White making positive early impressions
Lance White was named the head coach of the Pitt women's basketball team a little more than two weeks ago and that hire has already caught the attention of an in-state player who happens to be one of the top sophomore recruits in the country.
Alli Campbell, a 6'0" sophomore point guard from Bellwood-Antis H.S. near Altoona, has more than 30 Division I offers, including one from Pitt. She was recently named the Pennsylvania Class AA player of the year after leading her team to a state championship while averaging 26.4 points per game.
Campbell was initially offered by Suzie McConnell-Serio, but said that Lance White told her the offer is still there after meeting him at a recent AAU event.
"I currently have about 30 D1 offers; Pitt, Penn State, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, West Virginia, Villanova, South Carolina, Florida, Boston College, DePaul and I've been talking to Notre Dame, Duke, and Louisville," Campbell told Panther-Lair.com.
When asked if she had an offer she was hoping to get, "No it's just good to know all the coaches I've been talking to, and I'm OK with where I am at right now. I'm just grateful for all the offers that I do have. I'm really thankful to be where I'm at right now."
The Blair county standout plays AAU for the Philly Belles and travels on weekends to Philadelphia for practice.
"The competition is just second-to-none, just playing against the best players in the country every time out, and it's just making me a better player."
At a recent event she caught up with White.
"I had a conversation with him just last weekend," Campbell said. "He has a great personality, and he was very easy to talk to. He seems very determined to build a winning program at Pitt, and definitely looking forward to getting on campus and meeting with him and the rest of the staff."
She added, "He's a great guy, very energetic."
Campbell came away from her conversation with White thinking he can make positive strides with the Pitt program.
"I do; his whole attitude is very positive and I really think he's determined to make this into a special program."
Campbell lives about 30 minutes from Penn State, but she has a connection to Pitt.
"As a family, we never really grew up rooting for any specific college team, but my Mom, she did go to Pitt, so she was always a Pitt fan so we always watched them on TV, and we grew up watching Penn State sometimes too."
Campbell also laid out how she feels about Pitt overall and how she is considering the Panthers.
"I'm definitely looking forward to building this relationship with him, and I think he's a great coach," she said. "Of course I was interested in Pitt from the get-go because my mom went there, and it's an in-state school and close to home, but yeah I'm just really looking forward to building the relationship with him and continue talking to him and the rest of the staff."
As a class of 2020 recruit, Campbell still has two more years of high school to get through, but she has a special opportunity coming up in a few weeks.
"I was recently invited to try out for the u-17 USA team. The tryouts are being held in Colorado Springs over Memorial Day weekend. If I make the team, the FIBA World Cup will be held this Summer in Belarus, so it's pretty excited to be invited out there."