Women’s basketball: Top 10 recruit picks Hawkeyes
Samantha Logic and her father were driving back Friday to Racine, Wis., after their unofficial visit to the University of Iowa. Logic, the No. 10 women’s basketball recruit in the country — according to ESPN HoopGurlz — had pretty much already made up her mind.
“I just had a good feeling for Iowa from the beginning,” Logic said. “I’ve always kept them in my mind. There was a good gut feeling there I thought I’d have at the school I’d go to.”
Logic called Iowa coach Lisa Bluder on Sunday and made it official. The Racine, Wis., native would be a Hawkeye.
“Lisa understands she hit a home run here,” said John Waring, president of Pacesetter Basketball, Logic’s AAU club. “This is a kid Iowa normally does not get the opportunity to get. You get Sam, you go from making the NCAAs and being a 9 or 10 seed, to where they are able to take on Ohio State, beat them for a Big Ten title, and have a chance to get to the Final Four.
“It’s a huge day for (Bluder’s) basketball program.”
Logic has seen a meteoric rise in her stock this summer as more coaches and evaluators have finally gotten to see her play.
“Not a lot of people really knew about her,” Waring said. “People all through the country that have absolutely no idea who this kid is have been saying after watching her, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.’
“She does everything well. She’s someone Iowa fans are going to want to come out and see play. She’ll do one or two things a game that will leave you shaking your head.”
Logic averaged 15.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 7.8 assists, and 4.4 steals per game for Racine Park as a junior. Her high school coach Willie Maryland said she could score more, but prefers a balanced game.
“If she wanted to average 30 points a game, she could,” Maryland said. “She’s a phenomenal shooter. In high school, Sam is never without the ball in her hands. She’s a smooth operator.”
Logic said she began taking unofficial visits during her junior year, and last October made a sweep through Iowa, stopping at Iowa, Drake, and Iowa State. And she had about a dozen unofficials vists to other colleges as well.
Iowa stuck with her. And even when national interest in Logic increased this summer, she always kept the number of teams she was considering at a small number.
“I kept my lists of interests and schools pretty narrow,” Logic said. “If I didn’t have an interest in a school, I didn’t want to waste their time. I think we did a pretty good job of that.”
Logic picked Iowa over 2010 NCAA runner-up Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Marquette.
“There were a couple other schools I was considering, but they came in late,” Logic said. “My interest level in Iowa didn’t change. And I had a gut feeling. I was comfortable there.”
“I think basically it boiled down to the fact she really liked the coaching staff,” Maryland said. “Plus the atmosphere and the academics. Overall, she had really been leaning towards that program from the beginning.”
Waring couldn’t praise Logic enough. He said she definitely deserves her spot at the No. 10 recruit in the country for 2011, and will be a difference-maker for the Hawkeye program.
“She’s going to have a great career,” Waring said. “She’s going to take the Iowa women’s basketball team to a higher level than they currently are.
“She has such a presence. She will make all the players around her better than they already are.”
Logic is the third verbal commitment in its 2011 class. Six-foot-1 City High forward Virginia Johnson is ranked 62nd by HoopGurlz. Kathryn Reynolds is a 5-7 guard from Cincinnati, Ohio, is coming back from an ACL injury suffered during her junior year.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball
This recruiting class will really look great if we can add one more. Maybe someone with a little height that understands what Iowa is about and wants to be part of pushing her school to national prominence in her home state rather than in places like Connecticut or Tennesee. By the way, I’m pretty sure the fans in Iowa would like to see her do it as well and we’re more than willing to provide our support at the games.
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