Bone to pick, Illini in hunt

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Through a dismal season, one piece of news in particular has kept Illinois women's basketball fans' spirits up.

Kelsey Bone – the Texas superstar ranked by one recruiting service as the top high school senior in the country – remains interested in Illinois.

"Kelsey Bone is the best high school player in America, period," said Mike Flynn, head of Blue Star Basketball, which has the 6-foot-5 center No. 1 on his list. "She's got the Candace Parker personality with the Courtney Paris body."

Bone's recruiting saga, which began before she entered high school, remains the country's singular obsession in the girls' game. She declined to sign during the November period, announcing that she had narrowed her list to Texas, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Illinois. She took official visits to all four schools but couldn't come to a decision, and her mother, Kim Williams, said she expects Bone to make a decision by April 15, the start of the spring signing period.

Meanwhile, four schools – two of which are Top 25 regulars (Texas, Texas A&M), and two are up-and-comers – wait for her answer.

The latest news

The Illini's current struggles – they enter today's game against Indiana in danger of tying the school record for consecutive losses (11) – has led to speculation that Bone would eliminate Illinois from her thinking.

That's not the case, Williams said last week.

"We're not looking to really see a won-loss record," Williams said. "We're looking to see how coaches handle certain situations and are these programs really competitive? You can lose a game and still be very competitive."

On the other hand, there's a line of thinking that Illinois' struggles could eventually prove to be a selling point. Bone has repeatedly mentioned in various media reports that she would prefer to be – as she mentioned in ESPN The Magazine – a "trailblazer," helping an off-the-radar program move into the national spotlight. Illinois certainly qualifies under that banner.

"The easiest choice we could have made was to go to the University of Connecticut or to Tennessee," Williams said. "But one of the things I found out about my daughter is, most of the things she will do is not the easy things. For some reason, she likes the underdog. She likes the person that needs a little push. That's just kind of who she is as a person."

Bone visited Illinois in October.

"I had never been to the state of Illinois before and I was very pleasantly surprised," Williams said. "I think we brought some weather from Texas that particular weekend because it was warm. It was probably one of the most beautiful campuses that we had been on. We (saw) the seasons changing. Kelsey was like a big kid, out there crunching leaves. We don't have that in Texas. It was a very awesome place."

They met former Illini Stephen Bardo, and established Texas connections with a couple other Champaign residents.

"It just so happened that I met the superintendent of schools, Arthur Culver, he actually used to work in the school district here in Fort Bend where I teach," Williams said. "There were so many connections, and he knew one of my relatives really well. It was a great environment – a wonderful, wonderful weekend."

What does it mean? That's difficult to say, but many observers close to Bone speculate that she might have a difficult time leaving the state of Texas. Bone lives in Stafford, a suburb of Houston.

Williams said she's missed "maybe four games" in her daughter's basketball career, and she can't even imagine watching Bone on television. The family has a bevy of relatives in the area.

"I think at the end of the day, it's going to be which school is the best fit for her, and then we're all just going to have to make adjustments, no matter what those adjustments may be," Williams said.

Kelsey Bone, the player

Bone's most striking characteristic is her size. She's 6-5 with a sturdy frame that has drawn references to Paris, a three-time All-American at Oklahoma who is the country's most dominant post.

"She is a 6-5 power post player who has quick feet and quick offensive moves, which you don't see in the high school or collegiate game," Flynn said. "She's in the physical range of the Paris twins, but she's quicker and has more offensive moves. She's just not a low block player – she can go to the top of the key."

Bone has no peers on the low block, and she figures to have an immediate impact at any program she chooses. Why that isn't Connecticut or Tennessee, however, has been one of the intriguing sagas surrounding her recruitment.

Bone had interest in both schools, and Tennessee stayed on her radar screen into the fall. But the Volunteers ran out of scholarships before Bone was ready to make her final decision, which eliminated Tennessee.

UConn was a different story.

Shortly after Bone elected to remove UConn from her list, she went on a Houston radio show and spoke about the state's notorious media contingent, such a large group that it is dubbed "The Horde" in women's basketball circles.

"I had reporters from Connecticut calling me every day asking me something about UConn," Bone said. "I just answered your questions yesterday. Nothing's changed in the past few hours."

Bone's sentiments created a stir in Connecticut, mostly among the media, who questioned her approach.

"I called her three times from May until she stopped considering UConn and never heard back," said Jim Fuller of the New Haven (Conn.) Register. "I feel pretty certain it wasn't the Connecticut media that was inundating her."

