Maddie Scherr
TeHina PaoPao has recovered from two ACL tears and remains one of the top point guards in the 2020 class. *Photo by Chris Hansen.
Oregon has transformed in the Kelly Graves era. The first change was taking the Ducks from middle of the Pac-12 to an NCAA tournament team by recruiting the best players in the region as well as select international players. Now that the Ducks have reached a Final Four and with Sabrina Ionescu returning for her senior year come into the 2019-20 season as heavy favorites, the next transition is in the works.
Sustaining this success will come down to Oregon’s ability to recruit at an elite level even when the West Coast is thin on elite prospects. The 2020 class so far appears to show the Ducks can recruit nationally behind all their current success.
Maddie Scherr at the EBA All-American Camp. *Phot by
Ty Freeman.The first domino to fall was sharpshooting Sydney Parrish but over the past two weeks the Ducks good recruiting fortune just kept rolling with the additions of TeHina PaoPao, Angela Dugalic and Maddie Scherr.
Three of the four commits are ranked in the current ProspectsNation.com ELITE 60, in the top 25 and the fourth is likely to see her name in the ELITE 100 when the rankings are updated this spring.
Scherr of Florence, Kentucky, joins Fishers, Indiana’s Parrish as a sharpshooter but can also play all three perimeter positions. PaoPao of Oceanside, California, is a heady point guard who also has deep range and a fantastic pull-up jumper. Dugalic’s versatility and mobility at the forward position will draw comparisons to the Ducks current swing player Satou Sabally.
Only PaoPao is from the west coast, a sign that things have changed for Oregon recruiting. With this early success it will be interesting to see how the Ducks proceed as they are noted as being involved both with two more standout point guards, Hailey Van Lith of Cashmere, Washington, and Caitlyn Clark of West Des Moines, Iowa.
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 EARNEDevents. He can be reached at chris@prospectsnation.com.
