STORY & PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON
Van Chancellor's first major recruit at LSU is a player among the vanguard in women's basketball of those who combine size and inside might with grace on the perimeter.
Ranked No. 12 overall in the 2008 class, LaSondra Barrett of Jackson, Miss., told HoopGurlz.com on Sunday that she pledged to Chancellor a day after returning from an official visit that included watching the Tigers top another of her finalists, Middle Tennnessee State, 44-0 in football.
LaSondra Barrett
Barrett was on the visit with two highly ranked Alabamans, forward Courtney Jones and point guard Meredith Mitchell, as well as fellow Mississipian April Sykes, who is ranked second overall in 2008 by HoopGurlz. Sykes long has been considered an LSU lean. According to Barrett, she and the Crawford, Miss., star are "very close."
"I'd love to see us play together," Barrett said of Sykes. "We played together (on the Missisippi North all-star team) and she's a wonderful teammate, who really knows a lot about the game. But she has to make a decision that's best for her and I'll support that decision."
Barrett said she chose LSU over Middle Tennessee and Mississippi, both of which she has visited on an unofficial basis. Auburn and Louisiana Tech previously were on her list of finalists as well. LSU is only a two-hour plane ride from Jackson.
Chancellor obviously was a major source of appeal at LSU for Barrett. Chancellor, 63, was the women's coach at Mississippi from 1978-97 before leading the WNBA Houston Comets to four straight championships. He also coached the U.S. team to a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. He succeeded Pokey Chatman, who resigned March 7 amid allegations of inappropriate conduct with a former LSU player when that player was a member of the team.
"He likes to have fun, but on the court, he's all about business," Barrett said. "It's important to have a coach you can talk to off the court. But he also will not just tell you what you want to hear. He'll tell you what you need to hear. I like that."
LaSondra Barrett
In Barrett, Chancellor has snared a player ready, physically and technically, to play on the next level at forward, but who has the agility and skills to play wing. Barrett said Chancellor told her she could play the wing in college if she added a reliable mid-range jump shot.
At 6 feet 1, Barrett is solidly built and explosive off the floor. She has a variation of moves on the box and plays low to high, maintaining balance and power inside, and pursues boards well at both ends. Barrett also handles the ball well enough to not have skipped a beat with a hard brace on an injured hand at the end of July, attacks the rim well, and is an excellent passer.
A co-captain for the Tennessee Flight Silver club team, Barrett also showed excellent leadership skills during the summer, as well as a knack for making key plays during big moments of big games. That knack earned her MVP honors at the Nike Midwest Showdown and the End of the Trail, both resulting in tournament championships for the Flight.
"I wanted to show my will to win," Barrett said of her goals for the summer. "I wanted to go out and do whatever it took to get the job done. If the team needed me to score, I'd score. If coach asked me to rebound or play defense - whatever the task was - I'd do whatever I needed to contribute to a win."
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Glenn Nelson is the founder and publisher of HoopGurlz.com and a member of the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee. He also founded and coached the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girl's basketball teams. Glenn previously was the editor-in-chief at Scout.com and a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle Times. His work also has appeared in several books and national magazines. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). For more on Glenn's World, click here [0]. He can be reached at glenn@hoopgurlz.com [1].
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