Zhen Craft! Just announced Commitment!

#29
#29
More than a few posters seem to be excited about this signing, but the stats don't really jump out as being a game changer. Can someone, who is more knowledgeable of this player fill me for all of the excitement, because I'm completely lost...
🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️
 
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#30
#30
POLOinDC said:
More than a few posters seem to be excited about this signing, but the stats don't really jump out as being a game changer. Can someone, who is more knowledgeable of this player fill me for all of the excitement, because I'm completely lost...
🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️
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The potential is there shes a top 100 2025 recruit so lots of upside - those are her freshman numbers in fairness not many freshman have eye catching numbers
 
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#31
#31
POLOinDC said:
More than a few posters seem to be excited about this signing, but the stats don't really jump out as being a game changer. Can someone, who is more knowledgeable of this player fill me for all of the excitement, because I'm completely lost...
🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️
Click to expand...
Former 5 Star recruit who played on Team USA. Long armed 2/3 who can play multiple positions and keep up with the pace Kim wants to set. UGA fans were disappointed she left. What more you need to know besides she hustles more than last year's squad?!
 
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#33
#33
POLOinDC said:
More than a few posters seem to be excited about this signing, but the stats don't really jump out as being a game changer. Can someone, who is more knowledgeable of this player fill me for all of the excitement, because I'm completely lost...
🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️
Click to expand...
I have to watch some film on her, but her stats are better than Prawl, Boyd, Mya, and Hurst, and everyone said we can’t afford to lose them. It’s either an upgrade or not.
 
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#35
#35
VolatileVol said:
Former 5 Star recruit who played on Team USA. Long armed 2/3 who can play multiple positions and keep up with the pace Kim wants to set. UGA fans were disappointed she left. What more you need to know besides she hustles more than last year's squad?!
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The UGA website states "Four-star prospect and ranked No. 64 nationally in the 2025. So let's keep it real. Kaniya Boyd was also a 4 star prospect and ranked 39th in her class and the mantra back then was that Kellie could not recruit top flight HS players and needed to be fired for this "coaching malpractice .

Again, Zhen may be a perfect for CKC's system and may excel her far better in it than an actual five star player like Olivyah Edwards but the LVs signing a 4 star prospect has historically not been regarded as a BOOM! signing.

However, it is consistent with what we should expect --the LVs will field a team of 50-100 ranked type players and the strategy is for all these hive mind worker bees to tirelessly swarm more talented, at least on paper, opponents in a manner that overwhelms them.

System over elite talent is the LV game now.
 
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#38
#38
PRG said:
The thing I find interesting…. A Freshman, two Sophomores, two Junior, a senior ….is coach kim planning on staying! 😁
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spojo13 said:
Did we sign another player? You have 6 listed, but I know of only 5 commits for next year. None would be a senior, so they have multiple years to stay or leave
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Maybe that's including *Keyen Green, the graduate transfer from Liberty? I don't have an up-to-date roster myself, just guessing.

edit
*that name came up in a Google search limited to the past 24 hours, but now I'm not finding it on the WVLT facebook page.
 
#40
#40
BruisedOrange said:
Maybe that's including *Keyen Green, the graduate transfer from Liberty? I don't have an up-to-date roster myself, just guessing.

edit
*that name came up in a Google search limited to the past 24 hours, but now I'm not finding it on the WVLT facebook page.
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Keyen came under Kellie, but her knee was injured.
 
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#41
#41
madtownvol said:
The UGA website states "Four-star prospect and ranked No. 64 nationally in the 2025. So let's keep it real. Kaniya Boyd was also a 4 star prospect and ranked 39th in her class and the mantra back then was that Kellie could not recruit top flight HS players and needed to be fired for this "coaching malpractice .

Again, Zhen may be a perfect for CKC's system and may excel her far better in it than an actual five star player like Olivyah Edwards but the LVs signing a 4 star prospect has historically not been regarded as a BOOM! signing.

However, it is consistent with what we should expect --the LVs will field a team of 50-100 ranked type players and the strategy is for all these hive mind worker bees to tirelessly swarm more talented, at least on paper, opponents in a manner that overwhelms them.

System over elite talent is the LV game now.
Click to expand...
You a weird dude. Craft was a 5 start by composite average according to 247 (that means her average ranking between ESPN/247/On3(formerly Rivals) was a 5 star. Just as good on paper as Prawl and Civil were, right?!?!

"System over elite talent" - Replaces 95 rated Freshman with 94 rated Freshman. Even Chicken Little not worried here. LOL
 
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#42
#42
VolatileVol said:
You a weird dude. Craft was a 5 start by composite average according to 247 (that means her average ranking between ESPN/247/On3(formerly Rivals) was a 5 star. Just as good on paper as Prawl and Civil were, right?!?!

