Insider's Report: Triple Crown News and Notes Oppos and Middles don't disappoint

The Insiders Report: Camp Day NIT

News and Notes from those Inside the Game

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Early Recruiting Notes and What People in the Game are Truly Saying following a couple of days in Kansas City

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Action is fast and furious around the KC Convention Center both Friday and Saturday

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Amari Frazier: Middle Blocker AZ Storm ***Lauren Plum Award Winner***

Probably our biggest miss coming into the tourney. No shame in saying we were wrong on Frazier, and she simply played much better than we saw her play in the Summer and Fall. She looked confident and very strong (athletic). We have talked about her possibly being a pin at the next level, and she played like one on Saturday. 

So, Congrats to Amari Frazier on winning our 1st Ever Lauren Plum “Do you want to just be an MB or do you want to be an ATHLETE?” AWARD WINNER for Athletic Dominance.

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Alex Knox - 3DGE Setter 2028 sure didn’t do anything to hurt her cause on Saturday. We heard from two sources that moved the Pittsburgh prospect to #2 overall in their War Room’s Big Board. Knox is thought to have the best overall hands in the class, but another strength of the Northeast-area prospect is her mental makeup. Another + going in Knox's favor is the toughness he possesses, and she can 100% handle the coaching and stress of the high-level pressure of playing for one of the elite programs.

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Molly Monday - Tribe Volleyball: Doesn’t seem to have been talked about quite as much as some of the others in the Top 5 up to the this point and she doesn’t have a Player Profile so haven’t had specifics on her, but she had looked very good in pre-tourney film and backed in up in Days 1/2 our staff watching back home has loved her. She has caught the eye of at least a couple of big conference recruiters, is the real deal, and has had an impressive recruiting start.

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Chloe Burbage - NC Academy Setter: Great reports for the NC prospect from Day 1, and she has solidified herself on that “Top 5 Pack” for the long haul, I believe. She looks stronger than the Summer which is going to be a really big factor in her ceiling. Her touch and accuracy are improving. Court IQ is good, and I love her confidence.  

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Charli Niu - Austin Jrs Setter: Charli was on our list to watch in person after seeing her a few times now on film and BallerTV. Immediate impressions may be the most physical setter in the class. She has to be all of 74” now, and her workouts with her dad’s gym are not hurting her; that is for certain. She is in place and moves the ball around with ease. Her team wasn’t on the Power Pool courts, but I was still surprised there wasn’t more traffic at her court the two times we stopped by today. That is going to change, and I know there are already multiple schools with her on their Big Boards. It will be interesting to see how many more she gets added to or if she moves up Prestige Levels. 

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Macie Chase - Houston Juniors: Chase had been a bit up and down since the end of last season (mostly because of some nagging injuries and not being healthy), but yesterday was as good a complete day. Her length allows her to move well and cover ground. She is great on the block. Her accuracy is also improving. Like I said I think Chase is just feeling better and playing better with her talented squad.

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Are the best athletes in the Class of ’28 on the Right Side?

It’s going to be hard to argue that point in this class, and this weekend spoke volumes to 

California prospect Megan Hodges' immense talent, athleticism, and CEILING when you realize how fast she is picking up a brand new position and how quickly she is closing the game on her “class competition have played it for years. We have to go back and break her game film down more following the tourney to get an accurate ‘new PPV score, but watched her, not only at the brief NTDP workout, but as she wiped up the competition in 2 days of play in KC. Amazing lift, in comfort, aggressiveness, and her confidence 

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Sarah Floyd - TAV OPP Texas: Floyd has been at the top of our position evaluation for about 17 months now and has been the highest evaluated in the class at one point. She is a special player and does some very good things, obviously. The team still hasn’t quite clicked, and it’s hard to put a finger on what's happening with all of their front row talent, and Floyd should be a huge leader with Ogbogu.

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Taylor Johnson - TAV OPP/OH Texas: Johnson caught some big school attention with her VERTICAL play on Saturday and her position flexibility when she was able to play OPP and, of course, OH. She is, of course, on the most talented team, playing with Floyd in a more supporting role. However, when you see Johnson get a match or run where she is the go-to, you see what she can do and that those “athletic skills” are coming out. More raw than Floyd and Hodges, but Johnson has that position flexibility that can be a nice weapon for a coach to bring in to fill 2 spots with one athlete, plus her best VB days are well ahead of her as she develops and simply gets more swings and reps.

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Mesa Jameson - Playing all the way around for her Northern Lights squad, she is there every.  She gets to run the house and keep it clean. When you just look at an athletic standpoint, Jameson is a great target for a college coach to get excited about. Plus, in Northern Lights, she is their offensive attack, so she is playing all over, making her versatile. She needs to be a bit more consistent and dominate more on her club team to really be looked at as a “dog” at the next level, I think, but she is settling at that high silver/low gold level, which is All-American potential.

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Piper Pease - Alamo OPP Texas: Now, Pease was another we had as moving on/off the bunch. Her game is really what it’s advertised to be. She is a power-hitting OPP, and her approach has improved, as has her arm strength and overall strength (all positives). Defensively, she’s made a jump, not the foot speed of the top end or the verticality, but her shot-making was more varied than at nationals last summer!

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General Notes:

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We will publish another article soon about the reassignment of some positions. One thing that seems much clearer with this 2028 Class is that each position group appears to have a clear top evaluated player or two that coaches and scouts feel are well ahead.

The shuffling has certainly been in some of the early spots, say 2s in the ranking sites lists down to 5-6.

Again, it is very important that people remember that when you follow those sites, those are all MADE UP by people who are just guessing, and so just because they keep telling you that “so and so is #3 ranked, etc” that is just some websites' guesses and some Instagram accounts' guesses.

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The people who get paid to do this professionally actually showed up to start discussing an athlete’s range example: “Who would be the top 3 Setters “that we would have a shot at getting,” and they meet these factors x, y, and z.

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Hey, did you see what polo you are wearing?

Now, these off-season coaching changes might not have been quite as nuts as last year, with Nebraska, Louisville, and Florida all turning over, but there were still some recent coaches wearing some new logos at the NIT this week! When hard-working assistant coaches get a shot at a new gig, you are nothing but pumped for them, but you are also bummed you won’t see them with their old staff anymore. But, that’s the coaching gig…”Cha, Cha, changing.”

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Good luck to some pretty awesome people who have been great to me the past few years:

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Keith Smith: New HC at Utah State. Former Auburn Asst and last year at TCU. This dude is a tireless recruiter. **Mark this guy down, kids, he will be a good one.

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Michael Henchy: New HC UC Santa Barbara “Gauchos” heading back home. Talked with him today, and he was very excited that his parents would be able to watch him coach. He had been at Penn State the past couple of seasons and won the Natty with them.

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Arika Nassar goes from Kansas to Minnesota

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Matt Werle: New HC at UCLA after being the Assistant Coach at Kansas and Head Men’s Coach at GCU.

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Conner Wexter, the new assistant coach at Kansas, leaves JMU

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Lauren Plum: Former Vandy Assistant Coach leaves for LOVB

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Ahen Kim takes over as the new Duke HC after a successful run at American University

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Maggie Catherina, Bénard, Cutrone, and Jaime Kosiorek have been hired as the Duke staff, and I heard very positive things about the new Dukies this weekend in KC.

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Jena Otec: New Assistant Coach at Louisville, replacing CC McGraw

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Nick MacRae new HC at Long Beach State

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Abby Gilleland is the new HC at the University of North Florida after she was an assistant at Florida.

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