re: Arkansas Basketball Recruiting Thread *Muss Years Archive - do NOT delete*

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Maryam Dauda, the highly touted post player from Bentonville High School, is coming home to play for the Razorbacks, Head Coach Mike Neighbors announced today. Dauda, who signed with Baylor last fall, joins an absolutely loaded freshman class that will debut on The Hill this fall. The group features fellow five-star freshman Jersey Wolfenbarger, five-star redshirt freshman Elauna Eaton, and 2021 signees Emrie Ellis, Ashlyn Sage and Samara Spencer. Oregon State transfer Sasha Goforth, who was a five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American coming out of Fayetteville High School two years ago, will also be on the 2021-22 roster.

“Maryam becoming a Razorback in the Class of 2021 gives us another outstanding young student-athlete to represent the University of Arkansas,” Neighbors said. “Everyone in this state has seen her lead her Bentonville High School team under Tom Halbmaier to great success. Offensively, she can score on the block and stretch the floor to the three-point line. She’s an 80 percent free throw shooter and is a capable, willing passer. She runs the court like she’s a guard and can finish in transition, making her the perfect fit for our roster. Defensively she changes the game in the lane. She has incredible ability to affect shots with her timing, and she also has a knack for blocking shots without fouling. I have no idea how tall they will list her in the program but she plays taller than whatever that number will be.”

Dauda, the 13th ranked player and top ranked center in ESPN’s HoopGurlz Recruiting Top 100 Rankings, put together a sensational high school career at Bentonville High School. During her senior season, Dauda was dominant, averaging 17 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 61.5 percent from the field and 41.5 percent from deep. Her junior season was just as good, as she posted averages of 16.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per contest in 28 games. Both her senior and junior seasons were cut short, though. A knee injury prematurely ended her final high school season, while the COVID-19 pandemic shortened her junior season.

For her efforts, Dauda has racked up the accolades during her high school career. The 6-4 post player was a four-time All-Conference selection, a three-time All-State selection, a McDonald’s All-American and a semi-finalist for the Jersey Mike’s National High School Player of the Year Award. She is also the leading scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker in the history of Bentonville High School.

“She’s a warm, caring teammate that turns into a fierce competitor the second she steps on the court,” Neighbors continued. “I can say with some experience we have never had a player like her in a Razorback uniform. And for us, the most exciting part is also what we’ve been saying since we first saw her play – her best basketball is still ahead of her. You don’t often say that about a McDonald’s All American.”

By flipping Dauda, Neighbors has now assembled a roster that features a lot of elite talent from the state of Arkansas. Over the last two recruiting cycles, all four of the state’s top-50 recruits now call Bud Walton Arena home. Redshirt junior Erynn Barnum, the 14th ranked wing player in the 2018 class, and a Little Rock native, is also still on the roster.

Dauda, originally from Nigeria, came to the United State entering her sixth-grade year. She hadn’t played basketball until coming to America.

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So, if LSU fans are correct and Kim Mulkey has accepted the LSU job, what are the chances we can get Maryam Dauda to come home?

Decent at least yeah?

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Arkansas women's basketball coach Mike Neighbors will add three McDonald's All-Americans to his program next season.

Bentonville center Maryam Dauda (6-4) announced Friday she will play her college basketball for the Razorbacks. Dauda previously signed with Baylor, but was granted a release from her national letter of intent after former Baylor coach Kim Mulkey was hired at LSU last month.

Dauda and Arkansas signee Jersey Wolfenbarger (6-6) of Fort Smith Northside were named McDonald’s All-Americans and among the 10 finalists for the Naismith Girls Player of the Year.

In addition to Dauda and Wolfenbarger, Arkansas will add Oregon State transfer Sasha Goforth, a 2020 McDonald's All-American from Fayetteville.

“I think the analogy is going to be that (Dauda) is the last piece of the puzzle and I don’t think we can get away from that,” Neighbors said. “We needed a big and this is the first kid like this to come of the state since (former Fort Smith Southside and Vanderbilt star) Wendy Scholtens.

“To have her join the rest of this group, it looks like a puzzle with a missing piece and she fits right in there and it’s not only our roster, but what you have to have to win in the SEC. She’s also a great kid, another Arkansas kid that solidifies all of that over the last three or four seasons — lot of impact.”

Dauda averaged 17 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 61.5% from the field, 41.5% from three-point range and 85% from the free throw line in her senior season.

Wolfenbarger is ESPN’s No. 7 overall player in the 2021 class. Dauda is the nation’s top center and 13th-best in the country, according to ESPN.

“What you see in Maryam is very unique,” Neighbors said. “She is a kid with size that can pass it, handle and make free throws. She shoots 85% from the free throw line and has a gorgeous release.

“She changes the game in the paint on defense and that’s an area we have struggled against the best teams in our league.

“We got by and got to the middle of the pack with what we were able to put on the floor, but now there is not going to be a gym we walk into where we are not on the same level height-wise and skill-wise.”

Wolfenbarger said she was thrilled by Dauda's decision.

“I said from the beginning that my dream team would include one of my closest friends, but I thought it was just that — a dream,” Wolfenbarger said. “Now it’s reality and I couldn’t be more thrilled. As a friend, I couldn’t be more proud of everything she’s accomplished, and as a teammate I can’t wait to embark on this journey together.”

The new Razorbacks will join Elauna Eaton of Nettleton on the Arkansas campus. Eaton was injured and missed last season.

“They don’t have to go outside of our borders to play with the best and against the best,” Neighbors said. “We have proven that we will line up and play anybody, anywhere. If all those kids are looking at each other with big eyes for big things, then I’ll be disappointed. I know we are and I know they are, too.”

Dauda began playing basketball in the sixth grade when her family moved from Nigeria to Bentonville.

“She didn’t start playing basketball too long ago and she has been around great coaches in (Bentonville coach) Tom (Halbmaier) and (AAU coach) Nick Bradford," Neighbors said, "so she has not built any bad habits. I think her best basketball is still ahead of her.”

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