How Sophie Cunningham and Robin Pingeton helped get Aijha Blackwell to Missouri

Aijha Blackwell frequently wore her late father Ernest’s football jersey as a little kid, whether it was for good luck or sentimentality.

So when the five-star recruit was looking for a way to end her commitment video, which would tell the world she was going to play basketball for Missouri, she looked no further than her closet.

“I thought it just summed up the video,” she told The Star.

Blackwell became the biggest recruit since Sophie Cunningham to commit to Robin Pingeton’s program when she chose the Tigers over national power Louisville on Monday.

The No. 8 player nationally in the 2019 class gives Pingeton another in-state star to build around with Cunningham graduating this season. The commitment also marks the end of a recruiting drought that has seen five-star St. Louis recruits like Alecia Sutton (Texas) and Napheesa Collier (UConn) go elsewhere. Blackwell joins Hayley Frank, a top-30 recruit from Strafford in the Tigers’ 2019 class.

The daughter of former Missouri running back Ernest Blackwell, Aijha said Louisville was in the driver’s seat of her recruitment for months.

Cardinals coach Jeff Walz coached Blackwell on the USA under-18 national team over the summer and the two had built a strong relationship.

But her mind started to change after an unofficial visit to Missouri on Sept 8. Pingeton rolled out the red carpet for her and with some help from football coach Barry Odom, Blackwell was able to wear her father’s jersey.

Odom played with Ernest Blackwell at Missouri and the two were good friends and neighbors in the locker room.

“Ernest was a tremendous talent,” Odom said on Tuesday. “One of the most gifted athletes I’ve ever seen.”

The younger Blackwell left Columbia that weekend with a bittersweet feeling because she enjoyed the visit but didn’t really want to leave.

“It was just Louisville, Louisville, Louisville and after that visit, I felt more at home,” she said. “That visit was big for my decision.”

Blackwell, a 6-foot-1 guard, also took a liking to Pingeton for the approach she used recruiting her.

Pingeton took more interest in Blackwell’s off-the-court interests than other coaches and wasn’t talking about basketball 24/7. She didn’t shy away from difficult conversations either.

“She wanted to know more about me and not just who I was as a basketball player,” she said.

Blackwell attends The Whitfield School in St. Louis and credits Cunningham and Whitfield graduate Torrence Watson, a freshman on Missouri’s men’s basketball team, on helping court her.

She rolls up her shorts like Cunningham and considers her a role model for the way she plays. The two interacted frequently during the recruiting process and Cunningham talked about “passing the torch” to her.

“Sophie did a lot for the program,” Blackwell said. “They weren’t that good when they first offered me. Sophie comes in and what she did for the team was amazing. She basically changed an entire program and set the tone.”

Before arriving at Missouri, Blackwell wants to get stronger and improve her IQ for the game.

A three-level scorer and elite passer, Blackwell thinks she’s a perfect fit for Pingeton’s motion offense, which requires players to play and guard multiple positions.

“I’m really positionless,” she said. “I’ve never been told what position I am.”

That’s music to Pingeton’s ears.

Alex Schiffer

Alex Schiffer covers University of Missouri athletics for The Star.