"System over elite talent" - Replaces 95 rated Freshman with 94 rated Freshman. Even Chicken Little not worried here. LOL
Click to expand...

Then why does the UGA site say 4 star? You would think they would know what they recruited and if she were a 5 star they would have 'bragged' about that.
 
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#43
#43
volfan102455 said:
Then why does the UGA site say 4 star? You would think they would know what they recruited and if she were a 5 star they would have 'bragged' about that.
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Haven’t looked at UGA website, but they may be referring to her ESPN ranking. She was a four star on there with a ranking of 46th. She was one spot below Lauren Hurst in their rankings.
 
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#45
#45
Great addition to the LV family. The only reason I haven’t been posting is because I’ve been watching film and working most of the day! Coach Caldwell, Coach Ferrara, Coach Uzamere, Coach Rizor, and Coach Berrier have absolutely knocked it out of the park week 1 in the transfer portal🍊🍊🍊🍊! This portal class and maintaining Gabby Minus is an A+ week 1!
As you said, Zhen Craft is a 5-star talent!
GBO 🍊

VolatileVol said:
You a weird dude. Craft was a 5 start by composite average according to 247 (that means her average ranking between ESPN/247/On3(formerly Rivals) was a 5 star. Just as good on paper as Prawl and Civil were, right?!?!

"System over elite talent" - Replaces 95 rated Freshman with 94 rated Freshman. Even Chicken Little not worried here. LOL
Click to expand...
 
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#46
#46
VolatileVol said:
You a weird dude. Craft was a 5 start by composite average according to 247 (that means her average ranking between ESPN/247/On3(formerly Rivals) was a 5 star. Just as good on paper as Prawl and Civil were, right?!?!

"System over elite talent" - Replaces 95 rated Freshman with 94 rated Freshman. Even Chicken Little not worried here. LOL
Click to expand...
From Maria Cornelius's story:

Craft, a four-star prospect, was ranked No. 52 overall and the No. 12 power forward in the class of 2025 by 247Sports.com.
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From the 247 sports evaluation of her:

Zhen Craft enters the database as a four-star prospect with a 95 grade. On the hardwood, Craft is at her best in the open floor playing with pace-setting guards. She is one of the country's most versatile options in that regard with the length to be impactful in the frontcourt. Craft also moves well enough to be a potential factor in the pick-and-roll game or sprinting the floor to beat opposing defenses in transition. As Craft gains more confidence in her 12-15 foot jumper and straight line driving from the pinch post, her production should increase as a result.
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The Knox News Sentinel is reporting her as a 4 star.

I am not sure how the 247 composite ranking gets her to a 5 star when she is a 4 on all the rating services but I think its a function of how their algorithm calculates 5 stars (which leads to a larger number of 5 star prospects).

Having said that, Craft is nowhere near as good "on paper" as Civil and Prawl:

In 247 sport's class 'composite' rankings, Prawl was 10th, Pauldo 12th, and Civil 15th. Craft was 39th, closer to Hurst at 49 than top 15ers Prawl, Pauldo, and Civil.


To be clear, I readily acknowledge that HS rankings are only educated guesses about how a HS player will perform at the college level. Lots of high ranked players don't pan out and lower ranked prospects sometimes have excellent college careers. But being accurate about rankings is not "chicken little", it is simply being accurate.
 
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#48
#48
brittannica said:
I am mostly excited because she's not 5'9 😅
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She has decent height and can rebound. Her 4.2 rebounds per game would have been 4th on our team last year. Craft’s per 40 rebounding rate would have been only behind Janiah this past year. I’m probably happier with this commitment than any other because she’s put up decent numbers against tough competition.
 
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#50
#50
madtownvol said:
The UGA website states "Four-star prospect and ranked No. 64 nationally in the 2025. So let's keep it real. Kaniya Boyd was also a 4 star prospect and ranked 39th in her class and the mantra back then was that Kellie could not recruit top flight HS players and needed to be fired for this "coaching malpractice .

Again, Zhen may be a perfect for CKC's system and may excel her far better in it than an actual five star player like Olivyah Edwards but the LVs signing a 4 star prospect has historically not been regarded as a BOOM! signing.

However, it is consistent with what we should expect --the LVs will field a team of 50-100 ranked type players and the strategy is for all these hive mind worker bees to tirelessly swarm more talented, at least on paper, opponents in a manner that overwhelms them.

System over elite talent is the LV game now.
Click to expand...
I will wait for the entire class assembly and make an evaluation next December on their quality in how the team plays together .
 
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