This season, when University of Tennessee women’s basketball head coach Holly Warlick came to John Treadway Gym to watch the Lady Cyclones’ 6-foot-4-inch post Emily Schubert play, everyone knew that big things were in store for the towering player.
And over the weekend, Schubert made her decision where she will continue her basketball career, and she will not be wearing orange and white. She will be putting on the blue of Duke University. Saturday, while visiting the school, Schubert made her verbal commitment.
Elizabethton’s Len Dugger, who just recently announced he is retiring as the Lady Cyclones’ head coach, has coached Schubert over the last four years and said he could not be happier for his former player.
“I am just really, really happy for her,” Dugger said Monday. “I have told a lot of coaches through out the process, during the last half of the season especially, that I just felt like her best basketball is in front of her. I think a college like Duke is a great fit for Emily basketball wise and academically. I am just excited for her and her family.”
During Schubert’s search for the right college, she had some big programs looking to possibly bring her on board, such as, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia Tech, Rice, and Texas A&M, and Dugger feels that a mixture of Schubert’s height and talent is what had many coaches looking her way.
“This was the year that a 6-4 girl is like a 6-8 to 6-9 guy,” Dugger said. “You just don’t find a lot 6-4 girls. Also with Emily, she ran the floor extremely well and she’s athletic. She just kept progressing and getting better as our season went along. She was adding skills to her game as the season went along that she hadn’t done previously.”
“I just feel like she is coming into her own as a player,” he added. “And, I think, when she gets to where she just thinks about basketball on its own and gets into the program, you are going to see her gain a lot of strength. You are going to see her skill work get better and better.”
Over her four years at EHS, Schubert was a part of a group of five seniors that accumulated a 124-10 record as they won a Class AA State Championship title in 2014 and made four visits to the state tournament.
Schubert is the third player in this year’s senior class to commit to a NCAA Division 1 program, with the Marosites twins, Kayla and Kelci, signing at East Tennessee State University. Dugger feels like his two other seniors have great shots to also sign in basketball.
“Well I think that our program had gotten to were it was well known, and a lot of people were looking to see what kind of people we had in this program,” Dugger said. “I feel like Emily Kiser and Melenda Perry are also going to have an opportunity to play somewhere.”
As of now, a signing date is still in the works.