Kate Koval
Sarah Strong of Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, has played herself into the discussion at the top of the 2024 class. *Photo by Anthony Lugardo.
The 2024 class is coming in to its own. After a national individual event calendar in the Fall and some marquee scholastic events from this early high school season the ProspectsNation.com ELITE 60 gets an update.
There are some fantastic battles at the top of the ELITE 60 we’re getting to see play out. Jaloni Cambridge of Nashville, Tennessee has remained the leader in the backcourt discussions, though there are definitely others in the running like Alivia McGill of Coon Rapids, Minnesota.
Discussions get really interesting in the frontcourt for this 2024 class. Six prospects in the current top 10 are interior players with 5-star ratings. Sarah Strong of Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, Justice Carlton of Katy, Texas, Joyce Edwards of Camden, South Carolina, Kate Koval of Long Island, New York, and Adhel Tac of Grand Prairie, Texas, are all impressive talents capable of being leader of the pack.
The ELITE 150 will continue to see additions throughout the winter and early spring season.
CLAY’S TAKE
The depth inside the Class of 2024 has been evident in a major way throughout the early part of this high school season.
Koval and Tac are two prime examples of WNBA sized post players who have ascended into the top five discussion, nationally. Koval has been consistent at multiple major high school events, including the Nike Tournament of Champions this week.
On the wing, Imari Berry of Clarksville High School (Tenn.), used a jamboree in November to showcase her scoring prowess going off for 25 in a running clock half. Across the country, Jordan Lee of St. Mary’s Stockton (Calif.) showed some of the same type of scoring punch with her showing against fellow ELITE 60 classmates Kendall Dudley and Leah Harmon of Sidwell Friends (D.C.).
There are plenty of top notch point guards in the class nationwide including Shay Ijiwoye of Desert Vista (Ariz.) and Taylor Stremlow of Verona, Wisconsin. Either one can be a legitimate option for schools looking for a leader to get things started offensively.
Providing more depth in the backcourt, Tianna Thompson of Galloway School (Ga.) and Syla Swords of Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.) make their debuts in the ELITE 60 after showing real range on their outside shots against top shelf competition. They also have proved the willingness to compete on the defensive end as well.
ELITE 150 PROCESS
ProspectsNation.com updates its ELITE 150, including the numeric order of the ELITE 60, several times per year following critical matchups of national importance. Player ratings are also updated periodically from a high rating of 5 stars down to 1 star with half a star deviations as well. Players are rated based on in-person evaluations.
While ratings and rankings are imperfect we try to hold a standard, especially with five-star ratings. In addition we rank players through 60 but the balance of the ELITE 150 will not carry a numerical rank. The separation among those players is so miniscule that we are choosing to celebrate them all.
The core ProspectsNation.com staff includes staff that has rated and ranked players dating back to the original HoopGurlz.com and ESPN HoopGurlz. The upcoming 2025 class will be the 20th consecutive class we've ranked.
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.
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.
