2021 Potential Recruit -- Bree Salenbein

[SLOZag]

"Bree Salenbien took her game to another level this season not by averaging more points or rebounds, but because of how she got her teammates more involved. “In the past, I would try and take on a double-team,” Salenbien said. “This year, I relied a lot more on my teammates. If I was getting double-teamed, I knew someone would be open.”

Salenbien, a junior, repeated as the Associated Press Division 4 player of the year and also has three-peated as the Daily Telegram’s Player of the Year. She had another remarkable season, despite being the focal point of every defense aimed at slowing her down. For the season, Salenbien averaged 20.6 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. She was the only Lenawee County player to take more than 100 shots and still shoot better than 50 percent from the floor and was above 80 percent at the free throw line. Her other stats included 4.1 assists a game, 3.3 steals a game and 3.2 blocked shots a game. She was never held before double figures in scoring. She scored a season-high 37 points against Evergreen, which
was two points shy of the Cougar single game record of 39 that she set during the 2018-19 season. Over the last 12 games of the season, she averaged just under 24 points a game.

... Salenbien played in the first 20 games this season, but tore her ACL late in the final regular season game against Grass Lake. She began rehabilitation immediately and was in the pre-operation stage when all elective surgeries like that were put on hold by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. She now must wait, but has already started working on strengthening her quad and legs.

... [After the injury she] ... called several of the college coaches that have offered her a scholarship ... . Several of them already knew. “They still believe in me,” she said. “That meant a lot to me.” Two dozen Division 1 colleges have offered her a scholarship. The list includes Cal-State Fullerton, Dayton, DePaul, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Gonzaga, Indiana, Liberty, Loyola of Chicago, Marquette, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Toledo, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Xavier."

https://www.lenconnect.com/sports/20...player-of-year

That's some pretty heady recruiting competition, but whoever gets her commitment will be getting a pretty extraordinary player.

[ZagDad84]

She looks like a great kid.

At 6'3", she looks like a slightly taller version of our English recruit (Esther Little) and is very slight in stature. Like our English recruit, she can handle the ball, shoot from 3, hits the boards, etc. Esther looks like she plays a little more guard looking to pass more than Bree. Bree looks to be a little more aggressive on the defensive side of the ball.

Because of her age, most of the initial contacts have been through her dad (and her HS coach) or through her club team head coach. Starting September 1, the contacts will be able to go directly to Bree. To date she has not told anybody no, but she realizes that very soon she will have to start shortening the list.

Minnesota offered her in 2017, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana and Dayton all offered in 2018. Gonzaga offered in January, 2019 followed by the rest of offerees.

Way too many schools and too many P5 schools on her list to get too excited at this time. She is from the Mid-West and has offers from the West Coast to the East Coast and all places in between. Maybe when she whittles the list done to 5 or 10 and if we are still on the list, I will get a little more juiced about Bree.

Nice find SLOZag,

ZagDad

[sylean]

I wouldn't consider repairing an ACL "elective" surgery...I've read that fixing a torn ACL should not be delayed too long.....an acl injury for most of us is not always necessary, but for a young athlete, its imperative......

good luck to her....nice player...

[tummydoc]

It's not an emergency surgery, so by definition it is elective. To preserve PPEs it is delayed.

[cggonzaga]

Appears she committed today!

[sylean]

she's on twitter....looks like she is a ZAG.....welcome!

[bigblahla]

Looks like another great player in the mix... Welcome Bree...

Go!! Las Zagas!!!

[ZagDad84]

The news has made the Lady Zag twitter page as well as CLF's twitter page. We just need to get her signature on the LOI in November.

She is listed as a 5-star athlete by ESPN and is ranked #32 in the nation by ESPN. She is by far the highest rated player to every commit to the Lady Zags. Way to go CLF. Your recruiting continues to improve by leaps and bounds.

According to ESPN:

No. 32: Breanne Salenbien, Lenawee Christian

Salenbien, a 6-3 wing player, earned Division 4 Michigan Player of the Year honors for the third consecutive season after averaging 20.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 3.3 blocks and 3.0 steals. She sparked Lenawee to state titles in 2017 and 2018 before suffering a season-ending knee injury in this year’s regular-season finale. ESPN says: ‘Executes in half-court game, exploits mismatches; a superb prospect in the class of 2021.’

