SHELBYVILLE, Ky.: Recruitment letters have overwhelmed one lengthy shoe field, together with a backpack put aside for the frontrunners. ZaKiyah Johnson will ultimately get round to studying them, her mom believes, although it could possibly be some time earlier than the extremely prized basketball recruit responds to these piquing her curiosity.
The junior wing ranked as a prime prospect for subsequent season has pared her preliminary listing all the way down to a dozen faculties, a bunch that features defending nationwide champion LSU, two-time champion South Carolina, UConn and close by Louisville.
Recruiting cellphone calls come late within the afternoon, typically after Johnson arrives dwelling from apply at Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville. Johnson says she politely solutions and talks for a couple of minutes, a routine that figures to proceed properly into summer season. Official visits will quickly comply with, a course of that may embrace discussions about endorsement prospects. centered on how a lot she will earn from use of her title, picture or likeness (NIL).
“That’s a question I come across when I go to colleges and seeing what they could bring, but it’s not really that big of a deal,” Johnson stated. “I mean, I want it but it’s still about basketball. That’s the main focus.”
While March Madness has saved followers glued to their TVs, Johnson, Divine Bourrage and Darianna Alexander — two different top-ranked prep stars within the class of 2025 — are within the thick of recruiting selections like 1000’s of different prospects. Bourrage performs at Davenport (Iowa) North High School and Alexander is at Purcell Marian High School in Cincinnati.
The Associated Press frolicked with the trio over the previous season to speak concerning the recruiting challenges, together with discussions on the NCAA’s first girls’s College Basketball Academy in Memphis.
All of them are by no means actually that removed from the choice they face: Where will they find yourself taking part in school ball?
Of the fixed contact, Johnson says it doesn’t hassle her: “I kind of I let school go, let basketball go when I come home. And then whatever’s there is there for me. I don’t really put (recruiting) in front because I’ll get there eventually. I’m kind of living in the moment right now.”
Johnson has had loads of moments, from being admittedly starstruck seeing UConn coach Geno Auriemma or LSU’s Kim Mulkey at one in every of her AAU video games to incomes state championships and particular person awards. The 6-footer surpassed 2,000 profession factors over the winter whereas serving to the Valkyries win their third Girls Louisville Invitational Tournament championship in 5 years. Johnson was named the occasion’s Most Outstanding Player.
Sacred Heart then went out and gained an unprecedented fourth consecutive Kentucky women Sweet 16 championship and eighth total. Coach Donna Moir wasn’t involved about her senior-laden powerhouse squad being distracted. Certainly not Johnson.
“Her family is really great about the whole recruiting thing,” Moir stated. “They handle a lot of that, we’ll handle a little bit with just coaches coming in. She does a great job of just balancing and keeping that all in check because when it’s basketball time, it’s basketball for ZaKiyah and she’s very focused on getting better.”
Johnson’s abilities come actually with basketball working in her household.
Johnson’s mom, Taneisha Jointer, performed guard for 4 seasons at Morehead State in jap Kentucky. Her father, Butch, performed at Western Kentucky and coaches at Woodford County High School, the place her youthful brother, Omari, additionally performs.
The mom careworn aggressive protection to Johnson as a toddler — “The whole game is about toughness and guts and wanting to play defense” to create alternatives, she notes — whereas the daddy helped her create photographs from everywhere in the flooring and beating defenses that incessantly double group her.
A social media video reveals Johnson’s handles — abilities honed from attending Steph Curry’s camp — whereas Moir and several other different coaches work along with her. There’s additionally competitors along with her West Virginia Thunder Under Armour Association squad.
All that has translated into quickness and flexibility on each ends of the court docket. Johnson led Sacred Heart in scoring (18.9 factors per sport) and rebounding (7.3), along with her offensive harm helped from behind the arc on 80 3-pointers on 37% accuracy.
Moir notes Johnson’s skill to play anyplace, from working the purpose to establishing a publish presence on each ends to drifting out to defend the perimeter. Teammates discover her typically and vice versa.
“It’s hard sometimes when you have so many players able to score, but we just kind of work off of her,” SHA senior heart/ahead Angelina Pelayo stated. “If she’s not having a good shot game, she’ll be a passer and we’ll be the ones that score. She’s very good at sharing the ball. So, even though she wants to score as much as she does, she wants us to score as well.”
Johnson can be the newest spectacular standout athlete from the all-girls Roman Catholic faculty situated quarter-hour east of downtown Louisville. One notable latest Valkyries basketball alumna is Grace Berger, final 12 months’s No. 7 total WNBA draft choose by the Indiana Fever after a standout profession at Indiana. Berger not too long ago spoke with the group and Johnson has additionally talked with former SHA and WKU standout Crystal Kelly, a WNBA alum who not too long ago labored as a Kentucky assistant.
While these encounters painted an image of school life, Johnson’s resolution on the place she’ll stay will contain plenty of conversations along with her dad and mom. She’s additionally scouting groups, having incessantly attended Louisville girls’s video games this season and not too long ago touring to Knoxville to observe Tennessee tackle then-No. 8 LSU. South Carolina was visiting Kentucky that very same afternoon in Lexington.
With consideration quickly to be targeted on Johnson and her basketball future, she’s ensuring to get pleasure from each second as a spectator. And being a teen.
“I go shopping. I like shoes,” Johnson stated. “And I watch serious TV shows. I’ll watch anything, but other than that I’m with my friends, and if I’m with my friends, we’re probably shopping too.
“If I’m tired of basketball, I’ll go watch somebody else play.”
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
