Amanda Muse Verbally Commits to UCLA Women’s Basketball
The Bruins have added another top target to their upcoming recruiting class.
Class of 2023 post player Amanda Muse verbally committed to UCLA women’s basketball on Wednesday, she announced on Twitter. Muse picked the Bruins over Duke, Notre Dame, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington.
Muse put the Bruins in her top six back in October, then came to Westwood for a visit and wound up pledging to the blue and gold.
Muse is the No. 38 overall player and No. 5 post in espnW’s rankings for the 2023 class, earning four stars from HoopGurlz. The Bruins’ only other commit for 2023, guard Jada Williams, is a five-star who ranks No. 20.
UCLA joins Oregon, Maryland, North Carolina and UConn to become the fifth team to reel in two top-40 prospects. Over half of the top-40 is still uncommitted, though, so there is a long road ahead on the recruiting trail.
Muse’s arrival gives coach Cori Close her first post player of the recruiting class, and she measures in at 6-foot-4. The in-state product from Brentwood, California, stars for Heritage High School (CA).
Midway through her junior season at Heritage, Muse was averaging 16.6 points, 10.2 rebouds and 4.1 blocks per game. Muse was a standout at the Sabrina Ionescu Showcase as well en route to All-BVAL Team and League MVP honors.
On the AAU circuit, Muse suits up for Cal Stars, which won the national championship at the 2021 Nike EYBL and opened the 2022 season with a Gold Championship. Muse is AAU teammates with another UCLA recruiting target, post player Breya Cunningham.
Cunningham has the Bruins in her top two, and the five-star prospect also visited Westwood this spring. The impact of Muse’s commitment on Cunningham’s recruitment remains unedetermined, but the pair of 6-foot-4, in-state AAU teammates could still end up going to college together.
With Williams and Muse in-house, the Bruins still have room to add Cunningham and other big-name recruits. UCLA boasted the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for the 2022 cycle, and now Close has an early base in place to try and follow that up with another highly-ranked group of prospects.
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