October 25, 2009 - 11:40pm
Over the next several months you will hear the names Tina Charles, Maya Moore and Jayne Appel often. But while it may come as news to some in Storrs, Knoxville and Palo Alto, there is actually a great deal of good womens basketball played in far-flung places like Brookings, Spokane and Cincinnati. The six major NCAA Division I conferences receive all the publicity but there are some excellent players who chose life away from the spotlight that attends the NCAA's biggest women's basketball programs. Some of those players were underestimated -- they weren't considered big enough or fast enough for the major colleges during the high school recruiting sweepstakes; some flew under the radar during their high school years; others went to major schools first but didnt find the atmosphere to their liking and a few simply chose to play away from the brightest lights.
Still, week-in and week-out these players have turned in outstanding performances that are deserving of much more credit than most of them are ever likely to receive. In an attempt to rectify that injustice at least a bit, Full Court Press is pleased to introduce our Mid-Major Preseason Player of the Year, Alysha Clark of Middle Tennessee State, and to present this year's preseason list of the Full Court's Top 25 Players from the Mid-Majors, broadly defined here to include all Division I schools outside of the six major conferences:
