As much as it doesn't seem like it now, there was a time when the recruiting of Rachel Tapps was a gamble.
Obviously it was a good one, as she's emerging as a top defensive guard and now a freshman starter for the UTEP women's basketball team, but in the roughest year of her life, two seasons ago as a junior at Cypress Ranch High School, the line to court her was one coach long.
"I tore my ACL my junior year, the most important year for recruiting," Tapps said. "Coach (Keitha) Adams was there, she came right after my surgery.