Coach Larry's Eye Popping Prospects in 2028

This is my first article on Prephoops and I wanted to make sure I came correct and talked about some of the best players in the state of Illinois in the 2028 class. This list is not going to be about whose better or rankings, but more why these girls stand out to me as potential scholarship basketball players at the college level.    When you watch Haywood play the first thing that comes to my mind is her competitiveness. She won't take a play off and that is important when you are looking for players that will contribute to winning. As a defense you must know where she is at all times as she can hurt you on and off the ball. When the ball is in her hands she has a functional enough handle to get to her spots on the floor to score it or make a play for her teammate. Haywood off the ball is just as dangerous as you can run her off of screens like elevators and pin downs for her to shoot the three. She attacks closeouts with quick and decisive attacks to the rim or pull up jumpers when the secondary defensive player is coming to help. Lastly, her defense is methodical and she is seemingly looking for ways to turn the other team over with quick hands in passing lanes, or using a rondo like tap behind to get the steal. She's also not afraid to take a charge. Haywood is a player that I will continuously keep my scout's eye on to track development in other areas.     Orozco is a cool, calm, and collected player that continues to get better on both sides of the floor. Offensively she's a threat from all three levels. As soon as she crosses halfcourt she must be accounted for as a defense as she's hit deep three after deep three all season it's felt like. Orozco has an array of combinations to get her shot off when she's the ballhandler. The combo guard off the ball can torch any team she plays against from deep. She commands hard closeouts and has gotten better at making teams and players pay for out of control closeouts because of how afraid of her shooting they are. In transition she's a force as she is really good at making the hit ahead pass and hurting teams that don't play good defense in transition. Defensively this is another area of her game she has gotten better at. Orozco is always in the passing lanes looking to make things happen. She has also showcased improved footwork in her defensive slides when guarding on the ball. She's been a huge contributor to her Hinsdale Central team and a big piece to why they are surging as a group.     The first thing that pops when the ball tips up is Brooklyn's size and how agile she is for that size. Her functional strength in games pops when she is fighting for rebounds and boxing out. When she's driving to the basket she's able to use her shoulder to shield off defenders and keep her leverage to the rim. Her shooting ability continues to grow with every game i've watched. Her shooting mechanics are sound. I think the most underrated skill of hers and what will be intriguing with coaches at the next level is her ability to guard up and down the lineup with her lateral quickness being good enough for guards and having the size and strength to guard power forwards and center which also creates lineup flexibility for coaches.     This 5'11 forward is deceiving because when you see her on the floor thoughts of back to the basket forward comes to mind, but once you sit down and watch a full game you will see that those thoughts are off by a mile. Her game is malleable to whatever the game needs from her. She can grab the ball off the glass and push to generate a fastbreak opportunity. In the half court her ball handling and decision making allow for her to initiate offense as dribble handoff operator. The jumper has improved every time I've had the chance to see her in person. On the defensive end her mobility is not bad at all. She can play some drop in pick and roll coverages, or she has enough lateral ability to come out and hedge it as well. Mclelland high points rebounds with two hands and is strong with a great frame to take her to the next level.     Sandridge has been awesome to watch in all of my viewings and you can see why she's coach Bolt's starting point guard. Her toughness shines through especially on the defensive side. I'll never forget how tough she guarded [player_tooltip player_id='874665' first='Katara' last='Watson'] from early in the season. She digs at the ball when you drive past her when she's off the ball as well she's always looking to effect the play positively. On offense she can knock down a catch and shoot three to keep the defense honest and also has shown attacking closeouts is not a problem for her to keep advantages going for her squad. Sandridge is always looking to attack space off the dribble, pass to space, or cut to space. She is a rock solid point guard prospect for the n     Ava has been one of my favorite watches this season. She's the epitome of swiss army knife in my opinion. She can be your lead guard allowing her to make decisions on the ball and initiating offense, she can be off the ball and being ready to shoot off the catch with her sound shot prep mechanics which allows her enough time to read closeouts and attack according whether thats taking the shot or attacking the rim where she finishes at a pretty good clip. Defensively you won't find too many players that compete as hard as she does. Scholarship player and those no doubt about it.

This is my first article on Prephoops and I wanted to make sure I came correct and talked about some of the best players in the state of Illinois in the 2028 class. This list is not going to be about whose better or rankings, but more why these girls stand out to me as potential scholarship basketball players at the college level.