Winter will be coming early to Cameron Indoor Stadium this year.
Wynter Whitley, a 6-foot-2 junior from Atlanta's Holy Innocents Academy will make an early unofficial visit to Duke this weekend, tipping off the 2001 recruiting season.
"I'm just trying to get a feel for the campus atmosphere, the academics, the whole thing," Whitley said. "I don't want to have to do all this during my senior year. I want to get a head start looking at a broader range now, instead of just hoops."
Whitley, rated as the nation's third best junior by the All Star Girls Report and No. 4 by the Blue Star Report, has already visited Duke on two occasions, although both were informal trips, following events in the area.
As a sophomore, she led the Holy Innocents to the class A state championship in Georgia and was named MVP by the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
A do-it-all player in high school, Whitley expects to fit into the Michele Matyasovsky mold of an inside-outside threat in college.
"At the [Nike All-America] camp they stuck me down in the post, and there were a lot of 6-6 girls there, that wasn't fun," Whitley joked. "I did well in the post, but I think I'll be more effective on the wing."
Of course, the only thing that runs longer than Whitley's potential these days is the dictionary-sized laundry list of school's the standout junior is considering-Tennessee, Georgia, Duke, UCLA, Connecticut are just the start of a roll call of the nation's elite vying for Whitley's services.
But if Duke has one thing in its favor, it's networking. Whitley's biology teacher and Duke alumnus began the informal recruiting push last season, and recently signed recruit Crystal White, Whitley's roommate for the All-America Camp, and current Duke guard Krista Gingrich, a counselor at the camp, continued it over the summer.
Now it's up to Goestenkors to finish the deal when the two meet for the first time this weekend.
Joining Whitley this weekend is LaTonya Blue, a 6-2 guard/forward combo player from Baltimore's St. Frances Academy.
A superb passer, Blue was named as a honorable mention to Street and Smith's list of the top 100 juniors.
"People tell me I can pass well a lot," she said. "But they say I need to shoot more."
Blue's short list of schools includes Maryland, North Carolina and Sunday's opponent Virginia, forcing Blue to make a quick decision on which way her allegiances lie.
"It's no big deal," she said with a chuckle. "I'm looking at both."
Goestenkors' class of 2001 already has a tough act to follow. The Blue Devils signed five players for next year's incoming class-Iciss Tillis, White, Vicki Krapohl, Rometra Craig and Alana Beard. The incoming class is ranked by consensus among the top three in the country, along with the hauls of Purdue and Connecticut.
But neither of the players said they were worried about getting behind the glut of talent Duke has already recruited; ten players will be freshmen or sophomores for the 2001-2002 season.
"Most people think about playing time, but as long as whatever team I'm on is winning, that's fine," Whitley said. "But also having that kind of experience in front of you makes you work harder and makes you better. You might not play but you're getting better and playing against better players."
Both players are expected to attend the men's game against DePaul on Saturday and the women's game against Virginia on Sunday.
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