ESPN ranks 5 Michigan girls basketball players in Class of 2021’s Top 100 Link: https://www.mlive.com/highschoolspor...s-top-100.html

2021 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings - espnW 100 Link: http://www.espn.com/high-school/girl...s/_/class/2021

ZagDad

[SLOZag]

"She chose Gonzaga over elite programs from across the country, from Michigan and Michigan State to a host of other schools, including Cal-State Fullerton, Dayton, DePaul, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Liberty, Loyola of Chicago, Marquette, Maryland, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Toledo, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Xavier."

https://www.lenconnect.com/sports/20...tts-to-gonzaga

[ZagDad84]

From the Daily Telegram:

LCS’ Bree Salenbien committs to Gonzaga
By Doug Donnelly
Daily Telegram Sports Writer
Posted at 12:27 PM
Updated at 12:27 PM

ADRIAN – Lenawee Christian junior Bree Salenbien has verbally committed to playing college basketball at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.

Salenbien, the three-time Associated Press Class D/Division 4 Player of the Year in Michigan, is ranked among the top 35 players in her class in the nation. She holds offers from dozens of Division I programs across the country but decided on playing for the Zags.

“So excited to run with the Zags!,” Salenbien said on Twitter Tuesday morning.

Gonzaga has transformed into a national power under sixth-year head coach Lisa Fortier. They Zags went 27-6 in 2017-18, 29-5 in 2018-19 and were 28-3 last season and ranked No. 11 in the nation when the season ended. They lost in the West Coast Conference Tournament semifinals but were certain to receive an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.

“It’s the perfect fit for her,” said her father and head coach at LCS, Jamie Salenbien. “It’s been such a cool journey.”

At Lenawee Christian, Salenbien has already enjoyed a remarkable career, leading the Cougars to a pair of state championships.

She’s been turning heads since the first game of her freshmen season, but took her game to another level in the state semifinals and finals when, as a ninth-grader, she hit the game-winner in a semifinal win over Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, then started the state championship game with a highlight-reel reverse layup over Chassell. She finished her first state championship game with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

As a sophomore, her numbers kept getting better and she led Lenawee Christian to a repeat title. This past season, Salenbien averaged a double-double again in points and rebounds and finished near the top of about every statistical category in the county. For the season, Salenbien averaged 20.6 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Her other stats included 4.1 assists a game, 3.3 steals a game and 3.2 blocked shots a game.

Her season did have a setback, however. She was hurt in the final regular season game against Grass Lake when she suffered a knee injury. She had surgery in April and is now in therapy. After suffering the injury, she called several college coaches to tell them of the news herself.

In three years, Salenbien has scored 1,624 points and pulled down 737 rebounds. She also has roughly 250 assists, 250 blocked shots and 250 steals.

She chose Gonzaga over elite programs from across the country, from Michigan and Michigan State to a host of other schools, including Cal-State Fullerton, Dayton, DePaul, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Liberty, Loyola of Chicago, Marquette, Maryland, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Toledo, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Xavier.

Article Link with pictures: https://www.lenconnect.com/sports/20...tts-to-gonzaga

Great get. Winning the recruiting battle over the Big-10, Big East, ACC, SEC and Pac-12. Pulling the rug out from under Maryland, Duke, and UCLA and more recent P5 darlings Indiana and Northwestern and Depaul are particularly impressive.

Way to go Coach.

Bree Salenbein 2020-2021 Highlights - https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...tail&FORM=VIRE

Bree Salenbein 2019-2020 Regular Season Highlights - https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...6&&FORM=VDRVRV

Bree Salenbein 2019-2020 Regular Season Highlights - https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...tail&FORM=VIRE

Good height at 6'3" with long arms. Handles the ball very well. Can dribble the ball the entire length of the court. Has great range out to 3-4' beyond the arc stretching the defense. Always has her head up looking for the ball or to pass to a streaking teammate. Slashes to the hoop from the perimeter and finishes through contact. Challenges shooters without having to foul and cleanly blocks shots.

The only shortcomings I saw in her highlights are that she does not finish with her left hand and I would like to see more highlights with her playing and generating office from within the key. She needs something to work on before she gets to ZAGLand.

