I preface this diary with a hat tip to my friend and fellow TWBB and VB fan Jorge, who put me on to the story.

You BON'ers already know how excited I am that we were able to lure coach Gail Goestenkors away from Duke, to help rebuild the Texas womens' basketball program and return us to the glory days. Yesterday Scout posted an article on the #1 recruit in the 2008 class, Elena DellaDonna, who has now changed her school list to drop Duke and add Texas because of Coach G's move.

"On the recruiting front, DelleDonne made a change to her list of six finalists, dropping Duke and adding Texas - essentially a nod to Gail Goestenkors, who recently accepted the head coaching job with the Longhorns. The 6-foot-4 sharpshooter also recently informed at least a couple of schools - Notre Dame and Stanford - that they no longer were under consideration.

"I definitely will take a trip to Texas because I respect Gail so much," DelleDonne said."

We already have one #1 recruit on the team for next year - Erika Arriaran - who headed up the #1 recruiting class in the country in 2005. Unfortunately that class is far from meeting expectations so far, but I'm confident Coach G will get good production out of the players remaining (Erika, Carla Cortijo, Earnesia Williams mainly, but with contributions from Ashley Lindsey and Crystal Boyd in supporting roles). Having the #1 player in the country joining the team in 2008 would make Texas a championship contender, given that we only lose one player after the 2007 season (E-Bay).

DellaDonna