Mikayla Blakes has Rutgers basketball in her top seven

Five-star recruit Mikayla Blakes has Rutgers women’s basketball in her top seven. Blakes is one of the top players in the nation and the highest-ranked recruit in New Jersey in the 2024 class.

Ranked the No. 16 player in the nation, Blakes is a 6-foot guard from Rutgers Prep. As her rating would suggest, she is quite the complete player, with the ability to dribble drive, get to the hoop and score in transition. She is a very good, consistent scorer from three-point range with an impressive pull-up jump shot.

Defensively, Blakes is strong and aggressive, especially along the perimeter. It is very difficult to find a flaw in her game.

She has a top seven that includes Indiana, Rutgers, Stanford, Tennessee, UCLA, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin.

On Saturday evening, Blakes posted on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) about the cutdown in her recruitment:

Last season, Rutgers Prep finished 25-5 with Blake leading the way.

This has been an important and transformational offseason for Rutgers.

Several key additions in the transfer portal, headlined by Destiny Adams, will make Rutgers a better and deeper team. Big Ten Network analyst Meghan McKeown was bullish on the direction of the program under Coquese Washington, who is entering her second season with the program.

“Coach Washington knows two very important concepts: how to recruit in the Big Ten and how to win the Big Ten. She had a ‘rebuild’ last season that produced one of the best freshmen in the league in Kaylene Smikle, and one of the best rebounders in the league in Chyna Cornwell,” McKeown said in a recent interview with Rutgers Wire.

“They picked up some key wins along the way, such as a huge win over Nebraska. This is a team that plays hard and has the ability to make in-game adjustments. I’m excited to see how they do in 2023-24.”

Story originally appeared on Rutgers Wire