Jordin Canada (USA Basketball)Last week it was Sadie Edwards of Meriden, Conn., this week its Jordin Canada of Los Angeles, Calif.; different week, same message, the demand and the supply for the point guard position in the class of 2014 is at its peak and the top schools around the country are making the position a priority early in the recruiting calendar.
Canada has decided to play her college basketball at UCLA and will join her former USA basketball teammate Recee Caldwell of San Antonio, Texas, in the backcourt for the Bruins for four years, beginning in the 2014-15.
Today the No. 4 prospect in the country and the No. 2 point guard, Canada, decided to take another elite name off the board and give UCLA two of the top five players in the country. Yes, thats right, two of the best five players in the country will be taking their talents to Los Angeles, Calif., to play college basketball. With them comes the potential for a new power in womens basketball, Canada and Caldwell could potentially be a dynamic duo unlike any weve seen on the womens side of the game in recent memory.
'14 ELITE 60 guard Jordin Canada.
*Courtesy of USA Basketball
The closest comparison to what UCLAs point guard duo could potentially be would be the backcourts this year at Duke with Chelsea Gray and Alexis Jones or Notre Dame with Skylar Diggins and Jewel Loyd. Both current college backcourts are comprised of consensus top 10 caliber recruits and both Loyd and Jones will probably see time at the point guard position in the next three years moving forward. Unlike the aforementioned, Canada and Caldwell will have four years to grow together instead of only one or two years to share real estate and most importantly the UCLA duo has played together before.
Currently ProspectsNation.com has 15 point guards in the ELITE 60, with five of the top 10 players in the country playing the point guard position. The 11th ranked prospect in the country, Brooke McCarty of Houston, Texas, is also a point guard, making it six of the top 11 prospects in the country playing the lead guard position. As the game continues to evolve and the luxury of having a strong point guard leading your team becomes vital to a teams success long term, the pursuit of elite lead guards has become as much of a rat race as the elite post prospect has been in recent years. With so many elite point guard prospects towards the top of the rankings the this year there are a handful of teams looking to capitalize on a gold rush of sorts and land their elite point guard of the future.
When Caldwell made UCLA her school of choice, much was made about her connections with the Los Angeles area, a place where she lived before moving to San Antonio, Texas. While in L.A., Caldwell often competed against and at times played with her future teammate, Canada. On the last USA Basketball U16 national team in 2011, Canada and Caldwell were the two point guards selected to the team. As a result the duo was able to rebuild their bond, establishing a friendship that would lead to Caldwell being the biggest advocate to having her former foe and teammate Canada play with her at UCLA.
Two top five point guards in the same class on the same team almost never happens. The naysayers will have their doubts as to how it will work but these are two of the best players in the country and they wanted to play with each other. UCLA runs a form of the Princeton offense that doesn't allow one player to dominate the ball but instead allows player and ball movement to dictate the structure of the offense. That mixed with talented players who want to make it work is quite the recipe. Follow @KeilMoorePSB
Moore is the National Director of Scouting for the JumpOffPlus.com National Scouting Report. He can be reached at keil@prospectsnation.com.
