The Recruiting Guy

Nation's No. 2 recruit open to talk with Neighbors

Central Arkansas Christian's Christyn Williams is considered the top girls basketball recruit in the state.
Central Arkansas Christian's Christyn Williams is considered the top girls basketball recruit in the state.

Highly-recruited Central Arkansas Christian junior guard Christyn Williams thinks the hiring of Mike Neighbors as Arkansas’ new women’s basketball coach is a good one.

But it’s unlikely to get the Razorbacks back on her list.

Neighbors led Washington to a 98-41 record and three trips to the NCAA Tournament in four years. He also coached Kelsey Plum, the consensus national player of the year and the NCAA's all-time leading scorer.

Arkansas has scheduled a 4 p.m. news conference Tuesday to introduce Neighbors, a Greenwood native, as the the Hogs’ new coach.

“I think that would be a great hire,” Williams said. “I hear he’s a really great coach. He’s shown he’s a good coach. I think it will be really good for Arkansas’ women’s basketball program.”

Williams said she would be receptive to Neighbors should he ask to talk to her.

“I’ll hear what he has to say,” she said. “Arkansas isn’t the right fit for me, so I don’t know if that will change my decision of putting them back on the list or not. I’ll definitely listen to him and hear what he has to say.”

ESPN rates Williams is the No. 1 guard and No. 2 overall prospect in the nation for the 2018 class. She lists Baylor, Tennessee, Connecticut, UCLA and Notre Dame as her top schools.

She led the Mustangs to a 29-5 record and the Class 4A quarterfinals this past season and was recently named the Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year for the second consecutive year after averaging 26.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 2.1 assists.

She plans to attend college beyond the borders of Arkansas.

“I just want to go out-of-state,” Williams said. “Nothing against the program or anything like that.”

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