Mia and Mya Pauldo to Tennessee!

#5
#5
Real HS point guards.......that's new right? yes, of course. Ya know it's all good and no complaining. Exciting moving forward... #'s 13 & 49 espn hoopgurlz 2025 rankings. See my error in looking up their rankings. Looked at a wrong number. Gladly sit corrected on moving these twins to higher elevation.
 
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#9
#9
Great news. We are already ahead in high school recruiting than we have in the past few years. That it is not intended to be a knock against Kellie, as she may have been more hindered by NIL than CKC. Nevertheless, after a wonderful portal class, I continue to be pleasantly surprised by CKC's early success in getting players to come here when she hasn't proven herself as a Power 5 coach yet.
I imagine this will come up here soon, so I will give my two cents. I am not particularly concerned about their father and/or the twins approach to NIL. I trust Kim in making sound decisions. While at Marshall, she let go of the leading scorer during the season last year, likely due to some issues related to how that player impacted the team. So, I do think she has the strength to set limits with unreasonable demands and behavior. Also, well known twins have almost an unfair advantage in getting in social media, where the real NIL worth comes from. Look no farther than the Miami Hurricane twins, who had been in the top 10 NIL WBB players at the time. So, I think they will do fine here, and if they do, no one will have to be worried about their NIL money.
This is getting fun, ya'll.
 
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#16
#16
Morris Catholic coach Billy Lovett has watched the amount of attention surrounding his junior guards grow over the years, but has never worried about whether it would change who Mia and Mya are at their core; leaders. “They’ve been the same since freshman year,” Lovett said. “They are special young ladies. They’re just different. The way they carry and handle themselves with media, autographs, everything. They lock in and do what needs to be done. Their leadership is second to none. We wouldn’t be where we are without their leadership.”

...Despite all the attention the sisters have gotten in recent years, Lovett is proud of how there isn’t any animosity of jealousy from other players on the team that has affected the program’s chemistry. Mia and Mya’s willingness to work hard and stay late after practice has played a big part in making that the case. “These kids that are here this year bought in and wanted to be here,” Lovett said. “They bought into the program. I don’t treat Mya or Mia any different. The rules are the rules. They’ve never done anything that has caused me to have a problem. They carry themselves in the right way and manner always. They don’t big time anyone. They’re the last to leave the gym. … They’re there doing what they need to do and working extremely hard...”
Morris Catholic’s Mia, Mya Pauldo stay grounded through work ethic, quest for another state title (photos)

[Mia] Pauldo scored in double figures in 27 of the 28 games she played this season, consistently breaking down opponents with her ability with the ball in her hands. She has improved each year that she’s been at Morris Catholic and took her offensive game to another level this season shooting the ball. Her 92 3-pointers were tied for the second most in the state this season after coach Billy Lovett challenged her to take more of them this season...

Pauldo wasn’t just a spot-up 3-point shooter. She consistently weaved through opponents as she got to the basket or dropped off a pass to an open teammate for an easy look. “It’s special,” Lovett said. “For me, I see the hard work she puts in on a daily basis. She truly makes everybody better. She is the ultimate team leader and she took that role from day one when we got started all the way down to the end of the season.”
Mia Pauldo of Morris Catholic is the N.J. girls basketball Player of the Year for 2023-24
 
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#17
#17
What impresses me the most is that CKC had to sell the girls and the family on who she is, who the staff are, what the school is... all "being" verbs, since there's no basketball product to show them yet, not even on the practice court.

I guess that also means they had to have liked the players and how the team has come together so far in the intangibles.

It's like Heupel's recruiting task when he first arrived, and all he could show players was film from UCF, and verbally convince players and parents that he could make that system work in the SEC.

As Danny White said when he introduced us to CKC, you don't just go out and hire the best won-lost record you can find.
 
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#19
#19
In the past, Tennessee (and the SEC in general) has fared well with this type of small and quicky and crafty point guard. Lawd, if either of these players is even 75% of what Shannon Bobbitt and Temeka Johnson brought to their teams we'll be very, VERY happy fans.

Yeah, the longer guards are great, but sometimes the matchups call for a smaller, lower-to-the-ground guard who can see UNDER the trees to make brilliant passes as well as swipe the ball from taller guards who might dribble a little too high.

I'm super excited to see how these two will fare in Caldwell's high-octane system. My guess is they'll be perfect for it.

As with EVERY recruit, I'm also anxious to see what level of dedication these kids will have in the classroom. It's obviously too early to tell for sure, but my greatest hope is that Kim Caldwell is signing young women who will be proud to carry on the amazing tradition of excellence in the classroom and within the community. Somehow I think she'll check that box, too. ☑️
 
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#22
#22
VOLLeeann said:
Kim is so sweet and so cute and so good at what she does!!!
Click to expand...
Learned from the interview that she has not been home to get anything, or to pack for the move, since she arrived for the announcement! She's been living out of the suitcases she brought with her. She said there was just so much to do here that she couldn't break away to go home.

I guess husband is overseeing the move (--unsupervised!).

Nevertheless, we've certainly been witnessing the evidence of what kind of "nest builder" Kim Caldwell is.
 
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#24
#24
Speaking of the twins' leadership, they started something called HUrban Legends of New Jersey, which has been described as:

"New Jersey’s top nationally-ranked AAU/Grassroots program, started by Mia & Mya J. Pauldo aka TBC/TwinBackCourt."

These girls are going to be fun to watch and read about off the court, as well!

x.com

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