JEN LOURO AND MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY CREATE NEW EXCITEMENT

After my official release from Umass Lowell, I am proud to announce that I will be furthering my college career at Monmouth University!! Happy to be back playing at the Jersey Shore with my girl Lucy! So grateful to the staff at Monmouth for giving me this opportunity. 🏀🙌🏽🤗🐦 pic.twitter.com/xt3EfJPnV3

— pen (@jenlouro) March 22, 2018

And with the above tweet, Monmouth University became a player in the Shore Conference for the first time in six years.

Yesterday Monmouth University coach Jodi Craig told the basketball community, it all stops now. She sent a message not just to oppposing college coaches, who have made a living in Monmouth University’s backyard. But to the Shore faithful as well…she said you will no longer recruit in Monmouth’s backyard without getting bloodied up. She fully plans to protect her backyard. She told Shore coaches, talk is cheap and action matters, then she went out and got a verbal commitment former St. Rose star, Jen Louro to come home. She made something clear that has been missing at Monmouth for too long. She wants to recruit Shore Conference players.

The names read like a who’s who of Shore basketball of college players in recent years who have scored 1000 points in college; in recent years. Many have become All Freshman, All Conference and Player of the Year’s. Stephanie Issacs famously scored 28 points on Monmouth U as a Sophmore at FDU. In the past year Stephanie Karcz (1st Team All Patriot), Hannah Scanlon (All Freshman American East)and Stella Clark who won so many Freshman of the week awards we stopped counting, have joined the list. All are stars in college and this list goes on and on.

This year alone Rose Caverly(Vermont), Katie Rice( Lehigh), Sara Furch Army), Tori Hyduke (George Washington) and too many to others mentioned also joined the list of players Monmouth did not recruit. There was the Shore adopted players as Lindsey Mack (FDU), Ryan Wise (LIU), Nicole Johnson(Lafayette), Alexis Adams of sweet 16 U of Buffalo and others also were part of the list. What do they all players have in common? Its not because they all Stars at the D1 level. Not because they all played in the Shore Conference. It’s not because they all were studs in high schools locally. What they all have in common is that none of them were recruited or offered by Monmouth University. This may sound shocking to you but it’s true. Yesterday, Jodi Craig and her loyal assistant James Young said… NEVER AGAIN. They made it clear to Jen Louro, that she must come home. They never gave any other school a chance to be in the mix for her services. They never let any other school get into the recruiting starting box. This my friends is called, closing your back door. This is called never giving your opponents a chance to even state their case… this is why Jodi Craig if anything else has proved she is A shrewd recruiter, something Monmouth has been missing desperately.

Jess Louro is currently staring at powerhouse Middle Tennessee State these days. She is there leading rebounder and one of there top scorers. Her team beats the likes of Kentucky’s and other Top 20 schools of the world. Jess Louro, was The HOOP GROUP PLAYER OF THE YEAR as a junior. She was 1st Team All State… she was named 1st Team All Metro Area by Gregg Lerner, so its surprise to anyone that she is a star at the highest level of competition these days. What should surprise you is that Monmouth never offered or recruited her out of high school. Yesterday, James Young was not about to let another Louro skip town. So when he got news of Jen Louro’s release he went to work. They say recruiting is day to day. Well somebody forgot to tell James Young this, because he thinks recruiting is minute to minute. Because James Young worked the phones the he got Jen Louro’s release yesterday. He wanted to close Jen Lauro NOW as in hours and did exactly that. James Young was masterful and gave Monmouth something they have not had in years…instant credibility again.

When things we’re going in the wrong direction for Monmouth University a few years ago. There seemed to be some light. They signed St. Rose All Shore guard KC CHAMBERS, it was a key recruit. Chambers was well liked and a star in the Shore Conference. Just as importantly here mother coached a team with 8 future D1 studs ( not one would ever attend Monmouth). When Monmouth signed Chambers, her former AAU teammate Sara Olson a double figure scorer and All Freshman team member at NJIT, decided to join her at Monmouth University. Monmouth hesitated and wondered if Olson was good enough. They put Olson on ice and made her sweat. When they finally took Sara Olson and it seemed Monmouth would now kick the recruiting door open. But just the opposite happened, KC Chambers left Monmouth after her sophomore year. The Monmouth staff did nothing to convince her to stay. Stories got out about her departure and how her time at Monmouth ended unceremonious.

