Pac-10 Coach Praises Cajon's Clarendon, Los Osos' Warren
A Pac-10 women's coach who shall remain nameless ... because of arcane NCAA rules forbidding coaches from publicly assessing recruits before they sign ... was lavish in her praise of Cajon junior guard Layshia Clarendon, who scored 25 points in Cajon's victory over Ayala in the CIF-SS Division II-A finals.
Said the coach: "She's the real deal. She can get her own shots, she plays very good defense, has great court awareness and already handles the physical part of the game. She knows she's going to get hit and isn't bothered by it.
"A big thing for most high school girls, when they get to college, is how much more physical the game is, and they have trouble adjusting to it. It usually takes a couple of years. (Clarendon) already is there."
The coach was there to look at one more player -- Los Osos' 6-4 center Cierra Warren.
Warren was THE focal point for Los Osos. Rarely has one player so overshadowed everyone else on her team. And not just beause she is 6-4.
Warren averaged 22.5 points and 13.1 rebounds per game for a team that had no other player scoring more than 5.7 points per game, nor anyone averaging more than 4.7 rebounds per game.
Hard to win by yourself, and Los Osos was in major trouble when Warren got into foul trouble, and eventually fouled out in their Division II-AA final vs. A.B. Miller.
The Pac-10 coach said "You just about have to have a big, physical player to compete at this level. If you're trying to play with a 6-2 player in the middle, she better be tough as hell."
I asked the coach what the women's equivalent of a 7-footer is. "About 6-5," the coach said. "Figure 6-4 is about 6-10 in the men's game."
Anyway, Warren also is a junior, and clearly this particular coach would love love love to recruit Clarendon and Warren.