St. Pius X shooting guard Asia Durr announced her commitment to the University of Louisville Tuesday afternoon to a packed gym and the many watching live via webcast. Durr has been considered the top prospect in her class since the end of her freshman season and remains the No. 1 rated prospect in the nation heading into her senior season.
Durr has led the Golden Lions to back-to-back Class AAA state championships and has accomplished feats on the national and international stage. The reigning Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year led her AAU team to the national title, while also winning a pair of gold medals with USA basketball.
In the summer of 2013, Durr received gold at the FIBA World Championship in the Czech Republic and this past July, Durr helped team USA achieve gold in the FIBA Americas tournament in Mexico.
“It’s been my privilege to coach Asia for three years,” said St. Pius X girls head basketball coach Kyle Snipes. “She is one of the most humble kids I’ve ever coached and obviously the best player I’ve ever coached in my career. She’s accumulated over 1,800 points, over 500 rebounds, over 200 assists, 150 steals and over 50 blocks the past three years. “
Durr narrowed her list of possible college choices to five schools this past week. The list included Louisville, Duke, Baylor, Maryland and Notre Dame. She spent this past weekend on her first official visit, which was to Louisville, and made her decision before going on official visits to the other programs.
“It [Louisville] felt like home,” explained Durr. “I got that feeling in my heart. My family loved it and my big brother never goes on those visits and he loved it too… I was going to wait until October or November to make my decision but I was ready to make the announcement now so I said why not just do it now.”
The recruiting process the past few years added to an already busy schedule with school, AAU and USA basketball commitments, but it was a process that Durr thoroughly enjoyed.
“These were great schools with great programs and great coaches and I was so thankful to become very close with them during my recruitment,” said Durr. “It’s been great and I want to thank all the St. Pius students and staff for all the support they’ve shown me and it means a lot that all these people came out to watch where I’m going to college.”
After Durr’s announcement, she took pictures with the hundreds of students that came to celebrate the occasion and gave insight to what we can expect for the star shooting guard’s senior season.
“It’s a fresh start this season because I know where I’m going to college now,” said Durr. “I can focus on my grades and it gets me more focused in all the preparation for this final season.”
The Golden Lions enter Class AAAA for the first time this year and will have to replace current UGA guard Jasmine Carter, who ran the point alongside Durr the past three seasons. Despite the loss of Carter, the Golden Lions have solid depth at guard and will be the team to beat in Class AAAA.
“Teams are going to be coming after us,” acknowledged Durr. “They know we won two Class AAA championships before entering this new class… I’m still going to play the two this year and we are still pretty good with our guards.”
Workouts and practice for the 2014-15 season begins in a week and Durr will be back in action after netting 24.4 points per game with 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 steals last season. Durr is a lefty on the court that writes with her right hand and she can finish at the rim with either hand. Her dribbling and consistent pull-up jumper make her one of the most versatile offensive playmakers to ever come through the Peach State. She shot almost 90 percent from the foul line as a sophomore, making 130 of 152 attempts and has kept that accuracy throughout her career. This summer, Durr’s drive-first mentality and automatic shooting from the charity stripe helped her set a new USA record for foul shooting at a U17 tournament with 88.2 percent.
As for the program that landed Durr, Louisville has been National runner-up twice in the past six seasons and finished with a 33-5 last season as a member of the American Athletic Conference. This will be the Cardinals first season in the ACC and the season tips off in November.
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