Rickea Jackson
Haley Jones extends for a bucket in the 2018 USA Basketball U17 national team trials. *Photo by Chris Hansen.
June 1st is here which signals the end of spring basketball and a transition to summer ball. After a highly competitive USA Basketball U17 and U18 national team trials, a multitude of tournaments, both viewing and non-viewing, plus numerous camp circuits such as the EBA Series, Coach Hemi Tour and Check Me Out Nation circuit, it’s time to update the prospect rankings. All these settings provided an opportunity to evaluate players.
This time of year is about expansion as well, with the ELITE 100 turning the page to the ELITE 150. ProspectsNation.com now has dozens of new names in the mix as well as previously ranked players making moves, highlighting the great thing about the game of basketball, it’s constantly evolving and players are changing their games too.
Haley Jones of San Jose, California, continued her upward assault on the rankings, but that now comes to an end. You can’t get any higher than No. 1. The 6-foot-1 do-it-all player has been on a steady rise but hit the afterburners in Colorado Springs last weekend during the USA trials.
Zia Cooke of Toldeo, Ohio, is another player making big moves up the list. Back to back Memorial weekends she used the USA Trials to show her game off. The 5-8 combo guard is up to No. 6 in the class.
The frontcourt has seen some players making notable improvements including Francesca Belibi of Aurora, Colorado, and Jordan Isaacs of Dallas, Georgia. Both forwards made double-digit jumps in their national rankings.
Other players earning double-digit improvements include No. 24 Angel Jackson, a 6-4 post from Richmond, California, No. 26 Celeste Taylor, a 5-10 guard from Valley Stream, New York, within the top 50.
There’s a big summer ahead and expect changes monthly for the ProspectsNation.com staff.
ELITE 150 RANKINGS
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.
