JuJu Watkins
After a full summer and fall rich with elite matchups, from the normal summer circuit to the individual events that the nation’s elite depend on, the ELITE 150 gets its big update. Outside of the NCAA live periods, ProspectsNation.com staff was on the baseline at multiple Elite Is Earned, Brandon Clay Training events, and of course, the annual stop at the Wootten 150 Showcase.
Another big factor weighing heavy on in the E150 process is USA Basketball. This calendar year so both U17 and U18 national team trials and FIBA competitions. It’s one of the few times the cross sponsorship matchups occur.
The class is loaded at the top with fantastic scorers in Mikaylah Williams, JuJu Watkins and Milaysia Fulwiley. At various stops along the way, all three have shown the ability to be the premier offensive player on the floor. Fulwiley and Williams did their damage last summer on the Under Armour Circuit while Watkins played in the Nike GEYBL.
Chloe Kitts came from the independent circuit to garner offers from schools in every Power 5 conference before choosing South Carolina last week. Her play for the Southeast All Stars was impactful throughout the summer.
Ciara Toomey has all of the tools to be a prospect who can be a presence on the national collegiate stage. Our staff is looking forward to seeing her line up against that level of elite competition.
The same goes for Sayvia Sellers. She was a star last July running the point for Alaska TruGame and had arguably the matchup of the club season against Kitts in Indianapolis.
UConn landed a dynamic, hard working duo in Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold. Both of them bring the type of work ethic that the Husky faithful in Storrs will welcome with open arms.
Emma Risch was a late riser but started her summer months with a bang at the Brandon Clay Summer Showcase and headed in Texas at the Wootten Camp.
The ELITE 150 will expand throughout signing week. In an instant reaction world we live in we’ve taken the body of work argument into account as to not overreact to a bad outing if a player has performed at a high level over time. This isn’t meant to be immunity for players who were good at a young age but just another factor in an imperfect process of trying to project collegiate success.
ProspectsNation.com, issued 5-star ratings for 10 players in the class of 2023. Another 29 players earned 4.5 star ratings. The balance of the ELITE 150 as well as a few bubble prospects who didn’t make the cut will earn 4-star ratings.
Injuries pose a challenge for these rankings as well. Multiple ELITE 150 players missed considerable time over the past two years. There’s no objective way to handle injuries but there’s also no arguing that they are obstacle to overcome. Multiple injuries also leads to less court time and evaluation time which is no doubt a factor in creating rankings lists.
At the time of publishing, the 2023 class still has three top 10 players undecided, making for an interesting signing week, which opened today.
Stay locked in for updates to the ELITE 150 and updates to the Watch Lists for 2024 and 2025 heading into the high school season.
2023 ELITE 150 Rankings -- ProspectsNation.com (link)
Brandon Clay serves as the Director of Scouting for ProspectsNation.com and owns The BrandonClayScouting.com Evaluation Report, which is read by more than 200 colleges and universities nationwide. He also serves as the Executive Skills Director for the Brandon Clay Scouting Academy Series.
Chris Hansen is managing editor of ProspectsNation.com and serves on the McDonald’s All-American and Naismith Trophy selection committees. He was a co-founder of and the national director of scouting for ESPN HoopGurlz from 2005 until 2012 and is the director of the Check Me Out Showcase and ELITE is EARNED events. He can be reached at chris@chrishansenbasketball.com.
