DeCosta cuts down list

[Streak One]

2018 St. Mary's/Cal Stars forward Aquira DeCosta has trimmed her list to Cal, Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisville and Baylor.

USC and Washington could also be in play after the coaching hires, Harold Abend reported.

 

[Trivalley]

Now this player, the sky is the limit. Saw her when she played for her Stockton AAU team.

 

[jaymel911]

I saw her last week on live streaming and she was extremely impressive. During high school I thought Thomas was better but not so sure anymore.

 

[jazzpt55]

She should get away from this dump...
Go play for IMG....beautiful Florida sunshine!!!!

 

[jaymel911]

She should get away from this dump...
Go play for IMG....beautiful Florida sunshine!!!!

The sun does not shine in Stockton?

 

[Willtalk]

People need to realize that the operation she had during her last high school season was for a nagging condition that had been bothering her for some time.

Seems like Jazz has expanded his hatred to include all of Stockton now. Hell hath no fury like a Jazz scorned.

In respect to the De Costa -Thomas comparison. They are different types of players. Thomas is highly productive dominating the paint in high school via her physicality. She just overwhelms high school players with her relative height and strength. Both her and Aquira get a lot of production though offensive rebound put backs. However, Aquira is more athletic and quicker. Who would be considered better would depend on what criteria and venue we are evaluating them in. Is it in their comparative high school setting or against the next level elite competition? I remember and early season match up between their respective teams. Thomas was having a great game. She not only kept her team in the game though her usual post dominant game but her team threatened to pull of the upset. She was unstoppable until SMS switched to man to man with Aquira defending Thomas. It was for a few minutes and only one game but Thomas game and strengths were totally negated by Aquira's quickness and ability to elevate.

I have never seen Thomas play against EYBL level post competition so it would be pure speculation to predict the next level effect on her game. She obviously has a game that is not just limited to dominating the post, but that seemed to be her bread and butter in high school. I expect her to be a really good next level player but not with the dominance she displayed at the lower level because her advantage will be mitigated by larger/taller college competition. Of course that happens to a lot of high school standouts.

 

[ClayK]

The consensus is that DeCosta is an elite player who, barring injury, will play in the WNBA and conceivably on an Olympic team. Thomas will be a solid college player with an outside chance of a WNBA career.

Had DeCosta been healthy for the entire season, she probably would have been NorCal POY, but she was not. Still, Thomas played the toughest schedule in the nation and was keyed on by every opponent, and still produced huge numbers at the high school level. Her skill set may not translate as well to college basketball, but at least for me, awards at the high school level are about high school performance, not future potential.