Thoughts on the scheduled official visits...

I find the pairings of recruits on the two weekends to be worthy of discussion. The consensus on McGraw's Bench is that Caitlin Clark and Maddy Westbeld are the two prospects who would complete the 2020 recruiting class as perfect fits: a highly rated point guard and a multi-dimensional forward who may be underrated by the scouting services. They are scheduled to visit on October 12 for the USC weekend. My hope is that they will commit either before or immediately after their official visits. If they wait until the end of October or early November to decide, then I will be worried because from my perspective, these are two recruits who should have been committed to ND by now because they are so well suited for ND. It would be good to learn when they will be taking their other official visits.

I was initially surprised to see that Deja Kelly and Alasia Hayes were visiting on September 28, two weeks earlier than Caitlin Clark, because I viewed them as the alternatives to her, if Caitlin chose to go elsewhere. It would seem awkward to have them visit before she made her decision. However, the more I looked at Deja Kelly's play this summer, I realized that she can be viewed as a combo guard with exceptional athleticism and the potential to be a big-time scorer, perhaps eventually in the mold of Arike. I haven't learned as much about Hayes, but she is certainly viewed as an athletic combo guard and an impressive defender. Either one could be viewed as a good addition on her own, especially if Destinee Walker does not pursue the sixth year option.

The visible intro to the BGI article about recruiting mentions ND as being open to taking five recruits for the 2020 class. My conclusion is that ND will try to land a commitment from Kelly or Hayes when they visit for the UVA weekend and then close the class with commitments from Clark and Westbeld two weeks later.

Alli Campbell will probably take her official visit on one of those weekends and I now view her as a wing who could play some guard when needed. Perhaps Nat Marshall will pay her own way to visit on one of those weeknds.