Assuming She and Ester translate their HS skills to the D-1 level, they are going to make life miserable for the rest of the WCC.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

"She chose Gonzaga over elite programs from across the country, from Michigan and Michigan State to a host of other schools, including Cal-State Fullerton, Dayton, DePaul, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Liberty, Loyola of Chicago, Marquette, Maryland, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Toledo, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Xavier."

https://www.lenconnect.com/sports/20...tts-to-gonzaga

You beat me to it SloZAG.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

From the Slipper Still Fits:

Gonzaga Lands 2021 Top 40 Recruit Bree Salenbien
Head coach Lisa Fortier just struck big on the 2021 winger.
By Peter Woodburn@wernies May 12, 2020, 10:41am PDT

The Gonzaga Bulldogs just landed a huge recruit with the news that 2021 Michigan-based winger Bree Salenbien has committed to playing in a Zags uniform.

The women’s program has been on a rising run, and this is a clear sign that the fun isn’t quite over yet. Salenbien is ranked as the No. 32 overall player in the Class of 2021 by ESPN, and the 6’3 winger was named the AP Player of the Year in Michigan for the third-consecutive year.

This past season, she averaged 20.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 3.3 blocks and 3.0 steals per game. In short, she can do basically everything under the sun. Unfortunately, her season ended early after she tore her ACL.

Salenbien is a recruiting coup for the Zags, who beat out the likes of Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Minnesota, and California for the commitment.

The 2021 frontcourt will need some assistance for the Zags. Jenn and LeeAnne Wirth will have graduated by then, as well as Jill Townsend, who occupied the wing for much of this season (and presumably much of next season).

Salenbien will join a frontcourt consisting of Anamaria Virjoghe, Melody Kempton, and Eliza Hollingsworth.

Article Link: https://www.slipperstillfits.com/202...enbien-gonzaga

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

Here is Krem 2's Brenna Green conducting an interview with Bree Salenbien:

Gonzaga women land highest-rated recruit in program history in Bree Salenbien
As far as our research can tell, the Gonzaga women have never landed a five-star recruit until Salenbien's commitment.
Author: Brenna Greene
Published: 7:28 PM PDT May 12, 2020
Updated: 7:28 PM PDT May 12, 2020

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Gonzaga men’s basketball team has only gotten a handful of five-star recruits over the years.

Austin Daye, Zach Collins, Jalen Suggs.

That’s it.

As far as our research can tell, the Gonzaga women have never landed a five-star recruit.


That changed on Tuesday.

"The past week has been the dead period so nobody was allowed to talk to me so that kind of helped make me realize what I wanted," reflected five-star wing Bree Salenbein.

Ironically, it was Gonzaga not being able to talk to Salenbein that helped her determine her college decision.

The Zags offered ESPN’s No. 32 ranked player in the Class of 2021 in January of 2019, and have stayed in constant contact ever since. It made a big impression on the 6’3" wing.

"I know it’s cliché, but the family atmosphere there surpasses everything," said Salenbein. "Everybody’s crazy about the Zags, and I’m super excited for that too. The crowd’s great. The family atmosphere stood out to me a lot."

Like many recruits, Salenbein was not able to go on an official visit at Gonzaga due to the Coronavirus. The staff did do something unique for her during her virtual tour though, which helped seal the deal.

"They got a video together of all the girls answering some questions I had so that was really cool and really special," said Gonzaga's fourth commit in the class of 2021. "Nobody else did that."

The staff was able to visit the Michigan native in early March right before the coronavirus pandemic broke out. Salenbein had just torn her ACL, and yet staff still decided to make the trip.

"Just them standing by meant a lot and then coming out even when I had the injury," said Salenbein, who expects to recover from her injury and play at some point her senior season. "It didn’t really matter for them."

The junior still has another year of high school, but what can you expect from her when she suits up for the Zags?

"I would say I'm very versatile. I’ve been told that a lot. I think that’s one of the highlights of my game. I love shooting the three, everybody does. I know in high school I can post up or take someone off the dribble so that’s definitely one of the biggest things."

Interview Link: https://www.krem.com/article/sports/...5-e9f8479afeb6

Why did she pick Gonzaga - The Family Atmosphere.

