Back in December, the Free Press reported that Allie Havers, a 6-foot-5 junior center from Mattawan (a small town west of Kalamazoo), had made a verbal commitment to Michigan. She joins Taylor Gleason as the second member of U-M's 2013 class.
Offers: No clue on which other schools might have offered her, but Havers reportedly had at least "interest" from MSU.
Rankings: In their rankings of this season's players regardless of class, the Free Press has Havers as the 18th-best player in the state, while the Detroit News ranked her #17. The News provided this brief scouting report:
A dominating inside threat, she scored 38 points and grabbed 23 rebounds in a postseason win over Benton Harbor last year. She is being recruited by numerous Division 1 teams, including Big Ten schools. She is also an outstanding volleyball player.
Havers also played on Mattawan's softball team last year, which won the Division 1 state championship, with Havers hitting a home run in the final.
The only other basketball ranking I could find for her was from the Midwest Recruiting Report, which has her as the #9 player in the Midwest in the 2013 class and #2 in Michigan. ("Midwest" in this case includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.)
Stats: The brief Free Press item on her commitment had her stats for this season through Dec. 20: 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 blocked shots per game. A Kalamazoo Gazette article, in which she's called a "game-changer," the best player in her conference, and "easily one of the top two or three players on this side of the state," had her sophomore-year numbers (when she played alongside a four-year starter averaging 17 points per game):
Havers averaged 14.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, four blocks, just under two steals and shot 49 percent from the field as a sophomore for the Wildcats, not to mention a 7-for-16 clip from 3-point range.
"Prediction": By the time Havers arrives in Ann Arbor, Michigan's current starting center, Rachel Sheffer, and her main backup, Sam Arnold, will both have graduated. The only other post player on the current roster is 6-foot-4 Val Driscoll, who played sparingly last year and has done the same this season as well. So there's a good chance Havers will see action during her freshman season and figures to be Kevin Borseth's starting center in 2014-15.
Status of 2013 Class: As the roster stands now and with the four 2012 signees, Borseth could sign as many as five players in the 2013 class. So with Gleason and Havers onboard, three openings remain.
Related Note: The women's basketball team has a road game today against Penn State, which tips off at 6:00 pm and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. The team will again be on the Big Ten Network on Sunday, a home game against Minnesota, which starts at 12:00 noon.
How many stars does she have?