Recruiting Report: Maya Whiteside, George Washington 2021
As schools continue to make offers and Class of 2021 recruits gradually begin to commit under unusual and unprecedented circumstances, Maya Whiteside Maya Whiteside 6'0" | SF George Washington | 2021 State CO continues to patiently wait her turn. Currently…
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Continue ReadingAs schools continue to make offers and Class of 2021 recruits gradually begin to commit under unusual and unprecedented circumstances, Maya Whiteside Maya Whiteside 6'0" | SF George Washington | 2021 State CO continues to patiently wait her turn.
Currently at No. 7 on our list, the six-foot George Washington forward remains the highest-ranked Colorado player in the 2021 graduating class who has yet to commit to a college program. Whiteside has been offered by Long Island University and has drawn significant interest from several other Division-I schools.
Still, she doesn’t appear to be in any rush and is doing her best to find the right fit. But as he has said all along, George Washington head coach Keithan Lyons believes Whiteside is destined to play Division-I basketball.
“She’s going to land somewhere at some point,” Lyons said. “She’s got a lot of schools that her have on their list. She’s six foot and versatile so eventually, she’ll end up at a D-1 somewhere.”
[player_tooltip player_id="95127" first="Maya" last="Whiteside"]Whiteside attempted fewer 3-pointers and averaged 11.9 points per game as a junior, which was down a bit from the 16 points a night she scored as a sophomore. But that dip primarily resulted from the emergence of talented young teammates like sophomore Anisa Turner Anisa Turner 5'7" | SG George Washington | 2022 State CO and freshman Jaida Redwine Jaida Redwine 5'8" | PG George Washington | 2023 State CO , who led all of Class 4A with 16.9 points per game, and the Patriots’ increased emphasis on spreading the ball around.
What didn’t change was Whiteside’s all-around game that led to an average of 7.3 rebounds, 3.2 steals and 3.3 blocks a night. She finished the season with seven double-doubles and blocked four or more shots in 11 games.
Whiteside definitely has the athleticism to play big-time college basketball and could fill a number of different roles with her versatility. But what’s scary is that she has immense room for growth and is farther away from reaching her ceiling than most players of her age.
“Maya can do a little bit of everything on the basketball court so she’ll be a better college player than a high school player,” Lyons said. “Whatever teams gets her is going to be getting a steal.”
The Patriots went 19-6 in 2019-20, reaching the Sweet 16 in Class 4A. Whiteside plays club basketball for the Colorado Hawks, which are also coached by Lyons.