By Todd Golden
Billy Carson knew he had a good point guard in Illyssa Vivo and the South Florida Lady Jaguars’ AAU coach had a plan to land her somewhere in the Division I women’s basketball ranks.
His plan ultimately took Vivo from sunny Broward County, Fla., to Vigo County. Carson confirmed that Vivo has made a verbal commitment to play basketball at Indiana State.
“Her getting [to Indiana State] was me doing some internet recruiting,” Carson said. “I put together a highlight video and sent it out to places I thought might be a good place for her. Indiana State bid on it, contacted me and we sent some more game tape. After they saw the game tape, they got excited.”
Vivo, who stands 5-foot-8, averaged 8.5 points, 3.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game for American Heritage High School in Plantation, Fla. She also shot 47.1 percent from 3-point range.
Vivo played on a 24-5 American Heritage team that made it to Florida’s Elite Eight. She played along side LSU recruit Bianca Lutley and Wake Forest recruit Sandra Garcia, both were bigs that Vivo was charged with feeding in the post.
“[The ISU coaching staff] came down, saw some practices and saw a game. They were very excited. Once the family made their visit there, they fell in love with the scenery of the campus and the environment when they came. They’ve been mulling it over for about a month or so before they made their choice,” said Carson, who said Vivo garnered interest from Western Kentucky and Mississippi, among others.
Carson praised Vivo’s ability to get to the basket, but was more effusive in praising her work ethic.
“One thing that hits you right off the bat is she’s a hard worker. She doesn’t take off one drill, that’s what impressed me most when she came into this program. She’ll run through a brick wall,” Carson said. “Everything is ‘yes coach’, ‘no coach’. She’s very coachable. She’s explosive off the dribble and can get to the rack against the bigs. She makes the game exciting.”
Vivo was not able to reached for comment in time for this story.
Vivo joins guards Nikki Gunning and Anna Munn in ISU’s 2010 recruiting class. As per NCAA rules, ISU’s coaching staff is not permitted to comment on recruits until they sign their letter of intent.
