I casually follow the club she is at. Madkin played there before going to Arkansas, another girl committed to Arkansas recently, they have Dampier's kid(no idea if she is good, but the height is there!), and they then get some signed to mid-majors and jucos, like you mentioned.Yall are talking about baseball, but youth volleyball in Mississippi is having a bit of a reckoning. Lots of parents are figuring out its just not worth it, and Mississippi teams cannot compete out of the region.
There's a long text thread amongst about 20 dads right now about the latest college commitment. Arguably the best non-connected player* in the state's history just committed to Loyola Marymount. That's fine and hopefully she will do well, but that's the best player in the state going to a decent mid-major. Most players in Mississippi are going JUCO with an occasional D2 signee. Its got people questioning spending $10k+ a year.
Your post motivated me to look up Infinity's 18s teams in USAV rankings and...holyshit. I just casually assumed they were higher ranked. IVBA 18 REN is 345th Nationally and IVBA BLACK is 1747th nationally.
What is the best overall club in Mississippi then?
Who is the best connected player(you mentioned non-connected, so I assume itll be someone different).
For perspective, the top 3 18s teams in my region(state) this year were...
RANKED 19th NATIONALLY IN USAV - 4 higher level D1 girls- Louisville, UNI, UNI, Arkansas, 1 mid-D1, and 2 D2 girls.
RANKED 51st NATIONALLY IN USAV - 1 higher D1 girl- UNI, 2 mid level D1 girls, 3 D2 girls, 1 D3 girl, 1 JUCO, and 1 that chose to not play in college
RANKED 55th NATIONALLY IN USAV - 3 higher level D1 girls- ISU, Drake, Auburn, 3 D2 girls, 1 JUCO, and 2 that chose to not play in college(they would have been D2 and were recruited).
And in those teams, I am including UNI and Drake in 'higher D1' even though they are mid-majors since I think the teams are legitimately higher D1, but that may be generous to some.