University of Arkansas women’s basketball Coach Mike Neighbors has one commitment for the 2023 class and hopes to add ESPN 5-star guard Chloe Clardy to the class.
Neighbors recently received the commitment of combo guard Maryn Archer, who’s rated the No. 23 prospect in the nation in the 2023 class, according to Blue Star Basketball.
Clardy, 5-9, of Conway has 18 scholarship offers, including Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida State, LSU, Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Florida, Arizona and others. She received her first college offer from Neighbors.
“I appreciate Coach Neighbors seeing the potential in me and giving me my first offer in the seventh grade,” Clardy said.
She’s been communicating with Arkansas while seeing updates on Twitter.
“I keep up with them on social media,” Clardy said. “The talks have been pretty good.”
In addition to being one of 15 ESPN 5-star recruits in her class, she’s also rated the No. 8 player in the nation.
“She’s just a special kid,” Conway coach Ashley Hutchcraft said. “She’s one of those kids that not only is she great on the floor, she’s really a great kid off the floor She is the best teammate, she’s the hardest worker. Its not like you have to beg her to work.”
Clardy shattered the single-season scoring record of 685 points with more than 1,000 points as a freshman and was named the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Girls Underclassman of the Year. She averaged 26 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 3.5 steals a game while leading the Wampus Cats to a 22-8 record and to the Class 6A state semifinals.
“She has an extremely high basketball IQ,” Hutchcraft said. “I think her ability to see the floor is well beyond her years. Chloe can go out and score 40 points a game if she wanted to, but she knows that doesn’t matter if we don’t win the game. She just has the natural ability to make everyone around her a lot better.”
Clardy’s favorite part of her game is when she’s in 1-on-1 situations.
“I’ve been working on my pull-up [jumper] and getting my threes better,” Clardy said. “I like to play fast-paced.”
The Razorbacks have struggled to keep the top in-state talent home, but Neighbors is changing that trend. Clardy has noticed Neighbors’ signing in-state 5-star guard Elauna Eaton and landing the commitment of 5-star guard Jersey Wolfenbarger.
“I talk to Jersey sometimes,” Clardy said. “I’ve seen the other ones staying. We basically talked about our year because we played them a lot.”
Clardy, who visited Arkansas for a basketball game last season, is looking for good academics, playing time and a program that can get her to the professional level.
“Somewhere I can play because I don’t want to go and have to sit my whole first year,” Clardy said. “I want to play at least some and I want to go to the WNBA. Somewhere that can help me get to that.”
Neighbors had three players at Washington drafted into the WNBA, including Kelsey Plum, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft and Arkansas assistant Chantel Osahor, who was the 21st overall pick by the Chicago Sky in the 2017 WNBA Draft. Talia Walton was the 29th overall pick of the 2016 draft.
While an assistant coach, Neighbors coached seven other WNBA draftees. Clardy is aware of Neighbor’s track record of producing WNBA talent.
“I know he’s coached a few big-time players,” Clardy said. “Like when he was at Washington Kelsey Plum and some other big-time players, so I know he knows what it takes to get there.”