Bree never got a chance for an official visit to Spokane. What did GU do that other teams did not - A week after she tore here ACL, CLF, JG and CF all went to visit Bree in Michigan, they did not change their plans because of her injury. When Bree had a few questions that she want Gonzaga to answer, the coaching staff did not answer, they put together a video of current team members answering all of Bree's questions. Family won the game.

Well played coaches,

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

From Jim Allen at the Spokesman-Review:

Four-star recruit Bree Salenbien commits to Gonzaga women’s basketball
UPDATED: Tue., May 12, 2020
By Jim Allen
jima@spokesman.com
(509) 459-5437

Bree Salenbien, a four-star recruit and a three-time Michigan Player of the Year, gave her oral commitment Tuesday to play at Gonzaga. The 6-foot-3 Salenbien, a junior at Division 4 Lenawee Christian, shared the news on social media.

“I’m excited to run with the Zags!” Salenbien said in a message that was retweeted by Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier.

“Thank you Lord for all the blessings, thank you to all my coaches, family-teammates, and community. See you at the Kennel,” said Salenbien, who is projected to play at the wing.

Salenbien chose the Zags over more than two dozen other Division I schools, including Power Five programs Duke, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Northwestern, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.

The Associated Press State Player of the Year as a freshman and sophomore, Salenbien made it three in a row last season after averaging 20.6 points and 10.5 rebounds.

She also shot 80% at the free-throw line and averaged 4.1 assists, 3.3 steals and 3.2 blocks. Salenbien scored a season-high 37 points in one game – two shy of her school record set a year earlier. Over the last 12 games of the season, Salenbien averaged almost 24 points a game. She was rated a four-star recruit by ESPN, which also ranked her fourth in the nation at her position and 32nd overall.

Salenbien said she made better use of her teammates this year.

“In the past, I would try and take on a double-team,” Salenbien told Michiganlive.com. “This year, I relied a lot more on my teammates. If I was getting double-teamed, I knew someone would be open.”

Twenty games into the season, Salenbien tore an ACL in the final regular-season game.

She began rehabilitation immediately and was in the preoperation stage when all elective surgeries were put on hold by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Article Link: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/20...its-to-gonzag/

Jim, not quite sure where you are getting the 4-star recruit from, as ESPN has her ranked as a 5-star recruit their site under HoopGurlz Top-100 rankings. Anybody listed as the 32 best prospect in the nation, would, as you should expect, be a 5-star recruit. In fact everybody ranked from #53 down to #1, on the ESPN rankings, is listed as a 5-star athlete.

Thanks for the article,

ZagDad

[sittingon50]

[Zaglaw]

Welcome Bree! Great job by the coaching staff.

[Zag Swagger]

Welcome Bree! You will live being a Zag and playing in The Kennel. Zagup!

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

I remember two previous #49 rated women Zag recruits ESPN rankings. Jill Barta was rated #49 and she proved it on the Zags for 3 years. Louise Forsyth was rated #49 also and definitely has not shown that as of yet. Its how you adjust to college ball, and if you grow each year.

Look forward to Bree playing for us, but its still a crap shoot depending on the ability of the player to keep evolving, and put in the work.

Of course nice to see the women mirroring the guys and starting to get higher rated recruits.

Zags men of course have had a lot of high touted proved transfers from big name colleges. Zags women transfers as a rule are coming from small colleges so we tend to not know how they will pan out. Katie Campbell was our most recent success on a college transfer.

[sylean]

interesting topic would be who have been our best transfers....

I'll put Katie right up there....she was a dynamo for us....taylor Karr...outstanding...Redmon....excellent....those are the ones off the top of my head......

from what I hear, Cierra is going to be outstanding as well....

[ZagDad84]

Zags men of course have had a lot of high touted proved transfers from big name colleges. Zags women transfers as a rule are coming from small colleges so we tend to not know how they will pan out. Katie Campbell was our most recent success on a college transfer.

