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Morris: Bone's commitment a moment to savor for USC
Kelsey Bone (55) of Dulles blocks the shot of Jessica Diamond (21) during the Nimitiz vs Dulles Class 5A Region III Semifinals at the Campbell Center Friday, Feb. 27, 2009, in Houston. ( Michael Paulsen / Chronicle )
Michael Paulsen /Houston Chronicle
Posted on 04.03.09
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Wednesday proved to be a significant day in South Carolina athletics history. Unfortunately, few USC fans recognized it as such.
When Kelsey Bone of Sugar Land, Texas, told a national TV audience she intended to play for Dawn Staley at USC, it shook the women’s college basketball world. It also created a stir at USC, where the number of national top-level recruits over the years in any sport is few.
Bone is considered by some recruiting experts as the top girls high school basketball player in the country. She was named the McDonald’s national player of the year. Her decision to spurn Texas, Texas A&M and Illinois to play for a program halfway across the country is stunning news.
Bone’s decision cannot be minimized, said ESPN women’s basketball analyst Debbie Antonelli.
“It’s completely mind-boggling,” Antonelli said. “If you can get a Kelsey Bone, you just know that immediately opens up every kid’s eyes. It opens up everybody’s eyes the whole summer and makes kids think about it.
“There’s got to be a lot of shock waves. On the national scene, that is such big news for Dawn and her staff. It just validates how hard they work and that they really believe. If they can sell to that kid that they’re going to win and compete, then they can sell ice to a polar bear.”
Frankly, it’s been a lot like trying to sell ice to polar bears for USC on the national recruiting trail over the years. Other than the late 1960s and early 1970s when Frank McGuire built a talent pipeline from New York City to Columbia, the door has more often than not been shut on USC by out-of-state recruits in the four major sports.
The best national-level recruits in USC’s athletic history have been home grown. We’re talking Shelia Foster in women’s basketball, Alex English and Rolando Howell in men’s basketball, Derek Watson and Demetris Summers in football, and Drew Meyer, Justin Smoak and Reese Havens in baseball. All did not necessarily pan out, but they were regarded as among the nation’s best out of high school.
Mining out of state, the McGuire years produced several diamonds who were highly regarded nationally. But Mike Grosso, Tom Owens, Kevin Joyce, Tom Riker and Jim Graziano came along before recruiting services and the Internet. Their decisions to attend USC did not create much of a splash because recruiting was not big news then.
Since then, the biggest out-of-state names include Ken Sally, Derrick Little, Steve Taneyhill, Stephen Garcia and O.J. Murdock in football, as well as Terry Dozier, Keith James and Jamie Newton in men’s basketball. But none of those players caused coaches and fans across the country to sit up and take notice of what was happening at USC.
Perhaps the only out-of-state player, prior to Bone, to cause that kind of national impact was Todd Ellis. He was recruited to USC out of Greensboro, N.C., and arrived for the 1986 season as the most highly touted quarterback prospect in the country, turning down the likes of Stanford and Tennessee.
By then, USC had proven it could compete nationally on the football field. By signing Ellis, USC proved it could compete nationally in recruiting as well.
Now, the women’s basketball program is reversing the process. It is beginning to haul in the nation’s best talent with the idea that winning big will follow. Getting Bone on board signals to Tennessee, Connecticut and to all other national powers that Staley can not only get in the living rooms of the nation’s best players, but can convince them to build a championship program at USC.
Bone is a 6-foot-5 Parade All-American center who is mobile and a force on both ends of the basketball floor. Antonelli describes her as a “program changer.” Her commitment to USC is every bit the women’s basketball equivalent of Georgia football signing quarterback Matthew Stafford out of Texas or North Carolina basketball landing Tyler Hansbrough out of Missouri.
Of course, Bone cannot sign with USC until April 15. Even then, she will not have played a single game of basketball for the Gamecocks. Nevertheless, her commitment to USC means Staley’s program is headed toward national prominence.
That is significant, not only for women’s basketball, but for the entire USC athletics program because it shows to all that it can be done.
Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM
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