Heritage Christian (Indianapolis, Ind.) star Kelly Faris has verbally committed to play at the University of Connecticut and is the first verbal commitment in the 2009 class for the Huskies. The commitment came in the middle of the Huskies run in the NCAA Tournament. Faris is a well decorated student athlete with the honor of the USA Basketball Youth Developmental Festival invitation last summer. She has been selected Indianapolis Player of the Year twice now has been selected to the All-City team her entire high school career. She is also the No. 54 ranked player in the ESPN HoopGurlz 2009 Super Sixty.
Kelly Faris pulls up over a defender.
Faris chose Connecticut over finalist Notre Dame and also considered Duke, Florida State, Purdue and Stanford. Faris will compliment the other swing players UConn signed in the 2008 class with Caroline Doty (coming off an ACL tear) and Tiffany Hayes. With graduation depleted the Huskies backcourt the combination of Faris and the 2008 class should maintain the talent level Coach Auriemma and company has enjoyed.
Faris brings a great basketball IQ and court vision along with strong and athleticism to the Connecitcut backcourt. At 5-foot-11 she can probably swing over and play some small forward as well as her natural shooting guard position in the Big East. The common theme in all the guards recently recruited by the Huskies is versatility. Doty can play the point and shooting guard positions and Hayes can play all three of the perimeter position with her blazing speed. Faris is no exception and should allow UConn to find and utilize mismatches and flex line-ups often. Despite a world of talent very few would characterize Faris as a selfish player. She’s the type of player that will rebound her position, pass, set screens and knock down open shots if needed rather than finding her own shot. With the amount of talent the Huskies have recruited the past three recruiting classes a do-it-all team-first player like Faris is a great fit.
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Chris Hansen is the National Director of Scouting for Women’s Basketball at HoopGurlz.com. He leads the panel that evaluates and ranks girl's basketball prospects nationally for HoopGurlz. Chris has been involved in the women’s basketball community since 1998 as a coach, trainer, evaluator and reporter. He can be reached at chris@hoopgurlz.com [2].
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