Kentucky 2023’s Spring Watchlist

While there are a ton of talented players in the class of 2023, it’s easy to look past some of that talent for various reasons, such as not knowing what team a player is playing for, where they’re playing, coming off of an injury, etc. Let’s look at some players from the Bluegrass state that definitely need to be on coach’s radars this Spring and Summer if they aren’t already. <h5><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[player_tooltip player_id="164398" first="Courtney" last="Hoskins"] | Kentucky Dream 2023 | Leslie County | </span><em>Current Rank: #30</em></h5> Hoskins is coming off of a fantastic high school season in which she finished as a top 40 scorer across the state and I expect her to catch a lot of people’s attention this spring and summer. She has one of the quickest releases I’ve seen at the high school level. It takes her very little space and time to get her shot off. However, she is far from just a shooter. She facilitates the offense so well and she really wants to get her teammates involved. She can get to the rim or pull-up from anywhere on the court. She’s got a variety of moves she can make when she gets it in the paint. She crashes the boards hard and is an excellent defender as well. <h5><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[player_tooltip player_id="284106" first="Jarie" last="Thomas"] | SWISH City | Henderson County </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">| </span><em>Current Rank: #25</em></h5> <img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-294389 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/06/Jarie-Thomas-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> Thomas has excellent length and she utilizes it well. She does a really good job of staying straight up and blocking shots down low. She’s constantly working on the other end of the floor as well. She makes good cuts, gets herself in the right positions, and catches ready to shoot. Thomas is also impressive on the boards, going after every rebound and extending her arms to grab the ball before anyone else can. In her junior season, she nearly averaged a double-double while shooting over 50% on the season. <h5></h5> <h5></h5> <h5><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[player_tooltip player_id="200347" first="Adylan" last="Ayer"] | IGB 17U | Daviess County </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">| </span><em>Current Rank: #33</em></h5> <img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-275634 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/04/Adylan-Ayer-2-scaled-crop-2294x1506-1618927620-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> Ayer is fearless and tenacious. She utilizes ball fakes really well to get past her defender with ease. Once she’s past the defender, she makes excellent drives to the rim and is such a shifty finisher. She really forces the defense to make a decision on how to guard her as she is an excellent outside shooter as well. She’s got great form and she consistently knocks them down. Ayer has good court awareness and can handle the ball really well. On the other end, she also does a great job of reading the passing lanes and going after steals. <h5></h5> <h5></h5> <h5><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[player_tooltip player_id="311948" first="Katie" last="Chandler"] | ETA Thunder 2023 Smith | Rowan County </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">| </span><em>Current Rank: #38</em></h5> <img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-329923 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/09/78-Katie-Chandler-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> As a coach, I can’t imagine that you ever have to question how hard Chandler is going to play because the effort is always there. Her numbers were extremely impressive throughout her junior season, shooting almost 50% overall as a shooting guard. She really works to come up with rebounds and she is honestly someone I see as the ideal teammate. She could put up more points, but she’s constantly looking to create for her teammates instead of forcing something herself. Chandler has an excellent hesitation move and she also sells her ball fakes so well. She makes good moves to get her shot off around the rim also and she can finish through contact. <h5></h5> &nbsp; <h5><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[player_tooltip player_id="164410" first="Jamie" last="Cowan"] | Overtime Performance 2023 Select Black | Paris </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">| </span><em>Current Rank: #45</em></h5> <img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-294386 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/06/Jamie-Cowan2-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> Cowan has already caught a lot of people’s eyes this spring and I’d only expect the attention to grow as this season rolls on. She is such a versatile and reliable player. She plays hard every second she’s on the court. She is excellent at crashing the boards because she reads where the ball is going to go and beats everyone else to that spot. If someone boxes her out, she works to get around them. Cowan has good strength and she can definitely finish through contact. She makes good moves down low as well. She is also a good defender, putting herself in the correct positions and blocking shots when the opportunity is there.