Prep Blog

Unlike some of her girls basketball counterparts, McClatchy senior Ariel Thomas didn't sign her NCAA letter of intent today with Oregon, where she will play next fall on scholarship for veteran coach Paul Westhead.

This was the first day of the week-long early signing period for most college sports, including basketball.

But the 5-foot-6 Thomas says she doesn't plan to sign until Friday when her father Sean will be home.

"We're going to have a small family dinner party," she said. "I didn't want to do it until my father could be there."

But after a morning practice at McClatchy, Ariel spent most of the the day congratulating and accepting graduations from some of those who are part of what is believed to be the best girls basketball recruiting class in area history.

Among her Just Believe Sports club teammates: Oak Ridge's Sara James (Stanford) and Sacramento High's Kyra Dunn (Pittsburgh) and Brittany Shine (Florida) are all moving on to major programs.

"We've been texting each other with congratulations and how proud we are of each other," Thomas said.

Thomas verbally committed to Oregon in early October after a home visit by Westhead. She was Westhead's first recruit.

Thomas also gave strong consideration to Nebraska and Texas Christian, the school where her father attended before going on to play in the NFL.

But she said she was won over by the chance to play point guard for the 70-year-old Westhead, a coach famed for his up-tempo teams in previous stops with the WNBA Phoenix Mercury, three NBA teams including the Los Angeles Lakers and Loyola Marymount.

"At first I didn't know much about him, but then I started looking things up," she said. "I love that style of always running. We're going to put up some big numbers. But I also like the school and the family atmosphere."

Westhead made no secret of his plans when his hiring was announced in March.

"I'm going to do the fast break, we're going to outscore people," Westhead told the Oregonian. "We're going to shoot the ball every five seconds or less, preferably less. Hopefully we'll create a lot of excitement."

Thomas will have some familiar company when it comes time to adjust to college. One of her JBL teammates, forward Deanna Weaver of Wilcox High in Santa Clara, also is signing with Oregon.

Sean Chambers, her club coach who heads the girls basketball program at new Antelope High School, says Thomas will thrive in Westhead's system.

"She's going to play right away," he said. "They want her to come in and run the show. They have big plans for her."

Even though considered one of the nation's top point guard recruits, Thomas has spent most of her high school career playing other positions.

"I've pretty much played the two (shooting guard), three (small forward) and four (power forward) and, a few times, the five (post)," she said. "But that's where I was needed."

As a freshmen for coach Harvey Tahara, she helped the undersized Lions win the D-I Sac-Joaquin Section championship and reach the Northern California Division I title game, where they lost 66-44 to Berkeley.

She's been the team's top rebounder for three seasons and its leading scorer for two. Last year, though, she missed nearly two months of the season with a torn hamstring in her right leg and played in only 15 games. McClatchy, 47-19, the previous two years, went 13-14 and failed to make the playoffs.

"That was a very humbling experience watching from the bench," she said. "It was definitely hard, but it let me see the game from a different perspective."

Playing with Just Believe Sports during the spring and summer gave her a huge boost for this season. The team won several major tournaments across the country and finished ranked seventh best nationally.

"It's one of the best teams to come out of Sacramento," Thomas said. "We knew a lot of people underestimated us because we're from Sacramento and the West Coast.
"But we had great team chemistry. We were like a clock where every piece was working in synch. It was a great experience."