This week Florida head coach Amanda Butler managed to add some toughness to her roster when she secured a verbal pledge Haley Lorenzen. The 6-foot-3 forward, who has roots in the Orlando area, is on record for making an unofficial visit to the SEC school in the fall and decided to give Florida the nod on last weekend. She will be a quality addition to the Gator frontcourt.

It was the middle of July 2012, and summer basketball was at full throttle. I was sitting with our assistant director of scouting, Jonathan Hemingway, and two of the better underclass prospects in the country, All Iowa Attack forward, Lorenzen of Iowa City, Iowa, and North Tartan forward Sam Trammel of Minnetonka, Minn., were getting ready to take the court and play against each other. What followed was 32 minutes of pure entertainment as the two matched each other point for point, rebound for rebound, and blow for blow.

Neither kid backed down to the challenge. They both played with physicality and competed. Hemingway and I left the game impressed with both prospects and now the Gators can look forward to Lorenzen's talent for the 2014-15 season.

Ali Patburg Picks Notre Dame

The same week that Notre Dame beat in-conference foe Connecticut, head coach Muffet McGraw and Co., picked up a verbal commitment from a top-25 caliber 2015 prospect. On New Year's Eve, Ali Patburg of Columbus, Ind., decided to close out her recruitment and picked the Irish.

At 5-9, Patburg has the size to play on or off the ball at either guard spot. She is a sound playmaker who can also knockdown a perimeter jumper. Patburg should be an excellent fit in Notre Dame’s free flowing offense as she has the ability to attack in a variety of ways.  Patburg joins class of 2014 guard Mychal Johnson of Huntington, W.Va., as Notre Dame’s two verbal commitments outside of the senior class.

AROUND THE RIM

♦ Last summer you could find 5-6 point guard Alexis Alexander of Brooklyn Park, Minn., running the show for her North Tartan U15 team.  Alexander played the role of tablesetter on offense while using her athleticism and quickness to hassle opposing point guards on defense.  This week Alexander decided that South Dakota State would be her school of choice. Alexander’s father and summer team coach Rico Alexander said that the success that South Dakota State has had in recent years and the fact that Alexander is a good fit for the program were key factors in the decision.