Live commitment shows are rapidly becoming all the rage in the college recruiting festivities. They're still more rare on the girls side here in New England, but we got to see one when Maysen Hill announced her commitment to Fordham on Aug. 9.
The Kingtston, R.I. native appeared on a Twitter/X live stream with Sportslifetalk Media, where she chose the Rams over a swarm of schools including Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence, Columbia, Holy Cross and more.
"It was cool. It was a different experience, and it was just fun to talk, and they asked some really good questions," Hill said.
Hill averaged 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists at St. Andrew's last season. The 5-foot-11 guard earned NEPSAC Class AA All-Star honors which paved the way for another strong AAU summer with Mass Rivals.
Fordham initially offered Hill last summer, and Hill appreciated the relationship she developed with the coaching staff over the past year. The Rams literally rolled out the red carpet for her during her official visit, and she says she has already built connections with her future teammates.
"Some places would talk to me once or twice, and I'd never hear from them again, but it wasn't like that with Fordham," Hill said. "From the beginning, they were loyal, and they wanted to know what was going on in my life. They would always reach out, I'd reach out, (and) it just started a really good relationship, and it carried over till the next year."
Fordham enters its second season under coach Bridgette Mitchell, who was previously the head coach at Northeastern. The Rams went 13-17 in her first year.
Hill wanted to know that her future school would give her the opportunity to earn playing time if she put in the work. As she narrowed down her final choices, she made sure to ask college coaching staffs about how much they utilized underclassmen and what their team depth charts might look like.
"It would be a polite question. I would be like, 'Are you open to playing freshmen? And if so, what would I have to do to accomplish that? And where would I fit that in?'" she said. 'They'd have the charts and they're like, 'There's this girl in that position [and] this girl in that position.' So they really laid it out, and that's what I liked to see."
Hill added that Fordham stayed in consistent communication, even when she believed she didn't have her best season last year. One area she has struggled with that many athletes can relate to: pressure to perform.
"What I'm playing bad, I feel like I'm letting people down in a sense, because people have invested in me and given me such great, life-changing opportunities," Hill said. "So I feel like I'm kind of just playing with it if I'm not performing my best."
Hill has high expectations for herself and explained that in the past, when she has either been playing out of position or otherwise struggling to produce, she felt lost when she didn't know how to find the answers. She also called herself guilty of trying to add too much of her own flair to her coaches' instructions at times.
What Hill has learned: keep the game simple and trust the process. She's thinking less about trying to do too much and focusing more on what she can control in front of her. Hill is also proud of how she's stayed consistent in the work she's done outside of practices and games, which led to a big last summer on the AAU circuit.
"I've never been in the gym so much as how I've been this summer," she said. "I didn't let myself rest, and if I did — it was the craziest thing, I felt like I couldn't. So I really pushed myself to work on myself, and in the times where it wasn't easy, I still kept hope and I didn't let myself completely fall, if that makes sense. I think I stayed the course better than I ever have in my life, and I think it definitely paid off."
Commitments have come flying from local stars in recent weeks. Here are some other players who announced their next chapters:
- Kate Allard (Bedford, N.H.) committed to Boston University on Aug. 6. Allard landed on our summer Class of 2025 watch list and is a versatile 6-foot-2 forward who can really shoot the ball. She helped Bedford go undefeated and win an NHIAA state championship last winter.
- That same day, 5-foot-11 guard Emma Olausson (Guilford, Conn.) announced her commitment to Dartmouth. Olausson plays for Hamden Hall and has also suited up for the Sweden U16 national team.
- Emma Sollenne (St. Luke's/Greenwich, Conn.) chose Mercyhurst on Aug. 7. Mercyhurst is making the leap to Division 1 basketball and joining the Northeast Conference this winter, giving the Lakers a year to get comfortable before Sollenne's recruiting class joins for the 2025-26 season.
- Among the players committing to the admissions process at Divisions 2 and 3 schools: Camryn Kinne (Sutton, Mass./Stevens), Maddy Handrahan (Glastonbury, Conn./Assumption) and Noa Brown (Needham, Mass./Oberlin).
