Jordin Canada of Los Angeles, Calif., established herself as one of the country’s premier guards going into her freshman year of high school and never relinquished that distinction. She’ll attend UCLA starting next summer.

Vitals

Name: Jordin Canada – Grad Year: 2014 Location: Los Angeles, Calif. – School: Windward HS Current Position: PG – Projected Position: PG

Strengths

Canada is the nation’s No. 4 ranked prospect per Prospects Nation.com and for good reason. The 5-foot-6 point guard is explosive with the basketball changing direction in traffic as well as any guard in the class. Canada showed this summer with her Cal Sparks Gold club team that she is capable of playing the primary point position against the best guards in the country regardless of class. That said her ability to score it especially in transition lets her serve as a potential off ball option in spurts to get ahead of the defense in the open floor. A slender framed prospect, Canada can defend on the basketball turning her opposition several times in the process. This particular skill is one that we will look for Bruins coach Cori Close to bring to the forefront on Canada’s overall package next fall once she arrives on campus.

Area To Improve

Canada can continue to improve her willingness to take and make the open 3-point jump shot. As UCLA makes the push into the upper echelon of the women’s game, the opposing defenses will be littered with players smart enough and skill enough to take away her ability to consistently create off of the bounce. Having a go-to jump shot in her arsenal will limit the amount of times that defenders can go under the screen and roll or sag off in an attempt to keep Canada out of the lane. Also, adding body strength even if her frame doesn’t get much bigger initially will allow Canada to deal with the physicality of the elite guards nationwide.

The Bottom Line

As one of the three incoming UCLA prospects ranked in the top 10 nationally, Canada will be counted upon early and often to be a major part of the Bruins production on both ends. Coach Close and her staff will have to rely on both Canada’s skill and speed early while helping turning up her defensive intensity from day one in Westwood. The five-star point guard could very well be an all Pac 12 Freshman team selection if not the Freshman of the Year in 2014-15.

#ProspectsNationTV analyst Brandon Clay teams up with Kris Watkins for a video breakdown of Canada’s game: