“THE FOUR RISING SENIORS D1 BASKETBALL HAS MISSED SENIORS PLAYERS”
Four different stories. Four different paths. One common question: What exactly are college coaches waiting for? Every recruiting class has players who are obvious. Their names are everywhere. Their AAU teams have national visibility. Their offers pile up early, and college coaches don’t have to work very hard to find them. Then there are the players who get missed. Sometimes it’s injuries. Sometimes it’s the wrong AAU situation. Sometimes it’s a label that follows a player long after it stops being accurate. Sometimes a player simply hasn’t had the opportunity to show what she can become.
That is the story of four rising seniors: Kaitlyn Platt, Abby Strum, Harper Cohen and Susan Gentile. Their circumstances are different, but they have one thing in common: The people who have actually watched them closely believe Division I basketball is missing something.
And when these four eventually find their homes, there are going to be coaches wondering how they didn’t see it sooner.
KAITLYN PLATT — GIL BERNARD
The biggest mystery in the 2027 class
Kaitlyn Platt may be the biggest recruiting mystery in New Jersey. This is a story filled with missed opportunities, bad timing and, frankly, misconceptions.
Start with the obvious: she is the best player on one of the five best teams in New Jersey.Yet somehow, she remains one of the most overlooked players in the class.
Her AAU journey didn’t help.
She trusted environments that didn’t ultimately provide what she was promised. She was initially told she would have a prime role on an AAU team, only to see the organization change direction. She then moved to a top U17 program in New Jersey and found herself behind a pecking order.
Eventually, she made the move to NJ RISE.
It was an excellent basketball environment, but one that didn’t provide the national exposure some other players received.And somewhere along the way, a label developed.
Too slow.
Questionable shooter.
Not quick enough.
Maybe not a high-level passer.
But here is the problem with those labels:
The film doesn’t support them. Show me the players consistently blowing by Kaitlyn Platt. Show me the evidence that she can’t shoot. Show me the evidence that she can’t play against elite competition. It is not there.Part of the misunderstanding may have started because her older sister, Addy Platt, was highly regarded. People were looking for another Addy Platt.But there isn’t another Addy Platt.
There is Kaitlyn Platt.
And Kaitlyn has built her own identity. She has played against some of the best players in the state since her freshman year and has consistently shown she belongs. She has competed in the Fort League, an environment loaded with Division I commits and players holding offers, and she has not looked out of place. In fact, she has dominated stretches of that competition. That’s why calling Kaitlyn simply a “D1 player” doesn’t tell the story. She has the potential to be an impact Division I player. And yes, I’m going to put my reputation behind that statement.
I’ve coached a lot of players. I’ve seen a lot of players get recruited late. I’ve seen players get labeled incorrectly and then make people look foolish for believing the label.
Kaitlyn Platt is one of those players. The joke right now is that she doesn’t have a school. Enjoy the joke while it lasts. Because when the right coach finally gets her into their gym, I believe that coach is going to wonder how everyone else missed her.
ABBY STRUM — RED BANK CATHOLIC
The prospect people think they know
Let me say this as clearly as possible: You don’t know Abby Strum yet. I don’t care where you’ve seen her play. She has only recently turned 17, and physically, she is still developing. She is just beginning to shed the baby fat from her body.
Ask yourself what she could look like a year from now.
That should get your attention. Abby has spent much of her career playing behind four of the best post players in New Jersey — players who are now playing Division I basketball. That matters. Because when you don’t get 30 minutes every night, people don’t always see the developmental curve. Abby hasn’t had the volume of game experience that some other recruits have had.
That’s why there are still rough edges.
She makes mistakes. She doesn’t finish every opportunity at the rate people expect. Her game is still developing. But here’s the important part: She’s 6-foot-1 and still developing. If she were already polished, physically mature and finishing everything at an elite rate, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. She’d be sitting on ACC offers. Instead, she’s still available. And that could be a gift for the coach willing to take the time to understand her. Because there are things about Abby that don’t necessarily show up in an AAU box score.
Her shooting range is real.
Her work ethic is real.
Her competitiveness is real.
And she has experienced what it feels like to go into a gym with high-level Division I players and be pushed to the breaking point.That’s where you learn.That’s where young post players develop the thick skin they need.
Abby is hungry.
