WBB Signs Impressive Recruiting Class
11/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Baylor Lady Bear basketball program has signed three players to National Letters of Intent (NLI), head coach Kim Mulkey announced today. Inking with Baylor in the early signing period, which began today, were forward Lauren Cox and guards Natalie Chou and Calveion "Juicy" Landrum.
The Texas trio gives the Lady Bears one of the nation's best recruiting classes, All-Star Girls Report ranks BU's class No. 1 while ESPN HoopGurlz lists them at No. 2.
Lauren Cox
Lauren Cox, a 6-4 forward from Flower Mound High School (Texas), is the nation's No. 1 ranked player by ESPN HoopGurlz. As a junior, she averaged 21.7 points, 15.3 rebounds and 5.4 blocks per game and led her team to a 28-8 record and the Texas 6A state semifinals for the first time in school history. In 2015, she was named Gatorade Texas Player of the Year, MaxPreps All-American second team, Naismith High School All-America third team and USA Today All-USA third team. She was named USA Today All-USA Texas Player of the Year and USA Today All-USA Texas first team in 2015. She also earned 2014 District 5-5A Offensive Player of the Year honors and 2013 Newcomer of the Year in both basketball and volleyball. She was named Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) All-State first team (2014, 2015) and All-Region (2013, 2014, 2015) as well as being named Texas Girls Coaches Association (TGCA) All-State first team (2014, 2015).
Cox has built a lengthy resume with USA Basketball, as she has three gold medals to add to her long list of achievements. She was a member of the 2015 USA Basketball U19 World Championship team that captured the gold medal with a perfect 7-0 record in Chekhov, Russia, a member of the 2014 USA U17 World Championship team that captured the gold medal with a perfect 7-0 record in Pilsen, Czech Republic, where she played alongside future Lady Bear teammate, Natalie Chou. She also competed in the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 team that captured a gold medal with a perfect 5-0 record in Cancun, Mexico.
Lauren was born in Grapevine, Texas, and is the daughter of Brenda and Dennis Cox. Her mother played basketball at Southern Methodist University and her father played basketball at Central Methodist University. She has three younger sisters.
Cox selected Baylor over UConn, Tennessee, and Notre Dame. She is ranked No. 1 nationally and No. 1 at her position by ESPN HoopGurlz and All Star Girls Report (ASGR), as well as No. 2 nationally and No. 1 at her position by Prospects Nation.
"What's most impressive about Lauren Cox is the type of person she is and the type of family she comes from. Lauren is a very sharp, intelligent and versatile player, her basketball skills speak for themselves. Through her three stints with USA Basketball she has been all around the world and won three gold medals. When she came here on the visit we had no idea she would commit while on campus, that caught us all by surprise," said Mulkey.
Natalie Chou
Natalie Chou (pronounced Choh), a 6-1 shooting guard from Plano West High School (Texas), is the nation's No. 8 senior according to ESPN HoopGurlz. As a junior in 2015, Chou started all 35 games and averaged 22.0 points and 4.8 rebounds a game. She led her team to a 30-5 record and to the Texas 6A state regional championship. Chou was named TABC Class 5A All- State first team (2014, 2015), TABC Class 6A All-Region 1 in 2015, District 10-5A Offensive Player of the Year (2015), and an all-state and all-area first-team selection in 2014 and 2015. As a sophomore in 2014, Chou was at the forefront of the Plano West team that advanced to the Class 5A state semifinals and was named Texas District 6-6A Offensive Player of the Year that same year.
Along with all her high school accolades, Chou has competed internationally for USA Basketball. In 2015, Chou participated in the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships, helping her team to a silver medal in Debrecen, Hungary. Overall, Chou scored 29 points during the tournament.
She was a member of the 2014 USA U17 World Championship team that captured the gold medal in the FIBA U17 World Championship with a perfect 7-0 record in Pilsen, Czech Republic, where she played alongside future Lady Bear teammate, Lauren Cox.
Chou, born in Beaumont, Texas, is the daughter of Quanli Li and Joseph Qiu. She has one sister, TingTing. Chou, a five star prospect, selected Baylor over California, UCLA, and Texas. She is ranked No. 8 nationally and No. 2 at her position by ESPN HoopGurlz, No. 12 by ASGR, as well as No. 24 overall and No. 4 at her position by Prospects Nation.
"On the perimeter Natalie can play all three positions because she's 5-11. If you need her to shoot it she can shoot it, if you need her to handle it, she can handle it. Natalie can rebound and post up as well. As with Lauren and Juicy, family is important to her, her mother, who played for the Chinese national team is her personal trainer, is a basketball junkie and has taught Natalie the game. What's also impressive is that every year I have watched her play she has developed another part of her game," said Mulkey.
Calveion "Juicy" Landrum
Calveion "Juicy" Landrum, a 5-9 point guard from LaVega High School in Waco, Texas, is the nation's No. 40 ranked player by iESPN HoopGurlz. Last season as a junior, she averaged 14.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game. Landrum led her team to a return trip to the state championship game in 2015.
She was named a TABC 3A All-State selection in 2015, Waco Tribune-Herald's Super Centex Girls Basketball first-team selection and to the 4A All-State Tournament team. In the 2013-14 season, Landrum led her team to an undefeated record and a Texas 3A state title. She averaged 17.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 9.0 assists and 4.3 steals per game and was named Super Centex Player of the Year.
Landrum was born in Waco, Texas, and is the daughter of Dondala Sutton and Calvin Landrum. "Juicy," who verbally committed as a junior, chose Baylor over Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. She is ranked No. 25 overall and No. 6 at her position by Prospects Nation as well as No. 40 overall and No. 12 at her position by ESPN HoopGurlz.
"Juicy committed to us over a year ago, when you can get local products to stay at home it speaks volumes. She comes from a very good high school basketball program and I'm glad that her local fans will be able to get to see her play. After having watched her for many years, it will be exciting to finally see her don the green and gold. Juicy is an athletic combo-guard with a scorer's mentality who can penetrate or distribute the ball," said Mulkey.
"We've put together a recruiting class that on paper is going to be highly regarded. But just as I always say, it really doesn't matter about the number in front of their name, even if those kids didn't have a number in front of their name I would still recruit them, because I've watched them enough to know how good they are and what they can do for our program," said Mulkey. "We've won national championships here with players that didn't come to us with a number in front of their name and we've won them with players that were highly-ranked. It brings great recognition when they are highly ranked but it doesn't win championships, the players win the championships.
"It's impressive of those three young ladies just to stay near home and recognize `why do you have to leave home when you have something good at your back door'," Mulkey added.
