkins never attended a national tournament. From the article:

Since the start of the high school girls' basketball season, I've seen more than 400 teams in 30 states.

I'll wager Olson never saw Bueckers play. The article is dated in January of 2018, Bueckers exploded nationally the following summer at the U17 games.

 

[JellyBean]

That write up on Shakira was pretty spot on.

 

[Reypl21]

I forgot about all the hype that surrounded Charli Collier, and also forgot she originally committed to UConn! I remember when this article came out Brunelle was ranked no. 1 in her class and people were perplexed that Haley Jones was ahead of her on this list. A poster said they emailed Dan Olson to explain himself lol, but he just hadn't updated the rankings yet.

Fudd was really considered a big big time recruit. Moore-Taurasi-Stewart level recruit, but hasn't had the sustained success that those players had.

I agree that Olson probably didn't see Paige yet. But he put Clark and Brink on this list as sophomores, and they are looking to two of the top picks for the draft. I wasn't ever impressed with Brink with her USAb stints when she was younger, she just looked tall and long. She hardly got playing time.

 

[MilfordHusky]

That write up on Shakira was pretty spot on.

I saw Austin in the Jordan Brand game in Brooklyn. There were several talented bigs, including Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Charli Collier, Aquira DeCosta, Queen Egbo, NaLyssa Smith, and Sedona Prince (I believe). Shakira was by far the most aggressive big in the game. She really stood out.