It was an indication that Bone really doesn't want the overwhelming glare of the national powerhouses. After all, she's used to the attention. Doug Lechtenberger, her coach at Dulles High in Sugar Land, Texas, said the attention began during Bone's freshman year.

"The University of Maryland had just won a national championship and Brenda Frese called me," said Lechtenberger, in his 23rd year at Dulles. "It was a Sunday afternoon, and she said, 'You just tell Kelsey, anytime she wants to give me her commitment, we'll be glad to take it.' I thought, 'Oh, this is the start of this.' "

The attention focused on Bone also reflects the increased presence of recruiting in the women's basketball community, particularly among its fans.

Where the nation's No. 1 player would attend college might not have created as much of a stir a decade ago. Now, folks want to know.

"Interest is going up big-time," said Bret McCormick of All-Star Girls Report, a recruiting service that lists Bone No. 2. "It depends on who the head coach is. I'm sure the fan interest is up at Illinois with Jolette (Law) there.

"There's a lot more good players now. There's a lot more media coverage. There's a lot of factors involved as to why the interest has gone up. They're more fun to watch. Plus, your top-notch players may be going to (nontraditional powers). There's a lot more parity."

That parity would increase if Bone selects Illinois or South Carolina, a lower-tier SEC team coached by former Olympian Dawn Staley.

A Bone commitment to Illinois would be seen as one of the most impressive recruiting coups in the sport's recent history. It would send a message that the national landscape of women's basketball is changing and evolving at a rapid pace.

"You have two, young female black coaches who are building situations," Flynn said, "and (Bone's interest) tells you they are effectively building. And that pace is even faster if they're able to sign that type of player."

Handicapping the race for Kelsey Bone

A look at the four schools on Kelsey Bone's list, and the odds - pure speculation, of course - against her picking that school:

ILLINOIS
Odds: 10-1

Nobody knows how to establish a relationship with a recruit better than Jolette Law, who has long demonstrated her success in the recruiting arena. If Bone really wants to be the person to turn a program around, she need look no further than Illinois, which is struggling on a historic level this winter. The key question: Is Bone willing to stray this far from her home?

SOUTH CAROLINA
Odds: 10-1

The coach is Dawn Staley, as decorated a player as this country has ever produced. Bone told one South Carolina media outlet, "She epitomizes everything I want." Like Illinois, the Gamecocks have no history of sustained success, and they're an SEC also-ran this year. Bone would immediately be the centerpiece of the offense.

TEXAS
Odds: 8-5

If Bone wants to be a "trailblazer," as she told ESPN The Magazine, she probably wouldn't go here, one of the most storied programs in women's basketball. Plus, the Longhorns in November signed Cokie Reed, a 6-foot-4 center who is ranked sixth nationally by Blue Star, so Bone's playing time hardly is guaranteed. Still, it is the flagship program in her home state, and coach Gail Goestenkors has a track record of developing talent.

TEXAS A&M
Odds: 3-5

Bone has visited the school unofficially many times, and she's perhaps as familiar with the folks at A&M as any in the country. The Aggies could really use her size inside, and head coach Gary Blair is as charasmatic a coach as you'll ever meet. His head recruiter is former Illini Kelly Bond, a member of the Illini's back-to-back Sweet 16 teams under Theresa Grentz.

Top of the heap

A look at Blue Star Basketball's top-ranked high school senior in each class since 2001:

2008

Elena Delle Donne

Connecticut

Signed with UConn but, citing burnout, left before the season and is playing volleyball for University of Delaware

2007

Maya Moore

Connecticut

First-team Associated Press All-American as a freshman, she's arguably the best all-around player in the game today

2006

Amber Harris

Xavier

Indianapolis product signed with Purdue but bolted when coach Kristy Curry took the Texas Tech job

 2005

Courtney Paris

Oklahoma

Three-time All-American has a record streak of double-doubles and is one of the most dominant centers of her era

2004

Candace Parker

Tennessee

Naperville product is generally regarded as one of five best collegians ever and the future centerpiece of women's game

2003

Brittany Hunter

Connecticut

Played one season at Duke before transferring; career was decimated by string of knee injuries

2002

Ann Strother

Connecticut

Guard played on two NCAA championship teams, averaging 12.9 points in career; plays for Atlanta in WNBA

2001

Shyra Ely

Tennessee

Forward from Indianapolis is a new member of Chicago Sky; averaged 12 points and six rebounds in college career

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