Jordin Canada, class of 2014, is a top point guard from Windward High School in California.

Prep Spotlight: Jordin Canada

Jordin Canada won gold with the 2011 U16 National Team and was invited back to try out for the U17 National Team. (photo by Kelly Kline)

Add two inches and 15 pounds, and Jordin Canada (2014) would be considered the next great American point guard.  But at a slender 5-6, there’s just a sliver of doubt about whether she’ll be great, or merely very, very good. 

"She's the most complete point guard that I've had the opportunity to coach", say AAU coach Elbert Kinnebrew of the Cal Sparks.  "Her quickness and her ability to handle the ball is outrageous.  She makes such great decisions with the basketball and is looking to pass in transition--but if she doesn't get pressure she looks to finish, and she's a very good finisher."

So far, her career has been marked by achievement after achievement, from winning a gold medal with USA Basketball’s Under-16 team in 2011 and leading her Windward (CA) high school team to a national ranking in 2012. Along the way, Canada has shown the ability to not only work with an elite post player (6-7 Imani Stafford) but also take over and hit big shots herself when the occasion called for it.

"She has a will to win", Kinnebrew says emphatically. "In the fourth quarter, she has another gear. It's a refuse to lose mentality."

As a sophomore she started all 30 games for Windward averaging 12 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals per game.  Now in the offseason she has a laundry list of things she is working on, like being a better leader, continuing to expand her ball handling and becoming a knock down shooter behind the arc.

Canada has shied away from the recruiting process, opting to focus on her demanding academics, but is just now beginning to make some phone calls to college coaches.  She hasn't taken any unofficial visits, but will be attending elite camp at USC and UCLA this summer. Kinnebrew says every major program in the country, with the exception of Connecticut, is showning interest in Canada.

It was a bit of surprise that she didn’t make USA Basketball’s U-17 team this spring, but she’s still considered one of the prizes – if not the prize – of the 2014 recruiting class. Canada, unlike most high school players, can pretty much pick where she wants to go to school, and should she get a late growth spurt, her future beyond college will just as bright.

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