Arkansas Mavericks talent keeps coming

VIVIAN FLOYD, ALAYSIA READY & KENNEDI ALLEN

I was so impressed by what I saw from freshman Alaysia Ready from the Arkansas Mavericks 2016 Elite team that she made the tip sheet I did for Fullcourt.com. I’ve looked at a lot of Youtube videos of players over the years and I sort of had an idea on what I would to expect my first chance to see her live but her performances she gave during the BigTyme Fall Finish exceeded my expectations. Ready has some tools to work with and as I mentioned she can not only create for herself but her teammates as well but what I really liked about Ready is she joins a growing list of younger players that thought their way throw certain situations and in basketball, that sometimes takes a backseat to athleticism, which is something else she has in her repertoire. Kiara Williams also was a pleasant surprise and standing 6’1 with the ability to get to the basket and finish consistently just about whenever she please. She showed she could hit the midrange and handle the ball and like Ready understood certain situations and didn’t force the issue. The good news is these two freshmen are at Central High School together, the better news is another 2016 player that was lighting them up from long range, Emily Ridgell, also will team up with them for four years and even better news is that they will join 2014 Taylor Lewis, one of the standouts of the tournament as well, more to come on Lewis.

ERYNN BARNUM & KIARA WILLIAMS

2016 Courtney Sailor played some tough defense while 2017 Erynn Barnum handled the ball well and used her speed to get by defenders just as she pleasedl. A couple of other 2017 players, Vivian Floyd and Kennedi Allen also put in some work and show lots of promise. Floyd is 6’3 yet still raw in many areas but she’s 6’3 and has a college ready body right now. Allen is 6’1 and to be honest she doesn’t really know how good she can be, that’s cool because she’s young but the young lady did certain things instinctively that impressed me. Their best basketball is ahead of them as well as a young lady who made me consider getting reading glasses. Kennede Tucker does look like a 2019 basketball player on or off the court and this young lady was so good I highlighted her performance in a story by herself.

I did numerous articles on the Mavericks this season and with outgoing seniors Imani Wright and Jessica Jackson passing it over to Jordan Danberry and Kianna Speight from the Mavericks 2014 team, this young group of stars put together tells me the Mavericks will be making noise for some time