Players I’ve Liked Over the Past Few Days

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Champions Challenge ended relatively early for AAU events, with the last round of games tipping off at 6:40. That said, I have some time to go through and highlight some kids that I enjoyed watching over the past two days in the Champions Center. I'll have more to come during the week.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='405513' first='Kailey' last='Starks']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I challenge anyone to find a player who plays as hard as Starks. The Evanston Township product plays with maximum effort, even when she's away from the ball. When she does stand still for two seconds, it's because she's lining up a route to chase after a possible missed shot. Not many kids stay as engaged as Starks when they aren't scoring. She plays the game how it should, and I loved watching her.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='497476' first='Maya' last='Kovacic']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I don't know anyone in Wisconsin's 2026 class who has as much creativity in their game as [player_tooltip player_id='497476' first='Maya' last='Kovacic']. The Brookfield East guard finds ways to score when there is almost no angle to score the ball, and she'll do it through contact. Today, she converted an and one, and I have no idea how she managed to contort to her left to clear the backboard and finish with her right hand. Her confidence is high and with good reason.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='509699' first='Graycin' last='Phillips']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I talk about Phillips a lot, but she keeps improving. Today was the best I've ever seen her play, and it feels like her transition from being a post to wing took a significant step this morning. Phillips is a 6-0 athlete whose shot is infinitely better than it was a year ago, has some confidence attacking off the dribble, and is seeing a bunch of work paying off, and it's fun to witness. If you told me she'd look like an effective wing a year ago, I wouldn't believe you, but I can't say enough about how good she was in Appleton.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='624965' first='Claudia' last='Asman']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Kimberly product is a new addition to the 2026 Let it Rain team, and she looked solid in her second game today. Her ability to stretch the floor as a forward opens up the court for her teammates and that's what happened, especially in the first half. She's a kid who hasn't gotten an opportunity yet at Kimberly, but the more she plays like she did today, she'll earn minutes there and more attention on the AAU circuit over the next few years.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->