Rutgers makes strides with five signees on squad

For Tennessee, having five signees on the McDonald's All-American roster is business as usual. For Rutgers, having five future Scarlet Knights among the group is significant progress.

C. Vivian Stringer's incoming class is most impressive in its geographical range. For a program that lost to Tennessee in last year's NCAA final and gained more attention in Imus-gate, the Rutgers brand name certainly grew outside the Garden State. Heading to Piscataway, N.J., next season will be California natives Jasmine Dixon, a 5-foot-11, 193-pound guard from Poly (Long Beach) and Nikki Speed (5-9, 135), who hails from Pasadena. Lone Star state product Brooklyn Pope will join them along with Chelsey Lee of Miami and April Sykes of Crawford, Miss.

Here are the rosters:

West Name Position Ht./Wt. High School College LaSondra Barrett F 6-2, 160 William B. Murrah (Jackson, Miss.) LSU Alyssia Brewer F 6-3, 190 Sapulpa (Okla.) Tennessee Ashley Corral G 5-9, 150 Prairie (Vancouver, Wash.) USC Jasmine Dixon G 5-11, 193 Poly (Long Beach, Calif.) Rutgers Ayana Dunning C 6-3, 220 Eastmoor Academy (Columbus, Ohio) LSU Ashley Gayle C 6-4, 180 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) Texas Briana Gilbreath G 6-1, 145 Cinco Ranch (Katy, Texas) USC Tiffany Hayes G 6-0, 134 Winter Haven (Lakeland, Fla.) Connecticut Destini Hughes G 5-10, 140 Kennedale (Fort Worth, Texas) LSU Nnemkadi Ogwumike F 6-2, 178 Cy-Fair (Cypress, Texas) Stanford Brooklyn Pope F 6-2, 170 Paul L. Dunbar (Fort Worth, Texas) Rutgers Nikki Speed G 5-9, 135 Marlborough School (Pasadena, Calif.) Rutgers

West