Judea "JuJu" Watkins
Ashlynn Shade's body of work to date puts her in the argument to be in the mix atop the 2023 class. *Photo by Anthony Lugardo.
ProspectsNation.com has released its top 25 of the 2023 ELITE 150. The competition at the top of the class is fierce with several players in the mix to take the top spot in the coming months. While this class doesn’t have a wealth of back to the basket post players, big guards seem to be in good supply.
Nine of the 25 have committed to date but only two of the top 10 have given their verbal commitment. By conference the Pac-12 is in the early lead here with five verbals. The SEC has two and both Maryland and UConn are on the board as well.
The race for No. 1 may be decided without many head-to-head matchups as shoe company sponsored leagues eat up most of the key travel weekends. With so many of the contenders on different circuits the chance for those showdowns will come down to USA Basketball Trials for those who are young enough to be eligible for the USA U17 National Team. The other avenue could be individual events across the country but the good news is it seems all the circuits have an contender to chase.
Spring is right around the corner and that will be the catalyst to our next major update of the ELITE 150.
ELITE 25 – Class of 2023
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@prospectsnation.com.
