The Arkansas Lady Razorbacks' basketball season might have ended back in early March, but head coach Tom Collen and his staff have been hard at work ever since.

The Lady'Backs added standout players Quistelle Williams, East Kentwood Mich., and Cara Angel of Melbourne, Australia, in the past couple of weeks, bringing the Lady'Backs' 2008 signing class to a schoolrecord seven players.

And Collen's not done yet. The Lady'Backs will ink at least one more athlete, maybe two, before the spring ends.

The spring signees should add even more punch to a class that appears already loaded with haymakers.

When senior star post player Lauren Ervin went down with injury in the Lady'Backs' first SEC game of 2008, the team's postseason hopes went down with her. To bolster the faltering inside game, Collen inked 6-3 Jamesha Townsend of Chula Vista, Calif., and 6-2 Ashley Daniels of Coldwater, Miss., in the fall.

It's likely that another power forward, Southwest Tennessee Community College's Starkitsha Luellen, will sign this week. According to Otis Kirk of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Lady'Backs are also courting two other post players - Chipola (Fla. ) College's Ashley McCray (6-3 ) and Weatherford (Texas ) College's Afeisha Noel (6-4 ).

Spring signee Williams (6-0 ), a power forward, can also play around the basket but she's not tied to it.

" Quistelle is extremely athletic and a great scorer and rebounder, " Collen said. " She's versatile enough to play either forward position. "

Williams averaged a double-double (16. 4 points, 10. 0 rebounds ) for East Kentwood last season.

" We feel she is the best prospect in the state of Michigan for the Class of 2008, " Collen said.

It's obvious that Collen wants his team to get more dynamic down low to compete with the Georgias and LSUs of the world, but he hasn't ignored the backcourt. Far from it, in fact.

Three of the real jewels of this top-25 recruiting class were signed in the fall. Lyndsay Harris, Ciera Ricketts and Julie Inman should be fixtures in the Arkansas guard rotation for years to come.

Hoover, Ala., native Harris chose Arkansas over Louisiana Tech, Florida and Auburn. What's most impressive about Harris is not only can she make 3-pointers in bunches, she's likely to hit them at crunch time of a tight game.

Point guard Ricketts can do a little bit of everything, as evidenced by her 21 points, 17 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals in a recent regional tournament game in her home state of Kentucky.

When he was first hired as Arkansas' head coach, Collen said, " I know the key to success in building this program to the heights I know we can reach revolve around keeping the best players in the state, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen. "

Though he missed out on standout Morrilton forward Shekinna Stricklin, who signed with Tennessee, Collen was able to snatch Carlisle's Inman away from the likes of Kansas and Texas A & M.

Inman is a dead-eye shooter who can play the point or off-guard. She recently led Carlisle to its second-straight state title and will play in the Arkansas all-star game June 19 at Bud Walton Arena.

The Australian Angel should also help out somewhere in the backcourt, likely at point guard.

Collen has become known for his great recruiting and his ability to turn around a program's fortunes. His 2008 recruiting class - which could balloon to as many as nine players - shows that Collen is turning the Lady'Backs into his kind of team, and fast.

For the Lady Razorbacks, the times they are a-changin' - for the better.

Joe West is the assistant sports editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times. Lady Razorback Communications contributed to this story.