By ROBERT CESSNAMaybe Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair is psychic. He said at Tuesday night's season-ending banquet that he thought the best was yet to come.
Thursday afternoon, Blair signed transfer Kelsey Bone, the highest-ranked recruit in the program's 36-year history. The 6-foot-5 standout from Sugar Land Dulles opted to leave South Carolina after one impressive season. The center led the SEC with 9.2 rebounds per game and was eighth in scoring at 14.0 points per game, earning the league's Newcomer of the Year award. She'll have to sit out the 2010-11 season under NCAA rules but will have three years of eligibility left.
The Aggies won't mind the wait.
"I've never had a [Division I] kid in my 25 years as a head coach transfer in," Blair said. "You'd think I'd be due one."
His first one is potentially a dynamo.
Most recruiting services, including ESPNU/HoopGurls.com, listed Bone as the nation's second-best recruit in the Class of 2009 behind Aldine Nimitz's Brittany Griner, who went to Baylor and earned All-American honors this season.
Bone narrowed her selections to Texas, Illinois, South Carolina and A&M, and most experts figured she'd sign with the Aggies, setting up some classic battles with Griner. Bone surprisingly picked South Carolina, which hasn't made the NCAA tournament since 2003.
"We had recruited Kelsey Bone since she was in the seventh grade," Blair said. "I remember the heartbreak our entire community felt during that timeout of the McDonald's All-American Game."
Bone announced her decision to attend South Carolina at that McDonald's game.
A year later, almost to the day, Bone shocked South Carolina by telling the Gamecock community she would transfer.
"I'm a Texan, born and raised through and through," Bone said. "I felt it was the best decision for me to transfer and come home to be closer to my family. The Texas A&M coaches were still waiting for me with open arms. I am really excited to join the Aggie family and be a part of the winning tradition that Coach Blair, his staff and players have built there."
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, and the Gamecocks, initially said they wouldn't grant Bone a release to any other SEC school along with Texas and A&M. South Carolina eventually took A&M and Texas off the list, according to A&M assistant coach Johnnie Harris.
"She was totally released this past week," Blair said. "She couldn't contact us until she had the full release, and we couldn't call her. We just had to sit and wait."
Bone will take her official visit to A&M on May 1. She is still enrolled at South Carolina and will end the spring semester at the end of April.
"This is one the most mind-boggling things," Blair said. "Players of her caliber, they just never leave UConn, Baylor or Tennessee. She just got homesick. She realized a little bit of what she missed."
Staley said South Carolina's inability to make the postseason probably figured into the decision. A&M has made the NCAA tournament a school-record five straight times, earning a No. 2 seed the last three seasons.
"I followed the Aggies throughout the season and NCAA tournament," Bone said. "I was happy to see the team do so well. Coach Blair is a great guy, and his staff are very deserving of the success they saw this past season. I hope to add to the program any way I can and help them progress toward winning a national championship at A&M."
Blair played golf Thursday morning, birdieing No. 16 at Traditions Club. He went to the office to await Bone's transfer papers, then went out for dinner.
"Today is a testament of the close knit family we have with our players, my staff and our entire program," Blair said. "There is an unbelievable amount of pressure on the elite athletes to make the right decision at the age of 17, and sometimes it just doesn't work out. Sometimes your priorities change. The state of Texas is a special place. I'm not so sure if homesickness is the right word. Kelsey has deeps roots in this state that come from playing alongside young ladies she has grown up with and playing in front of friends and family. Those roots are very special -- it is why I chose to come to Texas A&M as well."
A&M had one scholarship left for Bone after signing only Arlington Lamar guard Kristen Grant and A&M Consolidated post Karla Gilbert in the Class of 2010. A&M graduated only three seniors off this season's 26-8 team that won the Big 12 tournament.
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