You might want to check your rulebook. Both the GU Mbb and Wbb have both had numerous transfers from both small colleges and major colleges. Just this year the Mbb had a transfer from Texas A&M and one from North Texas covering the spectrum in the size of college. Might want to check some of these transfers from the not to distant past to see more often that not, the Wbb transfers have come from major state universities:

Abby O-Conner - Loyola-Chicago
Cierra Walker - Vanderbilt
Katie Campbell - From Ventura College (very small)
Chandler Smith - From Nebraska (Not small in any sense of the word)
Georgia Stirton - North Idaho College (although not really a transfer because she graduated from NIC)
Mak Williams - Utah State
Katelon Redmon - University of Washington (Big, very Big)
Taelor Karr - Kansas State (Big)
Lindsey Sherbert - University of California (Big)
Haiden Palmer - Oregon State
Tiffanie Shives - Michigan State

How quick we are to forget.

ZagDad

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Ok let me rephrase that according to my limited memory, the women transfers did not have big stats unless they were from a smaller college. The women transfers were not well known commodities like the guy transfers.

And the guys if I remember often have come from winning programs. Taelor Karr certainly was impressive in the one year we had her. Haiden Palmer and Katelyn Redmon were not really established yet, as they played 3 years for the Zags thats where both made the Zags records books, including both over the 1,000 point club in 3 years very impressive. And if memory serve me correctly Haiden was also way up their in career steals perhaps as high as number 2.

Of course the main point was about the rating of the recruits. The point being when you arrive on campus, put your rating aside it does not mean squat. You have to earn your playing time, and adjust to the college level game.

Something to research for you ZD the freshman recruit out of Australia who played for Portland and beat us in the WCC tournament what was her ESPN recruit ranking. If I remember she was highly rated and the reason she choose Portland is another girl from perhaps her same High School was playing for Portland. Did the Women Zags recruiters even attempt to get her, no idea. But Portland hit a home run on her.

Like to see recruits that have a sturdy build, can bang inside, and get physical. The girls like Katie Campbell don't come along to often. Whoops now I'm sounding like ZD rambling on for no apparent reason. Hey Lady Zags and Fans stay safe. God speed.

[seacatfan]

Redmon and Palmer were both double figure scorers as Fr. at Pac 12 schools. Maybe not big stats but certainly productive and I wouldn't exactly call them unknown commodities either.

[ZagDad84]

Redmon and Palmer were both double figure scorers as Fr. at Pac 12 schools. Maybe not big stats but certainly productive and I wouldn't exactly call them unknown commodities either.

Lindsey Sherbert and I am sure that Katelon Redmon both made the all-Freshman Pac-12 team. Lindsey Sherbert and Tiffanie Shives were both Mcdonald's all-americans coming out of high school.

Just because we Zag fans may have not been aware of a player, does not mean that the player was not very productive or well known to the coaching staff or the fans of that particular conference.

Several people did not like Georgia Stirton, however all she did was lead the Lady Zags to the Sweet-16. Not many GU guards can say that.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

Something to research for you ZD the freshman recruit out of Australia who played for Portland and beat us in the WCC tournament what was her ESPN recruit ranking. If I remember she was highly rated and the reason she choose Portland is another girl from perhaps her same High School was playing for Portland. Did the Women Zags recruiters even attempt to get her, no idea. But Portland hit a home run on her.

I am almost sure that ESPN does not rank European or Australian recruits (or anybody else outside of America and Canada) unless they transfer to American high schools and play HS ball or Travel ball here in USA. I see that the 2021 recruiting list has a couple of Canadians on the list, but no other foreign player is listed in the Top-100. I think that most coaches that actively recruit Europe or Australia have contacts with coaching staffs of the various travel ball teams and the national U-15, U-17 teams and those staff members contact the college coaches to make the introductions. Even Tommy Lloyd can cover the entirety of Europe and Asia without the help of the local coaching staffs.

Whoops now I'm sounding like ZD rambling on for no apparent reason.

You know, if this board had any kind of conversation, I could stop talking to myself.

So start contributing on the threads or I am going to keep babbling on...… or until they start charging me by the word for my response.

ZagDad

[sylean]

funny, last night I rewatched the first game against Portland last season at our place...Fowler actually took both hands and literally shoved one of the Wirths out of the way, not called....notice too that she complains all the time to the refs.....like she's entitled...

yeah, sure, I'd like more beef under the basket.....but I don't like bully players....Sara H at BYU is very tall, but skinny, and I can say she does not resort to being a bully or animal play that I recall....