Another Tiger Tale

By Glenn Nelson
HoopGurlz Publisher
Posted Mon, 09/24/2007 - 08:40 New LSU coach Van Chancellor continues to leave his imprint on the 2008 recruiting class, this time with a top defender.

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STORY & PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

Van Chancellor continued to leave his recruiting imprint on LSU, impressively following up last week's get of a top-15 recruit with a verbal from forward Taylor Turnbow.

Turnbow, a 6-foot-2 foward out of Clarkston, Ga., will pair nicely with Chancellor's first recruit for the Tigers, LaSondra Barrett, a 6-1 forward from Jackson, Miss., who is ranked No. 12 overall in the HoopGurlz Hundred for the 2008 class.

While Barrett is a powerfully built forward who has the skills to also play a finesse game on the perimeter, Turnbow is a long, explosive athlete who disrupts shots and crashes the boards effectively at the defensive end, but is a bit of a work in progress on offense. Barrett also is an "alpha" player, demonstrative with strong leadership abilities, while Turnbow exudes quiet determination.

Other commitments over the weekend included Tonia Williams, a 6-1 forward from Warner Robbins, Ga., committing to South Carolina. Williams, who scored 37 points against highly regard Stephenson High School in the Georgia State AAAAA playoffs, also considered Auburn and Rutgers. Jasmine Rush, a 5-9 guard out of St. Pius X High School in Houston, Texas, verbaled to Maine.

Chancellor, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last month, could make a huge splash with his first recruiting class if he also lands April Sykes, the No. 2 overall player in the 2008 class. Long considered an LSU lean, Sykes is a dynamic scorer and playermaker in a WNBA-ready body. She is close with Barrett and made an official visit to Raton Rouge the same weekend as her fellow Mississipian but did not commit at the time.

The No. 55 overall prospect in 2008, according to HoopGurlz.com, Turnbow was a club teammate of Maya Moore, the consensus No. 1 in 2007 who is a freshman at Connecticut. She also played this summer on the Georgia Metros with Alicia Manning, the No. 15 overall prospect who committed to Tennessee, and Charenee Stephens, No. 33 overall, who is uncommitted.

A former head women's basketball coach at Mississippi, Chancellor, 63, led the WNBA Houston Comets to four straight championships and coached the U.S. team to a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. He succeeded Pokey Chatman, who resigned March 7.

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Chris Hansen's Platinum Summer Evaluation of Taylor Turbow:

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Chris Hansen's Post-YDF, Platinum Evaluation of Turbow:

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Glenn Nelson is the founder and publisher of HoopGurlz.com. He is a member of the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee and SportsShooter.com (Click for Porfolio), Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, National Press Photographers Association and Online News Association. Glenn also founded and coached the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girl's basketball teams and 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 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. Glenn can be reached at glenn@hoopgurlz.com.

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