Layla Hays
The legend of Layla Hays quite literally grew overnight. One day she was listed at 6-foot-4 and the next day it was 6-foot-6.
The growth spurt was not real, but it illustrated how high the Wasilla girls basketball player’s stock has skyrocketed on the national recruiting scene.
Her performance with Alaska Tru-Game at last week’s Nike Tournament of Champions in Chicago was so big it led to tall tales being told on social media.
“No, I’m actually not 6-6,” Hays said yesterday with a laugh. “I saw that tweet and I was like, ‘Um … I went from 6-4 to 6-5 to 6-6.”
For the record, the 16-year-old is pushing 6-5, and still growing. The rising star in the Class of 2025 is ranked No. 47 nationally by one source but isn’t yet included in the prestigious ESPN Super 60 rankings. However, a slew of offers from SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 schools could change that.
Since returning from the Windy City, her phone has blown up with calls from coaches at Power 5 conferences. In the last 48 hours alone, she has received scholarship offers from Tennessee, Iowa, Illinois, Utah, Vanderbilt and Alabama.
Vols basically a “blue blood” for wbb, that’s legendary
— Demietrius 🅿️ (@DemietriusP) July 12, 2023
This week she has calls – or “Zooms” as she says – lined up with coaches from Washington, Minnesota, Nebraska, TCU, Colorado and Harvard. She also recently spoke with Duke.
“This whole thing has been really exciting,” Hays said. “It’s been a little bit overwhelming. Everything seems a little bit surreal.”
Reality sinks in when coaches get on the phone for a meeting.
“I used to get really, really nervous, but I’m getting more experienced with them now,” Hays said. “I enjoy talking with coaches. I like face timing better now. I used to kind of be afraid, but I like to see them face to face.”
Some meetings last longer than others. As a whole, coaches pitch her on their school and Hays likes to ask questions.
“I’m always super curious about their incoming freshmen and finding a family,” she said. “Alaska is really far away from everyone. I just want to be somewhere I’ll be close with the team.”
Hays averaged 20 points, 15 rebounds and two blocked shots per game last season as a sophomore for a 24-5 Wasilla squad that marched all the way to the ASAA Class 4A state championship game.
Her offseason started in April with a camp in Dallas; soon after she received offers from Hawaii, Indiana and Iowa State. In June, Hays joined her Wasilla High teammates for a couple camps in the Pacific Northwest, including one at Gonzaga that led to her an offer from the Zags.
She was hungry for more exposure and fired off a batch of emails to college coaches in advance of her appearance at the Nike TOC.
“I wanted to get seen. It’s hard to get seen in Alaska,” she said. “Coaches came and watched.”
Wasilla’s Layla Hays in the post at the 2023 state tournament. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Led by Hays, Alaska Tru-Game rebounded from an 0-3 start in Chicago to advance to the title game of its division.
“It started off a little rough but slowly once we got through it, and then we were playing really well,” Hays said. “We lost the championship game, but we got more comfortable with each other and, like, the environment there was crazy.”
The Nike TOC bills itself as the greatest summer basketball event in the world, with 69 full-sized courts in the largest convention center in North America at McCormick Place.
Wasilla is a far cry from the big city and that’s how Hays likes it. Life is back to normal since her return, and despite the massive national attention, people in her hometown still treat her like they always have.
“I will get the occasional, ‘Oh my goodness, congratulations,’” she said.
Do they fully grasp the magnitude of these offers?
“I can’t even,” she said, laughing.
It seems everyone wants Hays these days. In addition to receiving offers from colleges, she also earned offers from teams in the EYBL, the premier U-17 AAU summer circuit.
Hays declined the offers, though. It’s rare for players to get those opportunities and it’s unheard of when someone from Alaska turns them down, but her life is more than just basketball. It wasn’t even a tough choice to skip the EYBL, she said, because she wants to be a regular teen and go biking and hiking with friends and camping with family.
@niketournamentofchampions @iowawbb @aggiewbb @cyclonewbb @zagwbb @dukewbb @uw_wbb @oregonwbb @chansenbball @brandonclayrecruiting @alabamawbb whoever gets this young lady @layla_hays52 is getting a special one!! Super loving, family oriented person. Thank you for the opportunity pic.twitter.com/OcNrw6s6tv
— Tru To The Game (@TruGameAAU) July 10, 2023
“Those are my favorite things,” she said. “I think that I just need to remember who I am; stay humble. My main thing is being true to who I am, knowing where I am. I don’t want other people kind of defining who I am.”
She’s excited to spend the summer with her siblings, who have been away at college. Her 6-foot-4 sister Bella plays basketball at Eastern Washington and her 6-foot-7 brother Liam does track and football at the College of Idaho.
“It’s the only month they will be home, so I’m trying to spend as much time as I can with them before they go back,” Hays said. “The best thing for me is they beat up on me when they come home when we go play basketball. They help me so much. Bella has led to me love basketball as much as I do now.”
Her dream had always been to play alongside her big sis in the Big Sky, but this recent slew of offers has changed her perspective about the possibilities now available.
“I feel like this whole process has opened my eyes,” Hays said.
Getting calls from Power 5 coaches will do that. These are schools she watches on TV, and now the coaches from those schools are calling and offering her a chance to play there.
She still can’t believe they want her on their team.
“It’s pretty hard to grasp after it happens, especially being at the games and seeing the coaches. It was just crazy,” Hays said. “It’s just like, these are big schools, and I don’t know if it’s just me not realizing it, but me and my mom are both sitting there, kind of like, ‘Oh, my goodness, this is actually happening.’”