If last year's class was an overwhelming testament to the evolution of girl's basketball in terms of the size-skill quotient, the 2010 recruiting class is an ode to the sport's continuing, almost-unbridled surge of athleticism and what some call the "boy-like" level of individual mastery. Now, more than ever, basketball is basketball and not a series of gender derivatives.
This is most apparent where you'd expect it to be -- among the so-called "skill" positions along the perimeter, particularly at point guard. While the 2010 class is short on bigs, it makes a special delivery on those who can make special deliveries. Point guards claimed just two spots in the previous two top 100, and only three in 2007. Sixteen of the top 50 in 2010 are point guards.
Starting with Odyssey Sims of Irving, Texas, at No. 4, point guards occupy seven of the first 21 spots in the ESPN HoopGurlz Hundred released on Thursday.
Though recovery from an ACL tear will prevent her from protecting her lofty position, Kaneisha Horn of Birmingham, Ala., remains in the No. 1 spot. Horn had surgery on Jan. 7 to repair an ACL tear and meniscus damage in her left knee. She is expected to be cleared to return to the court in mid-July, but it's doubtful Horn will play club basketball this summer.
"That kid plays so hard, there's no holding her back any," explained Emmanuel Bell, director of Horn's club team, the Alabama RoadRunners. "There's no 80 percent or 90 percent with her; she's always at 110 percent. The middle of July is no guarantee she'll be 100 percent, it's just when she'll be cleared to go back to work."
Rising to Nos. 2 and 3 overall are Chiney Ogwumike, the athletic and hard-nosed forward from Cypress, Texas, and Richa Jackson, a 6-foot-1 tank with perimeter abilities.
Then come the point guards, led by Sims, the brash lock down lefty committed to Baylor. She is followed immediately by Bria Hartley of Babylon, N.Y., one of three in the top 20 who hail from New York City and embody the spirit of the region's tradition at the position. She is joined by Exodus NYC teammate Jennifer O'Neill (No. 16 overall) of the Bronx, N.Y., and Rachel Coffey (No. 19) from upstate in Kingston, N.Y.
Coffey, along with No. 10 Shoni Schimmel of Hermiston, Ore., and No. 11 Ronika Ransford of Washington, D.C., represent a new wave of entertainers heralded a couple years ago by Samantha Prahalis, the wow-freshman point at Ohio State. Those three, and others like them, can be expected to play increased roles in times of economic uncertainty and waning interest at the highest levels of the sport. With their machine-gun dribbling moves and look-here-pass-there approach, the new wave of points can help deliver both wins and ticket sales.
The other top 20 point, Chelsea Gray (No. 15 overall) of Stockton, Calif., represents yet another type of lead guard. At 5-10, she has size and power, to go with a deadly accurate shot beyond the three-point arc and enough creative juices to satisfy the offensive needs of her teammates.
Rounding out ESPN HoopGurlz's top 10 are No. 6 Samarie Walker of Dayton, Ohio; No. 7 Meighan Simmons of Chibolo, Texas; No. 8 Natasha Howard of Toledo, Ohio, and No. 9 Cassie Harberts of San Clemente, Calif. The top-ranked post in the class, Harberts rose from No. 48 in the ESPN HoopGurlz Super Sixty. Other high risers included O'Neill, who went from No. 58 to No. 16; Ransford, who went from 38 to 11, and Haley Peters of Shrewsbury, N.J., who climbed from No. 40 to 17.
Howard, a scary talented, 6-3 wing, remained in the top 10 despite not being a factor on the club circuit. The ESPN HoopGurlz ranking panel believed her lack of competition against other elite talent prevented her from being a candidate for the No. 1 spot.