When Juju Leroux took an official visit to Florida Atlantic in June, the highlight of her trip had nothing to do with basketball at all.
“I’m not going to lie, it was going to the beach,” Leroux said with a laugh. “There were a bunch of palm trees. There was water right off the ocean that wasn’t the same color. Kind of like a Gatorade blue kind of color. They gave us the whole day to hang by the beach.”
Leroux made it to where she will have a lot more opportunities to visit the beach after she committed to the school late last month.
Leroux was one of two South Fayette seniors who made their college decisions one day apart. A day before Leroux picked Florida Atlantic, Ryan Oldaker committed to Marist. The two helped South Fayette win WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A titles last season when they were named second-team all-state and were PUP all-star picks.
The two will be attending schools in different parts of the country, but both believe they found the perfect fit. Florida Atlantic is located in Boca Raton and Marist is in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Florida Atlantic competes in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) and Marist in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).
“I love the entire school,” Oldaker said of Marist. “The team was amazing for my visit, and the whole coaching staff was welcoming. They were so good with the players and so good with me. And their playing style fits me, too.”
Oldaker, daughter of former Blackhawk and Mt. Lebanon coaching great Dori Oldaker, said she chose Marist over offers from Campbell and Gannon. Ryan went with her mom on an unofficial visit to Marist in July, and said she was offered at the end of the visit.
Leroux said that Massachusetts and Sacred Heart were two of her other favorite schools. Robert Morris was among the other schools to offer. The selling point there was not only could she go to school close to home but also that she could also play with her sister. Ava Leroux will be redshirt sophomore for the Colonials after transferring from Elon.
“It was enticing,” Juju said of picking Robert Morris, “but the coaching staff knew I wanted to go further away. The head coach said, ‘We know you want to go to Florida, but please come back.’”
Both Oldaker and Leroux will be playing for programs that have local ties. Oldaker said she spent a lot of time with Kate Robbins on her visit to Marist. Robbins is an Upper St. Clair graduate who is a junior forward for the Red Foxes. Meanwhile, Florida Atlantic first-year associate head coach Brooklyn Kohlheim was previously the head coach at Mercyhurst, which is when she and Leroux first established a connection.
Oldaker and Leroux are both coming off excellent junior seasons and appear to be good gets for their future colleges.
“They like how versatile I am and that I can guard any position but also play any position,” said Oldaker, who averaged 12.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game.
Leroux tallied 12.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game, and is one of the top defenders in the WPIAL.
“They like my athleticism and how I contribute defensively,” Leroux said. “They like that I’m very active and have my hands up, and that I’m able to guard bigger players. They keep saying that I play long.”
The two are excellent students. Leroux owns a 4.1 GPA and plans on going into a healthcare-related field, while Oldaker has a 3.9 GPA and hopes to major in education or business.
These likely won’t be the only two players from the upcoming South Fayette team to commit to Division I schools. The team’s three other projected starters — senior Haylie Lamonde, junior Lailah Wright and sophomore Ella Vierra — also hold Division I offers.
“It’s crazy the amount of talent we have,” Leroux said. “The girls are so amazing. How we came together, won that first [PIAA] title, and then this summer we got all these offers, it’s crazy to me.”
Thiero trims list
Quaker Valley’s Mimi Thiero might have more scholarship offers than any basketball player in WPIAL history — she has 60. Thiero, a 6-5 senior forward, recently released a list of a dozen finalists, a group of schools that include Clemson, Florida, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Memphis, Michigan, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Oregon and Vanderbilt. Oregon was the latest school to offer Thiero, and she took an official visit there last week. The Ducks appear to have a real shot of landing Thiero, especially now that she has a brother living on the West Coast. Adou Thiero was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers last month. Mimi had originally planned on committing on Sept. 17 (her 18th birthday), but she has since pushed back the decision date to November.
Fontana picks school
Another top WPIAL post player not short on offers made her decision last week, as Oakland Catholic senior Josie Fontana committed to Richmond. A 6-foot-3 forward, Fontana’s list of offers also included Providence, Saint Joseph’s, Massachusetts and Florida Atlantic. Fontana is the second WPIAL player in the senior class to pick Richmond. Greensburg Central Catholic guard Erica Gribble committed there in December.
Baseball commitments
Norwin’s Caden Sivrich (Pitt); Thomas Jefferson’s Dom Metz (California); Upper St. Clair’s Nolan Wilson (West Virginia).
Basketball commitments
Canon-McMillan’s Lauren Borella (West Liberty); Moon’s Jackson Bauman (Rio Grande); Penn-Trafford’s Torrie DeStefano (Seton Hill); Seneca Valley’s Natalie Hambly (Pitt-Johnstown); South Park’s Bella Stromberg (Washington & Jefferson).
Football commitments
Latrobe’s Andy Tatsch (Lehigh); Mt. Lebanon’s Jackson Kraemer (Villanova); South Fayette’s Colton Astorino (Cornell); Upper St. Clair’s Nico D’Orazio (Brown).
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.