Texas 2016 Class Standing Tall

JOYNER HOLMES

I never had a chance to see Tiffany Jackson play in high school but after reading her resume and watching her play at the University of Texas, I can only imagine what type of player she was. I did see Latoya Davis play prior to her starring at Texas Tech, in fact I watched her score over 50 points in a game while she was still in high school at South Houston. Davis graduated from high school in 2002, a year before Jackson did at Duncanville and they were probably two of the most dominant players 6’2 or over until Nneka Ogwumike graduated in 2008.

Along the way Houston had some highly recruited posts, Hightower’s Latoya Micheaux (Texas A&M) and Cy Fair’s Aubrey Cook (Texas), both from the 2005 class not to mention another star from Duncanville, Mariana Mergerson (Texas) from the previous class, but 2009 was the year that left its mark, not only for the city, but the state as well, which may never be repeated as far as “bigs”

Brittney Griner (Nimitz), Kelsey Bone (Dulles) and Cokie Reed (Waco Midland) were all ranked in the Top 10 by most recruiting services, Griner and Bone were one-two or two-one depending on the service while Reed stayed around five to nine. Nikki Green (Diboll) was listed anywhere from 19-25 while Watia Rolle (Westbury Christian) was placed from 29-50. The things they all had in common is that they were over 6’2 and all were legitimate Top 100 players heading into college.

Here is the link from Hoopgurlz 2009 rankings

 LAUREN COX

The 2016 class has a chance to mirror 2009 as far as posts in the Top 100 and although I haven’t seen everyone, I have a hunch that when the dust settles, these three will be there.

Joyner Holmes stands at 6’2 and is one of the most explosive players I’ve seen at this stage, I’m talking before high school. I mentioned in the tip sheet I wrote for Fullcourt.com during Basketball on the Bayou that a couple of times she appeared as if she was about take-off from the line and throw it down. What I failed to add was throw it down “with authority” and if you’ve ever watched highlights from the great Dr. J when he played in the ABA, you will get what I’m talking about

Lauren Cox can play multiple positions, who knows, she might turn into a 6’4 point guard but whatever position she’s playing, she showed me how deadly she was from all over the court during the Prime Time National Championship event and she is nowhere near her peak. If I give a stamp of approval on a young player, that should be enough based on my track record, but if the National Champions are watching one and only one player’s games over and over, that certainly says it all

Natasha Mack may not be as explosive as Holmes or as versatile as Cox but from what I saw during Basketball on the Bayou, before it’s all said and done she will be a force. At 6’3, she does the little things already that many middle school posts develop later, like excellent timing, good footwork and the ability to finish strong with either hand. Speaking of timing, I watched her block six consecutive shots against a team during the same possession as if she was saying next to each player

NATASHA MACK