Parade All-American, once bound for ODU, lands at VCU

VCU has its first Parade All-American on the roster.

Kaneisha Atwater, recruited under Wendy Larry to attend Old Dominion, is a freshman for the Rams this season.

The 5-7 combo guard from Fort Pierce (Fla.) Westwood High, was among 40 honored on the 2011 Parade All-American team. In high school, she led her team in points (29.2) assists (6.2) and steals (7.9), adding 7.5 rpg. She saw time at all five positions and posted six triple-doubles as a senior. In addition, she ranks ninth all time in the state in the 400 meters (1:02.17).

Atwater did not play basketball last year and she considered going to a junior college in her hometown.

Atwater knew VCU assistant Nikita Dawkins, a former assistant to Larry at ODU. Dawkins is a first-year assistant to new Rams coach Marlene Stollings.

"I got a call from coach Niki to visit the (VCU) campus, and I fell in love with it," Atwater said. "It was just a  yes from there."

Atwater said she stayed in shape, but did not play much on-court ball, opting for cardio instead. She declined comment as to why she opted not to attend ODU.

"I'm not where I was, but I'm going to be better than where I was," Atwater said. "I have the best coaching staff ever. I love the support and the positiveness that they give. They're here for us as ballplayers and young women."

Atwater said in a short time she was bonded with teammate Zakia Williams a junior.

"She's just a leader," Atwater said. "She knows where I want to get to, and she's here to help."

The Parade All-American honor was huge, she said. She brought the plaque Parade awarded her to Richmond.

"I didn't know how to act," she says. "I didn't know whether I should cry or be excited. It's a big privilege."

As for her game....."I'm getting better on my 3-point shot."

As for the A-10, "I'm excited to play for the A-10. It's going to be a great year."

Parade All-American pregnant, not going to ODU

Kaneisha Atwater

Old Dominion has announced that Parade All-American Kaneisha Atwater will not attend the school and will instead enroll at Indian River State College in her hometown of Florida. According to The Virginian-Pilot, Atwater is staying in Florida because she's pregnant.

NOTE: We don't know this for sure, but one of the reasons Atwater may have wanted her situation clarified is because we initially posted that she was not eligible to attend ODU. Now, we don't have the reach of ESPN (or ESPNU, or ESPNW, or ESPNAnything for that matter), but we do have our share of readers and information like this can spread quickly. So to Kaneisha and everyone else out there, we apologize for mischaracterizing Atwater's status, and we will re-double our efforts to provide the most accurate content possible. Kaneisha, we wish you all the best. And we've resigned ourselves to the fact that there is now zero chance the child will be named LadySwish. And now, back to our regularly scheduled post....

How much Atwater's absence will hurt ODU is unclear, especially in the short term. For while we're sure she's a fine prospect, we couldn't figure out how a player who wasn't all-state in Florida was deemed All-American by Parade. In fact, we worried that the honor was going to subject Atwater to unfair expectations, that because of the Parade honor, Lady Monarchs fans were going to be expecting a game-changer instead of a true freshman that would have likely needed time to figure things out. Unfortunately, we won't have to worry about that now.

The Atwater revelation were part of a big news day for Old Dominion women's hoops. The school also announced that sophomore center Brittany Campbell will sit out the fall semester due to failure to meet NCAA eligibility standards.

Interesting, because a few days ago, Lady Monarchs coach Karen Barefoot sent out the following message on Twitter:

Just got our team's summer grades back! Wow, way to go!! Proud of our team! Great summer! Ready for fall term to begin! 

On Monday, Barefoot told The Virginian-Pilot that Campbell's grades from last spring made her ineligible, and that a strong summer has put her on track to good academic standing in the second semester. Said Barefoot: "I'm proud we've got her to a point where it's possible to get her eligible."

Finally, Barefoot will reveal ODU's non-conference schedule this week via her Twitter account. Nice touch. We knew Barefoot would eventually start making effective use of this tool.

Whoa! ODU recruit named Parade All-American

Old Dominion-bound Kaneisha Atwater, a Fort Pierce, Fla., Westwood senior guard, will be recognized in PARADE magazine on Sunday as a member of its 35th annual All-America High School Girls Basketball Team.

Can we just say, "Wow, Lady Monarchs. What a recruit!" ODU's last Parade All-American was Alli Spence in 1999.

"I was pretty shocked to find out I made it," Atwater told the Palm Beach Post. "I was surprised — very excited."


The 5-7 Atwater led the Treasure Coast in points (29.2), assists (6.2) and steals (7.9) per game during the 2010-11 season and also added 7.5 rebounds. During her high school career, she saw time at all five positions on the court and averaged 28.2 points her junior season.