WBB: Blair opens up on signing of five-star post Khaalia Hillsman

Gary Blair and the Texas A&M women's basketball team recently received their latest national letter of intent from 6-5 post Khaalia Hillsman out of Chicago, Illinois. A consensus five-star recruit, Hillsman is the lone member of the 2014 signing class and will arrive in Aggieland next summer and will begin play as a freshman during the 2014-2015 season.

Here's what Coach Blair had to say about his newest signee:

On Hillsman...

“Khaalia is a young lady who really fits a need for us even though we have two returning five players in Rachel Mitchell and Jada Terry. She will remind you a little bit of Karla (Gilbert) in one way, and Kelsey Bone in another way. They are all about the same size, and while Bone might have been a little more fluent with her moves, Khaalia’s ball skills are excellent.

When you come from a good high school program and you play against the best competition, you get better automatically. We were very fortunate to get her away from Ohio State and the other Midwest schools. We expect her to come in and really compete for the starting position next year.”

On Hillsman coming from the same school as associate head coach Kelly Bond-White…

“There are a lot of people in coaching who all came from that high school, and then you have Cappie Pondexter who is now one of the best players in the WNBA. We signed two kids from Chicago when we were at Arkansas, and I also told Kelly, ‘We’ve been here 10 years now and don’t have a Chicago kid yet!’ She’s a Chicago girl all the way, but also has relatives in Houston.”

On what Hillsman brings to the team…

“She’s going to be a great offensive player for us, and she’ll fit into her role. Her numbers aren’t outstanding right now, unless they have to have her, because her team is so good. At that level, a lot of times the post players don’t get enough touches because the team scores on the press before Khaalia gets there. It’s a very good high school team and they are favored to win the state title again.

We’re looking at her potential and what we’ve been able to do with developing post players over the years. We believe that you have to have a balance of inside and outside people, and we know we have the cards. Each year, we have to develop the post players. You never give up on post players because it sometimes takes a little bit longer for some to develop.”

On Hillsman's relationship with the current players…

“Our players did a great job recruiting her. This is a kid that relates well with Rachel Mitchell even though they are going to be competing for the same playing time. That shows you how unselfish our kids can be. I’m excited about her.

On what Hillsman needs to improve on before she gets on campus…

“I want her to work on her mid-range game. That would be something that would really make her versatile for us. It’s always important for someone to have that mid-range game, much like Danielle Adams had. Any time you can expand your repertoire, people won’t just sag on you and double team you. The more range you have, the more people have to get out of their zone and play more man-to-man which benefits us.”

On getting her ready for life as a college athlete…

“When she gets here in the summer, we’re now allowed to work with the kids two hours a week. She can also be with our strength and conditioning program. Most incoming freshman come in for both summer sessions because you don’t want them getting homesick before everything starts in September. She’s one of the best student-athletes we’ve signed. She’s got a good ACT score and will definitely be a business major. If she’s smart enough, and hopefully she will be, she won’t get into coaching.”

On his recent and future recruiting efforts…

“This past year, we went after the junior college players because we needed two four players since we didn’t have any left on the team. Sometimes you have to recruit by needs and not by wants. You don’t want to over-recruit and get too many players on the roster because you can’t keep them all healthy. The state of Texas has not been loaded in the ’13 or ’14 classes, so what you do is recruit the ’15, ’16 and ’17 classes that are very strong again. You’ll see us very much involved with those kids.”