Blue Valley North sensation Davis headlines KU women’s basketball recruiting class
Kansas Jayhawks women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider is making a habit out of signing top-20 ranked high school players.
The Jayhawks, who landed 5-star prospect/current sophomore standout S’Mya Nichols, ESPN’s No. 21-ranked player in the recruiting class of 2023 out of Shawnee Mission West High School two years ago, on Tuesday signed No. 17-ranked (by ESPN), 5-star Jaliya Davis, a 6-foot-2 senior small forward out of Blue Valley North.
Then, on Wednesday, KU recruiters again struck gold, landing a commitment from No. 17-ranked (by 247sports.com; No. 29 ESPN) Keeley Parks, a 5-11 senior guard from Norman (Oklahoma) High School.
Last week, future Jayhawks Davis and Parks were two of 50 high school seniors named to the Naismith Trophy Girls High School Player of the Year watch list.
Davis, who chose KU over Baylor, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and others, is a two-time all-state selection and 2023-24 Kansas player of the year as chosen by MaxPreps and Sports In Kansas. Earliler in the recruiting process she also entertained scholarship offers from Iowa State, Iowa, Louisville, Georgia, Texas Tech and others.
Davis, a member of the Missouri Phenom EYBL program, averaged 19.8 points and 8.0 rebounds a game as a junior for a (20-5) BV North team that placed third at state. She has helped BV North to a 40-9 record over the past two seasons.
Davis set BV North’s single-season scoring record with 463 points as a sophomore, then improved on that mark last year by scoring 495 points. Davis enters her senior season with 1,115 career points and is on pace to become the school’s all-time leading scorer. Last season, she had nine games of scoring 25 or more points. As a sophomore, Davis helped the Mustangs claim the Class 6A state championship.
She shot 63% from the field last season and totaled a season-high 30 points in a 72-56 win over Derby in the state tournament’s third-place game. She was the leading scorer at the 2024 Kansas Class 6A state tourney with 63 points over three games.
“Jaliya is a long and extremely athletic forward. She is a dominant rebounder and a matchup issue on the offensive end,” Schneider said this week. “She can post, she can attack off the bounce and she can stretch it to the 3-point line. Her versatility carries over to the defensive end as her quickness will allow her to guard multiple positions at our level. Jaliya Davis will impact Kansas women’s basketball immediately,” he added.
Parks, chose KU over Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, UCLA, North Carolina, North Carolina State and others.
Parks, the 2024 Gatorade Player of the Year in Oklahoma, averaged 26.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.6 steals as a junior. Parks also was named the Daily Oklahoman’s Super Five Player of the Year after recording 13 double-doubles. She had double-digit steals in five games.
Her dad, Frankie, is Norman High’s girls basketball coach. Parks’ sister, Mikayla, plays for Kansas State where she is redshirting during the 2024-25 season to fully recover from surgery to repair a torn ACL and lateral meniscus.
“Coming from someone who has watched her play first-hand, Parks is a monster on the hardwood. She has tremendous handles and can shoot the lights out on any given night. Her ability to create her own shots had collegiate coaches handing out the offers early,” wrote Taylor Skieens of SI.com.
Last season she set the Norman High single-game scoring record with 51 points in an overtime win in the Lawson Memorial Invitational.
“She’s a big-time 3-point shooter,” one coach involved in her recruitment told On3.com. “Parks is a super dynamic scorer when paired with a facilitating guard. She’s a scorer first, playmaker second, and an excellent help-side defender. Parks takes a lot of risks defensively and is very instinctive.”
“My game is really calm and smooth,” Parks told On3.com. “I feel like I don’t get too high or too low – kind of even-keeled. I want to work on my post moves and showing more personality on the court, just talking more.”
Parks recently told nocapspacewbb.com what she was seeking in a college: “I really want to have a good culture and teams with good culture usually win,” she said.
“Immediate impact. I want to go somewhere where I’ll play right away and try to win a championship. Player development, like after basketball or even going to the WNBA.”
KU as of Wednesday night had not yet officially announced the signing of Parks, who on social media site X said she was “1000% committed to KU.”
KU in the early signing period also has signed Libby Fandel, a 6-1 senior guard from Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Tatyonna Brown, a 6-2 senior forward from Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Fandel is ranked No. 44 nationally by ESPN.
“Libby is one of the premier wing players in the country. She has great perimeter size, athleticism, and versatility, and she can space the floor from 3 but also play downhill and attack the paint. She is a physical defender who can guard multiple positions. Libby is a proven winner in multiple sports at Xavier High School and she plays for one of the top club programs in the nation in All Iowa Attack,” Schneider said.
Fandel, also a standout volleyball player, averaged 24.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 4.0 steals per game as a junior. She chose KU over TCU, Creighton, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech and others.
Brown, who chose KU over Alabama, UNLV, Rutgers, Cal and others, averaged 13.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game with 11 double-doubles her junior year.
“We are very excited to add a player of Taty’s skill, athleticism and character to our program. She will bring a level of length and athleticism that will elevate our frontline play on both ends of the floor. We love Taty’s upside and look forward to being a part of her growth and development,” Schneider said.