KC CHAMBERS went on to star at U Penn and lead them to two Ivy titles. She left her dream school Monmouth U to become a walking legend at U Penn. Meanwhile Sara Olson became Monmouth leading scorer and captain. She now plays professional in Germany. She too left Monmouth asking what happened and hurt by the overall experience. Monmouth U simply has never recovered from this period…..that is until they hired somebody from west coast that nobody knew, named Jodi Craig. Yesterday afternoon Coach Craig made them look very smart….she made MONMOUTH WOMENS BASKETBALL THE TALK OF THE SHORE AND CREATED THE BUZZ , MONMOUTH HAS BEEN SEARCHING FOR…. Jodi Craig gave Monmouth new light and vision yesterday.

Jen Louro averaged 6.2 points a game as a freshman at U mass Lowell last season. She had some big moments along the way. She is an elite denfender and has size and the athleticism coaches dream about. She had nights when she went 4/4 from the three point line and other nights were she showed star potential. Her outstanding play against national programs like Texas Tech, had to make the coaching staff at U Mass- Lowell smile. She had those big scoring nights along the way that all freshman dream about. But at the end of the day she was like all Freshman, some good and some not so good. But here is something she did most freshman do not. She started every game and averaged 30 mins a night. Monmouth is getting a battle tested winner. Jen Louro was MVP in the the toughest high school tournament to win last year…the SHORE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT and her team won the SCT. This is no ordinary transfer, this is a well liked respected gym rat and a culture changing player. Monmouth knows they couldn’t dream of signing a high school player like this next year. In there mind she is a 2019 recruit and they just signed the best 2019 wing in New Jersey.. It also shows Jodi Craig is willing to play the long game and not looking for a quick fix.

They're going to make it harder for my Red Hawks to get shore steals haha…nicely done Coach Young

— Sean Martin ✭ (@SeanMartinNFL) March 22, 2018

Yesterday Twitter was on fire with the news of Jen Louro’s transfer. Stud babies like Destiny Adams checked in, the parents of babies like Justine Pissiott checked in. The coach of the 2021 dream team Shoreshots Tracey Sabino checked in. Even Mary Beth Chambers and her daughter KC checked in, sports writers checked in, bloggers checked in. Even opponents in the recruiting world checked in. Why all the excitement you ask, Jen Louro in not going to be the greatest player in Monmouth history. The excitement is because Monmouth just got serious about making Monmouth a powerhouse. Jen Louro is tied to just about every young stud in the area. They feel if Jen Louro is there, it must be ok again. Now Monmouth University and Jodi Craig may not get pay dirt with the 2019 class. But every class after that, they are in with deep, credit James Young and Jodi Graig ‘s brilliant guidance.

MY THOUGHTS ON JEN LOURO AND MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY

Jodi Craig and James Young have been on a relationship building tour. They have called all the power brokers. Something Monmouth has NOT done in years, and they have reached out to the Shore community for help… you see they are telling folks “help me make it right”. Yesterday they got help from every corner. Some of the best 2020, 2021 and 2022 players are set to visit Monmouth…this is unheard of at Monmouth since the days of Top 100 recruit Sam Clarke followed Stephanie Gaitley to Fordham. Kelly Campbell of DePaul it was assumed would not attend Monmouth, Kimi Evans of Seton Hall never considered Monmouth. But the elite underclassmen are now biting at the bit to learn more and interested. JEN LOURO lit a fire in the Shore basketball community and MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY WOMENS BASKETBALL JUST GOT DEAD SERIOUS.

NBS CAMP DATES ARE UP…THIS EVENT WILL SELL OUT