SHE MISSED THE ENTIRE LIVE PERIOD IN JULY WITH MONO. Sometimes maybe too hungry appears too desperate at timesSo you didn’t get to see her emerging. But I would rather have a young player who desperately wants to prove herself than one who believes she has already arrived. The coach who takes Abby Strum isn’t taking a flyer. They’re betting on development and her work ethic. And the payoff could be significant.
One day, that coach may look like a genius for seeing what others didn’t.
HARPER COHEN — SADDLE RIVER DAY
The undersized guard who plays much bigger
Want to know what Harper Cohen reminds me of? The kind of player coaches regret not recruiting. She is as good as many of the guards in the NBS conversation who already have Division I offers. She’s a gym rat. She’ll travel anywhere to find competition. She wants to play against the best. And she isn’t afraid of anybody.
The obvious question from coaches?
Her size. That’s it. Because if Harper Cohen were 5-foot-10, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation. She has a wicked handle. She’s a deadly shooter. She’s fearless.And she plays much bigger than her listed size. She has gone into gyms and battled some of the top guards in the country.
The problem is that too many people have allowed her measurements to become their evaluation.
Then there was the knee surgery that cost her most of the last two seasons. That certainly hurt her exposure. But even that isn’t the entire story. Her AAU situation created another obstacle. She was assured she would have a spot — until it was time to actually deliver one. So she scrambled. She found a team. But it was a lower-visibility situation. And suddenly, another talented guard was essentially playing basketball where fewer people were watching. That’s unfortunate.
Because Harper Cohen is special.
She has the mentality.
She has the skill.
She has the toughness.
And she has the competitive personality you want in a guard.
She will play Division I basketball.
The only question is which program is smart enough to get there first.
NEVER SETTLE.
SUSAN GENTILE — HUDSON CATHOLIC
The guard nobody talks about enough
Susan “Susie” Gentile might be the easiest player on this list to explain. Injuries killed her exposure. Not her ability. Not her work ethic. Not her basketball IQ. Her exposure. And that distinction matters.Susie is one of the best guards in New Jersey and has proven herself against elite competition.
Her production tells you something:
400 points.
100 rebounds.
100 assists.
90 steals.
That’s not a player who simply does one thing. That’s a player who impacts the game everywhere. And yet, somehow, she’s still one of the best available Division I guards nobody is talking about. Why?
Bad breaks.
Injuries.
Lost opportunities.
That’s it.
Because once you actually watch her play, the evaluation becomes much easier.
What makes Susie different? 4.0 student. Range from the heavens. Plays with pace and IQ. Gets to virtually any spot she wants. A pit bull defensively. She is 5-foot-8 with legitimate nevel level length. Elite speed and quickness.And perhaps most importantly: She plays HARD, really hard. So hard that you might say:
SUSIE PLAYS SO HARD YOUR TEETH WILL SWEAT.
She doesn’t need attention.
She doesn’t need to be the loudest person in the gym.
She loves basketball.
She works.
She competes.
And she keeps showing up.
Those are the players coaches often discover too late.
SO WHAT HAVE D1 SCHOOLS MISSED?
That’s the question.
And maybe the bigger question is:
How many other players like these four are sitting in New Jersey waiting for someone to actually watch them?
Kaitlyn Platt has been fighting labels.
Abby Strum has been fighting inexperience and the natural developmental curve of a young post player.
Harper Cohen has been fighting size, injuries and an unfortunate AAU path.
Susan Gentile has been fighting injuries and lost exposure.
None of those things change what happens when the ball goes up. They compete. They work. They fight. And they have repeatedly shown they can play. The recruiting industry sometimes rewards visibility more than ability. AAU exposure matters.
Social media matters. Rankings matter.Offers create more offers. But basketball still comes down to what happens between the lines. And these four have something that can’t be manufactured: They’ve been tested. They’ve been knocked down. They’ve been overlooked. They’ve been questioned. And they kept playing. That’s why I believe these are exactly the type of players who can make coaches look brilliant. Not because they were the obvious choices. Because they weren’t.
The smartest recruiting decisions aren’t always the ones everybody sees coming.
Sometimes the best recruit is the player sitting right in front of you while everyone else is looking somewhere else.
Kaitlyn Platt.
Abby Strum.
Harper Cohen.
Susan Gentile.
Four rising seniors.
Four different stories.
One massive opportunity for the right Division I programs.
The question isn’t whether these players are good enough to be discovered.
The question is: Who is going to discover them before somebody else does?
