The Next Level and HBU vs Henderson State

I can't stress the importance of younger kids watching older kids play so they can see what it takes to get to the next level. This is something I have preached over and over to parents throughout the years and it saves a lot of time and energy, along with giving a much needed reality check on how good you really have to be. We are in a city with all of these colleges, Rice, U of H, TSU, HBU and San Jac and when you look at the percentage of girl's that actually make it to the next level, well hopefully this is an eye opener
What's The Percentage?

These numbers are from the NCAA and less than 4% is scary, however the Chronicle ran a story on an even more alarming number, less than 1%
More numbers

I think both stats are somewhat misleading, NAIA and JUCO for instance have not been included, so I have my own data and I do know this. At the moment, seventeen kids from our area have verballed that I know about and next week is early signing. I see the number of signees during the early period being in the low twenties, and  a few more will sign during the regular signing period. My scouting and consulting services will help these numbers and percentages significantly in the future.

I plan on looking at more college ball this season, in fact after watching Atascocita, Elkins and Cinco Ranch go at it against Westside and each other, I headed over to Sharp Gymnasium to watch HBU play Henderson State because several area kids were playing. It's great to see how many of these kids have grown up right before my eyes and I continue to watch them as they have acheived their dreams, but if you ask any of them, I am sure they will tell you about all of the hard work they put in.

Here are two examples of what I'm talking about. Princess Jenmard and Raquel Jones both play for HBU, right now both are injured. Raquel will be back in December, Princess is redshirting due to a knee injury. I remember these two young ladies going at it against older kids while they were still in middle school and both had a lot of success in high school. Princess was an offensive machine for Alief Taylor while Jones broke a lot of backs dropping bombs from everywhere at Madison.

Destini Tejada and Megan Green are also from the Houston area. Tejada was hampered by injuries during her high school years at Elsik, however her "WORK ETHIC" which is second to none kept her going. The term "BEAST" is used a bit too frequently with some of these kids and if you ever had a chance to watch this kid, you would know what it really meant. Green, like Jones, was a bomb squader and could shoot the lights out. She helped Clear Lake win a lot of games during her career.

Folks if you don't know the name Tia Jackson, you haven't been around watching these kids play for long. Tia was one of the best players to come out of Crosby High School and one of the top players in the Class of 2006. A transfer from Tulane, Tia was one of the smoothest players to come through here and was what I call a silent assassin.

Although she isn't from Houston, I remember working the Texas A&M camp years ago and all of these kids were screaming in the other gym. I head over and see this young lady a little over 5' going completely OFF. I asked who she was and somebody said, I don't know her real name but they call her "SPOON". Well, this former Waco Midway stars name is Krissica Harper and after parting ways with TSU, she has found a home at Henderson State 

Joycelyn Taylor was a standout at Langham Creek and transferred from Texas A&M Corpus Christi

I can't tell you how this kid kept me laughing over the years. The first time I met her, she was off the chain talking about her game and I was thinking, I wanna see this. Well guess what?" She was "OFF THE CHAIN".Ladies and gentleman, former Cy Springs star, Marsharae Brown, but please, call her "Rae Rae"

If you've never had a chance to see her play, let me sum it up for you. Picture the Energizer Bunny being real! This kid keeps going and going and going, never giving up, never quitting!

As great as it was seeing the kids, I also enjoyed catching up with the moms. Former Westside star Michael Moss plays on the Men's team, his mother is pictured to the right

I want to thank HBU for the hospitality and being a dog lover, hanging out with Mingo was great! I will post some pics later from the exhibition, along with with thoughts from the Westside Scrimmage, part 2.